A couple of rumors involving the future of a couple of defensive ends got cleared up this week.

RSo. Neland Ball received a medical disqualification earlier this season. His career is over due to a chronic back problem. Ball was the nation’s #16 weakside DE in the recruiting class of 2007 according to Rivals.com, just a few spots below teammate Justin Houston. We wish Neland the best going forward.

On a more positive note, UGASports.com was able to confirm ($) that freshman DE Montez Robinson will not transfer and will remain with the Georgia program. Robinson admits that he was homesick and considered a transfer to Purdue. Robinson, rated the #8 strongside DE by Rivals.com in the 2009 recruiting class, was Georgia’s only defensive end signee in 2009 once Toby Jackson went the JUCO route, and he’s played in all eight games so far. An important figure in Robinson’s decision to stay seems to have been TE Arthur Lynch whose own struggles with homesickness were an issue earlier in the year.

We wrote yesterday how the DE position in particular had been hit by the attrition of highly-regarded signees, and you can now add Ball’s name to that list -a 4-star, top 20 national prospect at his position whose contributions to the program won’t be nearly what the coaches had banked on (through no fault of his own of course). Robinson’s decision not to join that list is important – guys like he, Houston, and Washington are going to be counted on for a lot of playing time until an incoming recruiting class that includes at least 5 defensive ends gets up to speed.

It’s been over a month since the last game at Sanford Stadium. We left Sanford on the afternoon of October 3rd deflated after a heartbreaking loss to #4 LSU. Though Georgia did plenty to lose that game – impotent first half offense, allowing two 4th quarter touchdowns, and shoddy kick coverage – the officials served as a convenient lightning rod to draw criticism and blame away from the team.

Saying that the month away from home has been disappointing is an understatement. Georgia has suffered two decisive losses to divisional foes, and a team that headed for Knoxville confident of its ability to play with top 10 teams is now resetting its goals and aiming for bowl eligibility. We’re long past blaming the refs or anything else extraneous; it’s to the point that we’re starting to go overboard in eating our own. Such is the climate to which the Bulldogs return from their month on the road.

It’s pretty easy to guess what kind of reception the Bulldogs will receive at Homecoming: indifference. Questions about empty seats came up at the weekly press conference. The unspoken answer is that there will be many. Those who don’t unload tickets on the babysitter and still decide to come will make up the typically bland Homecoming crowd. The team might or might not play their best game of the year or might turn it over 3 more times, but a 1:00 kickoff, a 1-AA opponent, and a Homecoming game on pay-per-view isn’t going to make much of an impression. Forgive me if I look past this game.

I’m starting to buy in to the idea that the Auburn game in a week is the biggest remaining game on the schedule. That’s not to concede or discount the Tech game (that’s always the game that I circle personally), but I’m thinking more about the need to hold it together in front of a home crowd whose opinions have shifted quite a bit in such a short time.

It was 10 years ago that Georgia suffered a home loss to Auburn that led to one of the ugliest scenes I can remember at Sanford Stadium. The damage done by that loss shook the faith of the fans in a coach who was less than two years removed from a top 10 finish and a win over Florida. That coach wouldn’t last but another season at Georgia. You might argue that Richt is on much stronger ground now than Donnan was at midseason in 1999, and you’d be right. But does that ground seem as firm as it did as recently as a month ago?

Georgia fans drew praise in 2008 for sticking by the team at halftime and beyond during the loss to Alabama. For those of us who remember the 1999 Auburn game it was a remarkable contrast. At the same time there was an implicit caution not to go to the well of good will too soon and too often. Blutarsky talks a bit about that this morning. Richt standing on his record is certainly valid, but doing so "indicates that he’s already spent some of that good will…banked…as a result of his track record." When it comes to the support of the home fans, much of that good will was spent against Alabama and Georgia Tech last season, and not much has been put back into the till since.

The optimist in me doesn’t want to consider the fallout from another blowout loss at home. It was, in hindsight, fortunate that the Tennessee game was on the road. I’m not anticipating a loss, blowout or otherwise, to Auburn, but we do have to concede concerns going up against an offense that has looked great at times this year against a defense that hasn’t. A loss to Auburn isn’t a pleasant thing to consider – not only would it be a loss to Auburn, but I really do worry about the reaction of the crowd on a national broadcast. Fans are coming into the game with arms crossed, eyebrows raised, and in a foul temperament. It won’t take much to set them off. I hope we never find out.

Beating Auburn won’t salvage the season or prevent the uncomfortable post-season evaluations that must occur. A win sets up the possibilities of a 5-1 home record, a good-but-not-great 5-3 SEC record, and a 3-game winning streak going into Atlanta. That might seem like small potatoes (especially with the big game left to finish the season), but it would be an indication of a team that hasn’t given up on the season and is determined to finish it out.

The endless coaching vs. talent debate seems to resolve itself. If it’s coaching, there you go. If it’s talent, it’s still on the coaches to recruit better talent. JUST WIN GAMES. See? Simple. But the discussion carries on. Tommy Tuberville, visiting in Athens, maintains that the bad luck of losing top players early to the NFL and relying on a lot of young players has taken its toll on the Georgia program. Chip Towers and David Hale point out that Georgia has recruited well enough to expect to be competitive with teams like Florida.

I’ve started and stopped this post several times. 1 – it seems silly to quibble over something so arbitrary to begin with as recruiting rankings. 2 – I don’t really disagree with what Towers and Hale are saying. Georgia should be getting more out of its talent. 3 – Every "yeah, but…" in this discussion comes across as nit-picking and excuse-making. I can’t help it.

One frequent complaint about recruiting rankings is that they aren’t readjusted based on the players that actually show up in August. You’ll usually hear this gripe from fans of schools with lower-rated classes after a blue-chipper that earned their rival a higher ranking fails to qualify. Happens every year. To avoid belaboring the point, I’ll start and stop with one position. There are four defensive ends who signed with Georgia and counted in those recruiting rankings that would likely be starters right now. None of them qualified initially out of high school.

• Brandon Lang: Lang is currently a senior at Troy and is projected as a high NFL pick in 2010.
• Clifton Geathers: Geathers, brother of current Bulldog Kwame, is currently a starter at South Carolina.
• Corey Moon
• Toby Jackson

Even if you’ve never heard of Moon or Jackson (just ask your favorite recruitnik to fill you in), there are at least two proven guys on that list who would make someone like Justin Houston struggle to break the starting lineup. It’s no surprise that the defensive end position has been such a glaring issue for Georgia over the past three seasons; the coaches were counting on those pieces to be in place. Yes, it’s the job of the coaches to recruit prospects who stand a chance at qualifying. Yes, other schools have nonqualifiers too. Bad luck? Maybe. One position doesn’t tell the whole story or absolve the coaches from their role in the state of the program, but it does help explain some of the disconnect between recruiting rankings and what we see on the field.

Sure, most of us came up with our personal scenarios this week that gave us hope for the upset. There were the meaningless points of trivia – Georgia’s record against defending champs or record after a bye week – but most of us had in mind something like this: Georgia would have to play at a high level, avoid turnovers and things like blown coverages or missed tackles, and we’d have to get or create some of the same breaks that went the way of Arkansas and Mississippi State. But there was no mistaking that a Georgia win would be an upset. The Dawgs were 16-point underdogs, and teams are usually big underdogs for a reason.

The 2008 blowout loss to Florida could be considered a surprise. The Dawgs were highly-ranked and riding high off a big win at LSU. There were some concerns on defense, but the star-studded offense and the fact that Georgia had been competitive in recent years in Jacksonville caused the lopsided loss to come as a bit of a shock. We knew better this year.

What we got instead should be very familiar to anyone who’s watched Georgia in 2009. The first half was a story of penalties; the second half was a story of turnovers. Georgia got very little pressure on Tim Tebow and created no takeaways of their own. Again, we could be talking about most any other game from 2009. A struggling quarterback found something that worked and used it to have a very efficient game.

Even Mark Richt’s attempts at manufacturing motivation – the uniform changes and the sideline huddle following Georgia’ first touchdown – all were well-worn tactics that seemed more like a coach with few better ideas going back to the well for things that had worked at some point in the past. The uniform thing can work – just ask Tennessee. But Rashad Jones had it right in hindsight: “It’s not the black helmets; it’s what’s behind the black helmets. It’s the players.” Tried on this underperforming team those tactics that had worked so well in the past came across as contrived.

Just as Alabama’s strength coach provided the epitaph for last season’s Blackout, the black helmets are going to be a reminder of a team who came off a bye week with nothing to show for it but a wardrobe change. Everything else looked the same from the end result to how we got there, and no one should be able to say that they are really all that surprised by it.

Georgia offensive lineman Vince Vance was arrested this morning for “failing to obey signal or signs and driving without a valid license.”

Vance won’t be suspended or miss playing time as a result of this incident. “Coach Richt will handle discipline internally,” said UGA SID Claude Felton.

Vance, according to Radi Nabulsi of UGASports.com, was driving a borrowed car with a learner’s permit and did not have an adult over the age of 21 in the car at the time. It’s Vance’s second driving-related arrest in a year, and both started with a failure to obey a stop sign or traffic light.

Vince Vance, was arrested for driving with an expired license on Saturday night…Richt said Vance said he didn’t realize his license expired on Oct. 11, his 21st birthday. Richt said he was told Vance was pulled over because “he did not stop very well at a stop sign.” He was then arrested for the expired license.

Pity Tim Tebow. Florida is averaging just 24 PPG in SEC games, so “what’s wrong with the Gators?” has become a popular topic this week. The offense has put up around 23 points (give or take an extra point) in each of the past two games. The new offensive coordinator is ridiculed, and even the star quarterback seems to be showing frustration.

But while everyone is pouring out concern for Tebow, his corch, and the Florida offense in general (words of encouragement from Dr. Lou seems to be all that’s missing), does it matter? Those measly 23 points would have been enough to beat Georgia in all but 6 of the past 20 games against Florida. Under Mark Richt the Dawgs haven’t even managed more than 14 points in 6 of the 8 games. Not coincidently, they won the other two games.

We know that the Florida defense is good. How good? Forget yardage and efficiency – since last year’s loss to Ole Miss, Florida hasn’t allowed more than 21 points to anyone – even in the SEC and national championship wins last year. The 20-point score posted by Arkansas represents the most damage done by a Florida opponent so far in 2009.

You’d read that about the Florida defense and conclude that this game is on Georgia’s defense to keep things close enough for the Dawgs to have a fighting chance, ala Arkansas or Mississippi State. Make no mistake, defending the Florida offense is still important. Even a brilliant performance by the offense isn’t going to overcome another Knoxville-like outing by the Bulldog defense. This can’t be the week that Florida solves its red zone woes and discovers a potent downfield passing game. There are several key things that Georgia defense must do, starting with strong defensive line play stuffing the dive play and getting to Tebow, in order to put Florida into the positions from which they’ve made most of their mistakes.

Last year’s team-wide meltdown notwithstanding, this Georgia defensive staff has generally done a decent job of holding Florida in the mid-20s or so. A result along those lines should be good enough to set up a competitive game, and sure enough we’ve seen plenty of those in Jacksonville in the Richt era (unfortunately with most going Florida’s way). Florida’s offense is doing a decent enough job of being inconsistent on its own to make another such game a realistic possibility. That’s not to say they can’t break out against Georgia (again, going back to the Tennessee or even South Carolina games), but if you had to put money on one side of the Florida team shooting itself in the foot it would be the offense.

The harder job then seems to belong to offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. The Florida defense has been consistently good. Arkansas might have caught them a few times, but the Gator defense hasn’t had enough bad moments for anyone to count on an off day, and that’s especially true if Brandon Spikes and other injured defenders are back in good health. Even if the Florida offense can be held near its season averages, it’s going to be a tall task for Georgia to keep up.

So what does Bobo do? How do the Bulldogs scratch their way towards the 24+ points they’ll likely need to win?

• A silver bullet isn’t likely to come from the running game.
• Paul would like to see a healthy dose of screens and has some solid reasoning behind that suggestion.
• You might look for points from special teams, but they’re not likely to come from the punt return team. Boykin is always a threat, but hopefully Florida isn’t kicking off that much. When they do kick off they’re the second-best coverage unit in the SEC.
• Mississippi State’s Johnathan Banks returned two interceptions for touchdowns against the Gators last week. Is there a Darryl Gamble moment in store for Georgia again this year? The Dawgs have only six takeaways through seven games.
• You might consider it more of an experiment than a solution, but there’s a possibility of some shuffling on the offensive line. Beyond the points that Hale makes, I think the idea of moving Boling to left tackle is important for one big reason: Cox’s propensity to take some pretty big hits from the blind side. Florida has 20 sacks on the year, good enough for third in the SEC. Reducing the chance of Cox taking another shot and fumbling again and/or getting injured is worth the move.
• We’d rather have touchdowns than field goals, but can the Dawgs count on the kicker to come through with 3 points in a low-scoring game? Last year Blair Walsh went 1-for-3 on field goals with both misses coming from inside 40 yards. The first miss cost Georgia a chance to grab an early lead. In fact, the Jacksonville game has been a dismal place for otherwise-reliable Bulldog kickers. Billy Bennett was a career 6-for-11 (55%) against Florida and Coutu was a miserable 1-for-4 (25%). During the Richt era, Georgia kickers are only 5-for-12 (42%) on field goal attempts inside of 40 yards. Getting 3 instead of 7 is bad enough, but coming up empty altogether is devastating especially when points have come at such a premium for the Dawgs in this series.

Blutarsky lays out what the numbers say Georgia needs to do:

All Bobo has to do is come up with a game plan that allows the offense to move the ball at more than five yards a crack, stays out of third down situations a fair amount of the time and helps to contribute more than 26 points on the scoreboard.

That’s it?

Maybe it’s because the LSU game was a month ago, but the weekly string-em-up routine now for SEC officials is starting to wear thin. This was the consequence of letting it all play out in pub-lick culminating with the rare if not unprecedented announcement to the world of a crew being suspended. Now every coach and fan base thinks it’s their place and obligation to make a mountain range out of every individual molehill of a perceived slight. Will the SEC have any active crews left standing by the time that Florida-Alabama (round 1) takes place in December?

The good news for Georgia fans is that we have another excuse to add to the list this week: location, heat, and now bad refs. Why wait until next weekend to start complaining?

Getting back to this weekend’s most controversial call (and, no, it wasn’t the OMG HE WON THE GAME AND TOOK OFF HIS HELMET nonsense), we have a Florida defensive touchdown that remained a touchdown even after a review failed to overturn the call despite seeing this:

The outcome of the call notwithstanding, why are we relying on those angles to settle one of the fundamental questions in football: did the ball cross the plane of the goal line? You have one angle that doesn’t even show the ball and another angle that’s well behind the play. With the money involved, the innovation in coverage, and the universal acceptance of replay, why aren’t there stationary cameras at either end of the goal line for every televised game? They don’t even need to be manned.

Knowing when a player has scored seems pretty important. We can have sophisticated cameras suspended by cables over the field, but is it too much to ask for a better angle on a touchdown? Even in the SEC someone is bound to cross the goal line once or twice a game. In goal-line situations the mobile sideline camera is usually good enough, but as this play showed not every questionable touchdown is a plunge from the 1-yard line.

UPDATE: Andy Hutchins of the Sporting Blog throws his support behind the idea of goal line cameras.

The SEC sent out memos this week clarifying things like marking the spot of a kick and also reminding schools of the restrictions on piped-in noise and music used during games.

In other news, Florida travels to Mississippi State this weekend where artificial noisemakers are a proud tradition and central to the program’s identity.

Mark Fox and Andy Landers were in front of the SEC media this morning, and each offered his outlook on the upcoming season.

Fox talked about the resources available to an SEC program as well as the difficulties of installing his triangle offense with “a group that needs some more offense and that needs to work on controlling the ball better.” He mentioned the motivation that comes from a team looking for a fresh start. “We are not having to fight the battle to get these players motivated,” he added.

Landers focused on the challenges of meshing seven newcomers with a small group of veterans. “How well we do in the season really depends on how well we mix the young and the old.” Fortunately a solid recruiting class should help things. “Our freshmen look a lot better than what your typical freshmen usually look like so that is very encouraging,” Landers explained. Though the media picked Georgia to finish third this year, Landers sees six teams with the possibility of winning the SEC because of the “absence of a great player (in the league) this season.”

For more coverage from Media Days and interviews with other coaches and players, visit the SEC site.

UPDATE: Mark Fox’s debut impressed ESPN’s Pat Forde. “Phenomenal,” he posted to Twitter. “Dawgs made the biggest upgrade in nation in media terms.”

Since it’s a bye week, I’ll go off on a tangent inspired by Mike Tollin’s excellent look back at the USFL as part of ESPN’s 30 on 30 series. It’s been a nostalgic week for those who remember the league, and I even picked up on a few things – somehow I never knew Scott Woerner had a pro career, but there he was returning kicks in the USFL championship game.

Longtime readers and friends know that I grew up a North Carolina fan. Living in the state at the same time that Lawrence Taylor and Michael Jordan owned college sports made it a pretty easy decision for a young kid. (It wasn’t until I enrolled at Georgia that my conversion began, but years of antipathy towards Tech and Clemson made the transition easy.)

In that light, the USFL was one thing to me: Kelvin Bryant vs. Herschel Walker.

Walker needs no introduction, but it’s my “original sin” as a converted Georgia fan that Herschel was the bad guy for fans of Carolina and Kelvin Bryant. History remembers other Heisman winners George Rogers and Marcus Allen as Herschel’s peers, but Bryant had emerged as one of the nation’s top tailbacks in 1981 after being part of a backfield that produced a pair of 1,000 yard rushers in 1980. Injuries slowed him during his last two college seasons, but 15 touchdowns in 3 games to start the 1981 season showed his potential – he finished 1981 with over 1,000 yards despite missing half the season. He entered the 1982 season as a legitimate Heisman candidate and a rival of sorts to Walker.

That “rivalry” (I don’t recall any actual bad blood or anything) got turned up when both players became cornerstones of USFL franchises. Walker usually got the best of Bryant – even at the bank where Bryant was the league’s highest-paid player until Walker signed. Bryant downplayed the role of foil, but it was an inescapable story. Walker led the USFL in rushing in 1983 and 1985, but Walker splitting time with Maurice Carthon gave Bryant the upper hand in 1984. Bryant was the league’s MVP in 1983, and Walker won the award in 1985.

Both players went to the NFL in 1986 and left as the top two running backs in USFL history. Walker had the longer and more successful NFL career, but Bryant earned a Super Bowl ring with the Redskins in 1987 to go along with two USFL championships. Bryant could never shake the injury-prone label and eventually retired in 1990. For a kid who grew up as a fan of Bryant, those few years spent watching those two in the USFL were like watching Kobe vs. Lebron today. You couldn’t enjoy one without appreciating the other, and the competition made an otherwise pass-happy league that much better.

One thing in new coach Mark Fox’s favor is that expectations can’t get any lower in his first season.

Georgia came in 6th in the SEC East in the media’s preseason voting this week. That wasn’t a surprise, but the vote was unanimous: Georgia was in last place on each of the 25 ballots.

Kentucky was the clear favorite to win the division and conference, and Mississippi State was the media’s pick to win the West. Florida was projected 5th in the East, so they start the year already on the bubble after last year’s flop.

Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson is the preseason Player of the Year. Patterson is joined on the preseason all-conference teams by freshman phenom John Wall who is already second team based on pure hype. Georgia had no players on the preseason all-conference teams.

The news was a good deal better for the Lady Dogs who were projected to finish third in the conference. A return to the top of the conference would be welcome after last year’s disappointing 7th place finish, but I wonder whether the media had time to process the impact of Christy Marshall’s injury.

The Lady Dogs were the only team with two players on the first team all-conference squad: seniors Ashley Houts and Angel Robinson. That the Lady Dogs have two first-teamers but weren’t close to being picked to win the conference illustrates the perceived lack of firepower behind those two stars. Georgia will be counting on a half-dozen newcomers to fill in the gaps this year, and the media seems to think that the young team will go as far as their senior leaders Houts and Robinson will carry them.

By the reaction to Mike Bobo’s move from the box down to the sideline, you’d have thought it led to the sharpest performance by the Georgia offense since he took over playcalling duties in 2006. Instead, the running game continued to have its problems until the 4th quarter, the offense managed just two first downs in the first quarter, and Joe Cox was around 50% for the game. If they say it was a sound move, I’d hate to imagine what the offense would have looked like against a poor Vanderbilt team had Bobo stayed upstairs.

The reason for the move, according to Bobo, was “to look into their eyes and try to get a feel for how we’re doing and hopefully relax a little better.” Reviews from the players as well as Bobo and Richt were positive, so at this point there might be some placeo effect. If it takes the offensive coordinator getting down on the sideline to get the offense going, so be it. Interestingly some fans were suggesting a week ago that the defensive coordinator might be more effective by doing the opposite and going from the sideline to the box.

Bobo admitted that it was “a little more difficult to see the play unfold” from the sideline, but Vanderbilt’s defense was pretty straightforward. “They were going to play two deep to our base personal,” Bobo told David Hale. With the strategic advantage of sitting up in the box less important, the decision to move down to the sideline was made. Will that be the case in two weeks? Florida has one of the nation’s most effective and talented defenses and will certainly do more than sit in two deep coverage all day. The indication seems to be that Bobo will return to the sideline for the Florida game, but will the Dawgs get the kind of input and analysis they need against a sophisticated Florida defense with Tony Ball the only offensive coach in the press box?

Florida’s offense turned the ball over four times and lurched its way to 23 points to beat Arkansas. Given a repeat performance in Jacksonville, could Georgia take advantage? The Dawgs have scored at least 24 points against Florida only 3 times since 1994. Not coincidentally, Georgia won each of those games.

Geno Atkins hadn’t made a lot of noise this year until Saturday, and he’s been named the SEC’s Defensive Lineman of the Week as a result. Geno was pushed for a starting job by Kade Weston, but to his credit he’s fighting back. The trio of senior defensive tackles was supposed to be a strength this year, and they might just be coming around. With continued improvement from the tackles and more solid play from Justin Houston, a strong defensive front could be one of Georgia’s few defensive advantages down the stretch.

Comcast steps up. I’ve complained before about Comcast not offering Atlanta customers the Peachtree TV HD feed for the SEC Network game of the week. I’m happy to report that they’ve had the games in HD on channel 802 for the last two weeks. I don’t know if that was just because Georgia was playing or if they’ll continue the arrangement. Unfortunately all was not perfect – it seems that no guide information was updated to reflect the change, so recording the games with a DVR or Tivo was very difficult.

While the SEC prepares its weekly form letter acknowledging another officiating mistake, conspiracy theories abound. Still, football is light years ahead of basketball where “Jordan rules” and favorable treatment for stars is considered a way of life.

Auburn’s losses to Arkansas and Kentucky have them at 2-2 in the SEC with LSU, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Alabama remaining. They’ll have to find a way to win a night game in Baton Rouge to avoid their third consecutive loss. Ignoring the fact that their offense managed just 14 points at home, how did they give up 21 points to a quarterback-less Kentucky team? On the other hand, the Wildcats seem headed for bowl eligibility again. They’re just 3-3 now and 1-3 in the SEC, but they won’t face another ranked team. Yet another bowl bid would represent a level of consistency that many didn’t expect to continue after the Woodson years and seemed out of reach just four or five years ago.

Finally, congrats to Georgia Tech for a big win and a solid season so far, but always remember that celebrating on the field is no time to forget your inhaler.

Recruits are listening.

The point isn’t about one specific prospect – Nickell Robey sounds as much in the Georgia camp as one could hope given the circumstances. It’s going to be an issue with a lot of defensive prospects committed to and considering Georgia. If our own fans are openly campaigning for coaching changes, you can’t blame prospects who want to take a step back and see how things play out. Mark Richt and his staff are spending the bye week out recruiting, and I’m sure a lot of what they’re having to do is damage control. That’s unfortunately the reality when a season takes a disappointing turn, and the competition is more than ready to pounce on any openings Georgia gives them.

That’s not to discourage the talk, though that’s personally not my style. The talk is out there, and I’m sure many are fine with some attrition among recruits if it means getting the coaching changes they want. Just don’t be surprised when some of the quality prospects who have committed to Georgia realize and react to the consequences of the moves you support. With so many good commitments to date, we were wondering if there would be any drama in this recruiting season. In the end Richt and his staff will end up with another highly-rated class, but there might be some turbulence en route to that destination.

Any conversation I’ve had about the game took an average of 8 seconds to get to that disclaimer.  Look – no one’s claiming that the win healed all wounds and that the Dawgs have turned it around.  But Vanderbilt was the opponent, and – for a nice change – Georgia took care of business against a lesser opponent without much drama.  It was only Vandy two years ago when the Dawgs escaped by a field goal.  In 2006 the Dawgs followed up an ugly loss to Tennessee by imploding against Vanderbilt at home.  With so much negativity around the program this week Georgia responded by handing Vandy their biggest loss of the year and recording the biggest Georgia win in Nashville since 1993.

Even disclaiming the quality of competition, there was plenty to like:

• Georgia got out in front, held a lead, and put away Vanderbilt.  Sounds simple, but the Dawgs had found a way to make things interesting in each of their other three wins.
• Georgia gave Vanderbilt very few opportunities to get back in the game with field position, turnovers, or special teams mistakes.
• The Dawgs immediately answered both Vandy scores cutting off any chance the Commodores had of getting on a roll.
• Though the running game struggled for much of the game it showed up when it was time to put the game away.  Time-of-possession was in Vandy’s favor most of the game, but it ended up being nearly a five minute advantage for Georgia by the end of the game.  The nearly seven minute 4th quarter drive that ended with Munzenmaier’s touchdown was a thing of beauty.
• Georgia was an acceptable 7-for-15 on third downs while limiting Vandy to just 3-of-15.
• With the exception of the fake punt that proved harmless, Georgia’s special teams were strong in all areas. Even kick coverage was decent with no return longer than 20 yards, and the kick out of bounds at the end of the first half was good strategy if it was intentional and not a bad outcome if it was accidental.

It wasn’t a perfect result  – the running game still struggles, Vandy was more effective on offense than the score indicates, and even Cox and the receivers had a tough time getting on the same page at times – but the simple conclusion that Georgia did what you’re supposed to do against a weaker team is more than many of us expected heading into the game.

ACL injuries are a fact of life in college sports, but few sports are plagued by the injury as women’s basketball where the ACL injury rate is up to five times that of males. It’s no surprise but still as much of a punch in the gut to learn that Georgia senior wing Christy Marshall tore her ACL on Wednesday and will miss the upcoming season. We wish her a quick and complete recovery.

Marshall was one of three seniors and only five returning players for the Lady Dogs this season. Though she’s struggled on the defensive end during her career, her athleticism makes her a natural scorer, and that contribution will be greatly missed. The injury might mean that freshman star Anne Marie Armstrong gets a lot more playing time than was originally planned.

The team is counting on seven newcomers to bolster the returning players, and reducing that number of returning players by 20% in one swoop isn’t a good thing for the team’s prospects. It doesn’t help that Tamika Willis, one of those newcomers and a top 50 national recruit, won’t join the team until later in the season.

Practice officially begins today for a Lady Dogs team looking to reassert itself after a disappointing 2008-2009 campaign that saw them bounced from the NCAA Tournament in the first round and unable to make a splash even in a down year for the SEC. To say the least, the news that two key players won’t be part of that first practice isn’t the kind of start that Andy Landers wanted.