By next football season, dingy Reed Alley beside Sanford Stadium could look more like the plaza at Atlanta’s Turner Field, with dozens of new restrooms and concession areas and giant TV screens so fans can buy a snack and still see what’s happening on the football field.
The project could start after graduation in May and be done in time for the 2010 season.
The Georgia Tech-Georgia game, scheduled for Nov. 28th at Bobby Dodd Stadium, will kick-off at 8 p.m. and will be televised by ABC (reverse mirror on ESPN2).
The debate rages this morning over Bill Belichick’s unorthodox decision to go for it on 4th-and-2 from his own 28. Here’s the thing though – as gutsy as the call was, New England might get another shot at Indy in the playoffs. At worst, Belichick’s decision cost his team homefield advantage (not insignificant, I grant). The decision, which was probably the right one, ended up costing the game and homefield advantage, but it didn’t end his team’s chances at a championship.
Imagine if Belichick were coaching Texas and faced the same decision. A loss doesn’t just cost a game and a future advantage – it removes your team from the inside track to the BCS championship game. Does that change the parameters of the decision? Do you make the same call?
It’s too soon by any stretch of the imagination to call the Lady Dogs “back”, but Sunday’s season-opening 62-51 upset of Oklahoma showed that things could be a good bit different this year.
Georgia asserted its advantage inside with Angel Robinson and Porsha Phillips, and Oklahoma’s Abi Olajuwon proved to be no Paris twin. The Sooners were uncharacteristically cold from outside until a flurry of jumpers helped them draw even at 43, but Georgia had more punch down the stretch.
Perhaps the biggest change so far is the impact of freshman guard Jasmine James. Her athleticism on the perimeter pairs nicely with Houts and gives the Lady Dogs an element they really haven’t had since Alexis Kendrick. James isn’t just an outside shooter – she can penetrate and looks to score inside the arc. Tasha Humphrey began a memorable Georgia career by leading her team to an early-season upset of a Big 12 opponent in 2004, and hopefully James’s 15 points in a similar win herald the arrival of another Lady Dog great.
James and the other newcomers, including Candace Williams, Jasmine Hassell, and Anne Marie Armstrong all had their freshmen moments, but all seemed to grasp the tempo and effort necessary to compete at the SEC level. The team overall looked a great deal more active and aggressive than last year when many offensive trips seemed to bog down until Houts threw something up as the shot clock expired. That didn’t happen much yesterday. Nine players saw action, and that helped the team stay fresh against an opponent who, as Robinson noted, “started to slow down” in the second half.
A strong early schedule continues for the Lady Dogs next Sunday when nationally-ranked Rutgers comes to town. Georgia lost an ugly game up there last year, and shaking off that loss with another win would show that this program isn’t ready to lose its spot among the national powers.
After reviewing the videotape of the UT players’ armed robbery, SEC Replay Officials have overturned the ruling on the scene and have now charged two Mississippi State and one LSU player with the offense.
Cue up the Lewis Grizzard joke about not paying players…”We give ’em their own 7-11. They can rob it any time they want to.”
Only a story like that would overshadow another classic from Knoxville about a state legislator getting bounced from the UT-SC game a few weeks back for wearing a Mexican wrestling mask. Seriously.
This week’s heavy rains across north Georgia have left portions of the UGA campus too soggy for gameday parking this weekend.
The intramural fields and grassy areas around Aderhold Hall, East Campus Drive and the Ramsey Center are too waterlogged for safe parking and will be closed on Saturday.
If you’re used to parking on grass, it’s possible that your usual parking spot won’t be available this weekend. If you are able to park on a grassy area, you’re urged to consider not bringing heavier items that might cause more damage than usual on soft ground. Campus police “also ask those who normally bring pull-behind trailers to consider going without them so that we can have more parking available for other cars.”
A University of Georgia student thinks a Tennessee Tech football player may have stolen a laptop computer and iPod while staying at her West Athens apartment last weekend, Athens-Clarke police said.
The value of the stolen goods was around $1,600, and the story reads like a classic college tale of what can happen when friends of friends crash at your place while you’re out of town.
Hines Ward’s Pittsburgh Steelers got the better of the Denver Broncos last night, and Ward capped off the win with his own highlight against former Bulldog teammate Champ Bailey. (It’s at the 4:25 mark.)
“If I was an official, and I was making what I made officiating because I love the game and I love doing it, and I was getting criticized by the media, including our announcers on TV, like these guys are getting criticized, I’d step back and say ‘I think I’ll go to the lake this weekend. You can have this.’ That’s what I’d do,” Saban said. “Can somebody stand up and fight for these guys and what they do for the game?”
Get all of the conspiracy theories and teacher’s pet stuff out of the way, and Saban’s on the right track. SEC officials are missing calls. There are possibly equipment issues. The point is that the refs are being held to the standard of perfection – a standard to which no other person in the SEC (well, OK, maybe Tim Tebow) is held. We go into hysterics every Monday over the latest howler (one, in this week’s case, that reasonable observers don’t necessarily consider a mistake). It’s easy to dwell on one replay, and we even had disagreement and discussion about this within the Georgia campbefore the fateful call against LSU. At the same time the errors in execution, strategy, and playcalling by players and coaches that add up during a game are pushed to the side in favor of “yeah, but did you SEE THAT CALL?!?”
The caricature of the blind ref/ump is older than most of us. They’re going to continue to get some wrong as surely as your quarterback will throw an interception at some point. Though the imperative to improve both the system and the individual officials has to be there, the conference isn’t doing itself any favors by losing its head every time an impossible standard isn’t met.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Making SEC refs look like Solomon
Comments
Dawg Media
RSS 2.0