I wrote a few weeks ago that the New York Times has recently opened up its archives after years behind a paywall.  One of the more popular applications to come of this opening of a rich historical trove is to look for the first mention of everyone and everything from Hitler to Britney Spears.

So naturally, I wondered about a few items close to our own heart.

First mention of the University of Georgia:  April 2, 1852

In an article featuring a couple of spiritual mediums in hot water, it is mentioned that

The University of Georgia has 175 students, of whom 151 are in actual attendance.  There are two literary societies connected with the University – the Phi Kappa and the Demosthenian.

There’s at least one member of the Dawgosphere who will be very happy to see his society mentioned in this historic news clipping.

You can see some of the other early articles related to the University.

First mention of the “University of Georgia” and “football”: August 18, 1897

The first mention of UGA football has very little to do with Georgia’s program.  Cornell has found a coach, and he’s Glenn “Pop” Warner.  The article notes,

In previous years the team has been coached by old Yale and Harvard players.  Warner has already turned out winning teams for the University of Georgia and the University of Iowa.  He will endeavor at Cornell to develop a distinct style of play.

Warner was 7-4 in two seasons at Georgia, and he gave the University its first undefeated season with a 4-0 mark in 1896.

The second article mentioning Georgia football deals with the 1897 fatal injury to Richard Vonalbade (“Von”) Gammon in a game against Virginia.  Gammon died of the head injury the next day, and the state of Georgia was set to ban the game of football at state schools.  A letter from Gammon’s mother convinced the governor not to sign the ban.  Her letter read, in part,

It would be the greatest favor to the family of Von Gammon if your influence could prevent his death being used for an argument detrimental to the athletic cause and its advancement at the university. His love for his college and his interest in all manly sports, without which he deemed the highest type of manhood impossible, is well known by his classmates and friends, and it would be inexpressibly said to have the cause he held so dear injured by his sacrifice. Grant me the right to request that my boy’s death should not be used to defeat the most cherished object of his life.

1892 Pandora – “History of Athletics”

The Anti-Orange Page has a feature from the 1892 Pandora yearbook looking back at some of the first football and baseball games.  Lots of great tidbits in there:

• “The next thing is a new gymnasium. It was mentioned some time ago, but not much has been heard of it lately. Let those in authority take advantage of the opportunity and keep up the enthusiasm by their substantial aid.”  Even in 1892, facilities for athletics were an issue.
• “But after all, they (Auburn) refused outright to play us baseball, fearing the team here, about which so much has been written and said.”  The South’s oldest rivalry indeed.  Even in 1892, an article’s not complete without calling Auburn a bunch of cowards.
• “It was not until the fall of 1890, that there was awakened among the students the proper spirit of enthusiasm. At this time Dr. Charles Herty came to the University as Instructor in Chemistry, and the whole success of our Association is due entirely to him.”  Herty was, of course, Georgia’s first football coach.

My favorite line though is this remark about the uselessness of mascots after a 10-0 loss to Auburn:

About a month later we tackled Auburn, proving without doubt that there is no virtue in mascottes, for Robert and his goat availed us naught.

The University of Georgia has come around just a little bit on the subject of mascots.

It’s obvious to the point of annoyance to say that special teams and turnovers can affect the outcome of a football game. No kidding. Still, no Georgia series this decade has turned on those elements of the game more than the Tennessee series. A quick look at Georgia’s three recent wins in Knoxville shows how a single return or turnover has completely reversed the direction of a game:

• Damien Gary’s punt return touchdown in 2001 brought the Dawgs up off the mat after early struggles and set up a close second half (and of course the wild finish).
• Tennessee was driving to take a halftime lead in 2003 before Sean Jones changed everything with his fumble return. Georgia scored four touchdowns in little more than a quarter and won 41-14.
• The Vols had an interception return of their own to get back into the game in 2005, but Thomas Flowers got momentum back on Georgia’s side with his punt return.

Special teams and defense have even had extraordinary impacts in the Athens meetings. Boss Bailey’s field goal block in 2002 was the stuff of legends. Last season’s game was particularly wild. Kick returns, blocked punts, and turnovers dominated the second half.

Vol fans seem almost resigned that the special teams touchdown will make yet another appearance. When faced with a weakness, you have to ask whether or not you can exploit it. A team might rank 11th in the conference in run defense, but that stat does nothing for you if you can’t run the ball.

In the case of kickoff returns, Vol fans can probably sleep easy. Though Thomas Brown took one back against Tennessee last year, this year’s kickoff returns have been more or less impotent. The Dawgs are dragging the bottom of the SEC at around 20 yards per return. If anything, Tennessee has a better chance of breaking a kickoff return on the Dawgs.

Punt returns seem more promising. Mikey Henderson has had several decent returns of 10+ yards and has come thisclose to breaking a few of them. It will be interesting to see if Tennessee punts away from Henderson as the game goes on.

Turnovers were the tale in 2003 and 2006. Jones’ fumble recovery touched off a series of Tennessee turnovers that led to Georgia’s 41-point total. It was Georgia’s turn to be generous with the ball last year – the Dawgs started a disastrous trend of early second half turnovers that would haunt them for a month. Georgia had only one series in the entire game that didn’t end in a score or a turnover. The scores were mostly in the first half, and the turnovers did them in in the second half.

Expecting a game-changing turnover from Georgia might be asking a bit much. The Dawgs have tallied just four takeaways in five games. If there’s a promising sign, it’s that Georgia had a multiple-takeaway game last week for the first time this season, and even better news was that the Dawgs converted each of those turnovers against Ole Miss into touchdowns.

Will Tennessee feast on Georgia turnovers again? The Dawgs have been stingy to this point with only four giveaways – as many as they had in the second half of last year’s Tennessee game alone. It should be noted though that half of Georgia’s turnovers this season came in Georgia’s only other road game to date, and Alabama was able to convert both of those Stafford miscues into important scoring drives.

As much as I hate the trite "turnovers and special teams" analysis, it’s been the story of this series lately. With each team capable of winning the game, Georgia’s ability to value possession and get a big play from special teams or defense once again could turn the game in their favor.

Quinton over at the Georgia Sports Blog looks at the waning intimidation factor at Neyland Stadium and concludes,

"A great team makes the venue, not the other way around."

I generally agree with that statement. A fired-up home underdog with the crowd behind them can be a dangerous thing, but that’s not something on which to hang your hat consistently. A great crowd (venue) can occasionally inspire an ordinary team to great things, but the effect (and often the crowd enthusiasm itself) is temporary. Of course a top-notch team doesn’t as a rule mean you’ll have a great venue. Boston College is relatively anonymous in a town that’s obsessed with pro sports.

When you get the convergence of a good team in a football-mad part of the world, the results can be impressive. It’s why places like Nebraska or LSU or Florida or Michigan have, at times, been pits of despair for opponents.

Naturally, this topic gets a Bulldog fan thinking about Sanford Stadium. No one questions the passion of Georgia fans. Yet when folks speak of Sanford Stadium, they speak of the setting, the Hedges, the tradition, but usually not of a particularly intimidating place to play. Why is that?

As Quinton notes, having a good team matters. Georgia has had some good runs, but they’ve also had some pretty ordinary stretches. Even football-crazy fans will moderate during a rough patch. Some might also blame that favorite whipping boy: the wine-and-cheese alumni.

In Georgia’s case, the schedule also has a lot to do with it. I’m not going to turn this into a strength of scheduling discussion, but it should be noted that I think, as a rule, our schedule is often plenty tough enough, thanks. The downside of my preferred scheduling approach is that there just haven’t been that many marquee games to come through Athens.

Clemson in 1991 was the last Top 10 nonconference opponent to play Between the Hedges. The Georgia Tech game has rarely had significance outside of the state. The Florida game is often huge but is played in Jacksonville. LSU has visited Athens just three times since 1991, and Alabama has visited just twice over the same time. That pretty much leaves either Tennessee or Auburn (depending on the year) as a potential marquee home opponent, and Georgia has a losing record in Athens against both of those programs over the past two decades.

In short, Bulldog fans in Sanford Stadium are likely to see 1) opponents of moderate to low quality or 2) a loss. Regardless of the quality of the Georgia program, that’s not exactly the formula for a frenzied home environment. Think about this – from 1992 through 1999, what was the most significant win at Sanford Stadium? What are some of the truly significant wins of the past decade or two at Sanford Stadium? I don’t mean nice wins like Oklahoma State or beating Alabama in 2003. I mean really big head-turning wins.

• Ga. Tech 2006. A comeback win over an ACC division winner. Not exactly nationally significant, but it meant a lot to the Bulldog Nation.
• Boise State 2005. I hesitate to mention this as a "big" win, but it was a symbolic clash of traditional power vs. the brash upstart, and it resonated nationally.
• LSU 2004. A landmark win over the defending SEC champion. Big in every sense of the word.
• Tennessee 2000. The streak ends.
• Clemson 1991. Simply electrifying.

That’s as far back as I go. Is that it? There are plenty of other memorable wins – Texas Tech in 1996, Auburn in 2003, South Carolina 1995, and so on – but let’s not confuse those with the kind of titanic wins we’re talking about here.

It hasn’t helped that some of the losses have been absolutely deflating. Consider Ole Miss 1996, Auburn 1997, Tennessee 2004, and even South Carolina 2007. The Dawgs follow up a nice, often significant, win by laying an egg at home. You can’t build home field momentum that way.

Mark Richt has elevated many aspects of the Georgia program, and performance at home is one of them. He noted early on the correlation between perfect home records and conference titles, and the Dawgs didn’t lost a game at home in 2002 or 2003. That edge has slipped somewhat recently, and near-misses against teams like Colorado and Mississippi State almost felt like losses. Two of the three remaining home games have the chance to be pretty significant with the SEC race potentially still up for grabs. Wins in those games could play a big part in rebuilding some of the Sanford Stadium edge that eroded in 2006.

A look around the college football landscape after five weeks:

It was, to say the least, an interesting weekend for college football. I won’t go so far as to say "good" or even "entertaining" in many cases. Alabama – FSU was just painful to watch. I’m sorry to have missed out on some of the few watchable games like Cal-Oregon.

Saturday, at least in Athens, was why we live for football in the South. Perfect weather, perfect setting, and (for us, anyway) a perfect outcome. To some, college football heaven is a sports bar with televisions as far as the eye can see. That’s fine for the NFL. College football is all about the immersion – the campus, the outdoors, the partisanship, and the tailgate. I have sympathy, not admiration, for those who hunker down in a bar to watch 111 games each week.

What to think of Auburn? The loss to Mississippi State is still glaring. Beating Kansas State looks a lot better now, and they played South Florida even. Now the win over Florida changes things a little. I was glad to see them beat Florida, but there was also this uneasiness that reminded me of way too many Georgia-Auburn games at Sanford Stadium. Is all of their road magic used up now?

Hey, didn’t you used to be Kirk Ferentz?

A common theme after this weekend’s carnage is to point to the results through five weeks as evidence that polls shouldn’t be release before (five, six, seven) weeks. My question remains the same as it was the first time I discussed this issue: how much would a poll released for the first time today vary from the current polls?

I know this sounds crazy given all of the Florida and Tebow hype since the season started, but I think many people are underrating Florida’s chances at LSU. Key to the game is LSU’s offense. It didn’t really set the world on fire against South Carolina and Tulane. Playmakers abound, but questions on the offensive line and an unsettled quarterback position keep me from enthusiastically jumping on the Tiger bandwagon. South Carolina showed that points, though not many, can be scored against LSU’s ridiculously good defense. Florida’s offensive system was able to put up points on a good LSU defense last year. A critical LSU turnover last year really changed that game, and this year’s meeting might turn on something similar.

Seeing teams like South Florida, Kentucky, and to some extent Wisconsin ranked so high at this early point in the season doesn’t really bother me. All are deserving of recognition for their seasons to date, but I don’t think any has the staying power to be a factor in the national (or even conference) title picture. Things will begin to sort themselves out in a few weeks. Kentucky has just one SEC game under its belt and will soon run its conference gauntlet. Seeing them atop the SEC East is just a temporary novelty. South Florida feasted on Auburn and West Virginia turnovers, and it’s hard to expect that kind of turnover margin to be there every week.

Ohio State deserves a bit more credit than they get for a win at Washington, but that’s been their only test so far. The Big Ten isn’t easy to read (or watch) this year, and the story might be which team just gets by from week to week. Penn State isn’t much of a factor after two losses. If Wisconsin and/or Illinois (!) stumble, are we looking at Michigan and Ohio State once again?

The way the conferences are setting up, we are looking at some potential BCS bowl matchups that are pretty ugly on paper. Then again, people thought that Georgia and Oklahoma would have an easy time with West Virginia and Boise State.

Washington has been a good story this year, but they are still 2-3. They get props for the tough schedule, the win over Boise, and playing Ohio State and SoCal close. But the program badly needs a win, and they have a bye week to get ready for Arizona State.

Cal has proven enough to say that a loss to Southern Cal, even if it is their only loss of the season, would leave them a good bit empty. They are in the position Texas faced circa 2004.

Finally, Ching points out that Georgia is the only SEC East team to beat Auburn since 2002. Impressive indeed. At the same time, Auburn is the only SEC West team to beat Georgia since 2003. Including the postseason, Mark Richt has just five losses in 6+ seasons to SEC West schools. Richt is currently 18-5 against the West. Coincidently, Richt has the same winning percentage (.783) in all games to date.

A year ago, I (and many others) left Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford thoroughly dissatisfied. The Dawgs had just escaped with a 14-9 win over a struggling Ole Miss team, the lingering quarterback question was no closer to being settled, and it looked as if Georgia couldn’t get a punt off to save their lives. The Dawgs won, but those of us looking for a strong bounceback win after the Colorado near-miss were left wanting.

Other than Georgia’s futility on offense, the one thing that stood out a year ago was the running of BenJarvus Green-Ellis. The Ole Miss tailback ran for 135 yards. The team had 193 rushing yards. Fortunately, Georgia was able to keep those yards from turning into points.

Jumping ahead to Saturday’s win over Ole Miss in Athens, the outcome was a bit different, but the Ole Miss running game was effective again. Green-Ellis and Hall combined for 152 yards. If there was going to be a game where Georgia’s undersized defensive line was a liability, this was it. The Rebels’ giant offensive line averages 6’5" and 321 lbs, and Green-Ellis is the type of power back who can run through tackles. No Georgia defensive lineman tallied more than two tackles.

The difference this year was the improvement in the Rebels’ passing game. Last year in Oxford Brent Schaeffer was 6-of-15 for 87 yards. This year they threw it 35 times for 228 yards. They attempted more passes than rushes. Seth Adams proved he could hit the deep pass against Florida, and it didn’t take long for him to go long against the Dawgs. After that first touchdown, the Dawg defense played not to give up the big play. The result was a couple of excruciatingly long drives but only 10 points the rest of the way.

The word of the day on both sides of the ball was "gash". Ole Miss ripped off moderate runs with regularity, and they looked damn near unstoppable in the first half. With two good tailbacks and plenty of time to pass, the Dawg defense were on their heels for much of the game. Three defensive plays might have saved Georgia’s season:

• Seth Adams’ fumble on the goal line. The Dawgs hadn’t done much to stop Ole Miss’s first two drives until this fumble prevented a 14-0 Rebel lead. C.J. Byrd recovered the loose ball, and Georgia drove the length of the field for the equalizer.
• Quintin Banks third-down stop. After Georgia’s first score, a long kickoff return gave Ole Miss the ball in Georgia territory with a good chance to answer. The Rebels faced a 3rd-and-3 from the Georgia 39 and again gave the ball to Green-Ellis. Reserve safety Quintin Banks was bringing pressure from the right, met Green-Ellis in the backfield, and gave the Dawgs their first big stop of the day. The subsequent punt went for a touchback, and Georgia drove 80 yards for the score that would put them on top until the third quarter.
• Corey Irvin’s 3rd quarter stuff. Georgia gave the ball back after failing to capitalize on a successful onside kick. Still down just 7 points, Ole Miss had dodged a bullet and had new life towards the end of the third quarter. Facing 3rd-and-3 again, Ole Miss handed it to Green-Ellis. This time defensive tackle Corey Irvin fought through the line and stopped Green-Ellis for no gain. The Rebels shanked the punt, and Thomas Brown scored two plays later to finally open up some breathing room.

It’s hard to claim that a 28-point win could turn on three defensive plays, but when you consider what those three stops cost Ole Miss and that Georgia scored after each of them, there you go.

The big question of course is what all of that means for next weekend’s big game at Tennessee. The Vols passed at will last year with Georgia doing little to pressure the quarterback. Recording zero sacks against Ole Miss isn’t a good omen. Georgia will either have to get more from the defensive front or take more risks in their pressure.

Thoughts during the long walk to downtown:

• What a difference a year makes. Last year in Oxford Thomas Brown had 4 carries for 10 yards. Now he’s SEC Offensive Player of the Week.
• Clint Boling certainly has a lot to learn as a true freshman, but it’s fun watching him get out in space ahead of a run. With that kind of speed, you can tell he was a tight end in a former life. The speed of the offensive line overall has taken a nice step forward this year.
• For all of the concern earlier in the year about a scatter-brained approach to the receiver rotation, a small group of players seem to be emerging. Though players like Moore, Wilson, Durham, and Goodman are getting plays and catches, the position is really crystallizing around Massaquoi, Bailey, and Henderson. They’re proving to be a solid set of upperclassmen.
• Stafford had to have winced watching some of the open receivers on film. I don’t know if they broke open after he had already checked down to secondary receivers, but opportunities for several big plays through the air were missed.
• The injury to Ole Miss defensive tackle Peria Jerry in the second quarter was huge. His disruption in the Bulldog backfield was a factor in the first half. Most, though not all, of Georgia’s running success came after he left the game.
• I hate to harp on it again, but the UAB highlights during the pregame Battle Hymn have to go. By the time we have another home game in a month, let’s give Henderson’s catch at Bama the place it deserves on that film.
• I was glad to see the defense not allow a point after the Rebels’ opening second half drive. After getting pushed around for much of the game, the defense made a difference in the late third and fourth quarters and helped to close the door.

Have you ever written anything where every sentence was completely wrong? I’m talking “French benefits” wrong. This was posted on the DawgVent by me on Friday:

WV wins pretty easily

USF won’t win by scoring 20 or so points again. WVa won’t help again with 4+ turnovers. Emotion won’t carry USF past the 1st quarter.

If WVa doesn’t win the Big East undefeated, they should drop football.

Let’s see:

• WV wins pretty easily. Wrong. 21-13 loss.
• USF won’t win by scoring 20 or so points again. Wrong. It only took 21.
• WVa won’t help again with 4+ turnovers. Wrong. There were six.
• Emotion won’t carry USF past the 1st quarter. Wrong. It carried them the whole way. They probably still haven’t come down.
• If WVa doesn’t win the Big East undefeated, they should drop football. Even this was wrong. Best I can tell, West Virginia is getting ready to play Syracuse.

My solace? At least I’m not this guy.

If it means 73 points in 3 minutes, start playing it the moment the players get off the bus.

You have to give the Bulldog coaching staff this:  they’re not proving to be very complacent this year. 

After cycling through three quarterbacks last season, the QB spot is about the only position that hasn’t been shaken up this season.  We’ve seen the linebackers turned upside-down, a freshman force changes on the offensive line, and Knowshon Moreno continues to lead the team in rushing yards and carries.

The winds of change hit the cornerback position this week. Sophomore Prince Miller might start opposite Asher Allen in Saturday’s game against Ole Miss.  Neither Miller nor Allen were starters at the beginning of the year, but they’ve played well.  Allen had 11 tackles at Alabama, and Richt was complementary of Miller’s performance.

“Prince played extremely well in the Nickel (defense), that inside receiver position. He did extremely well there,” Richt said. “Coach (Martinez) feels like he’s earned the opportunity to play there at the boundary. I think he will still be a Nickel (back).”

It should be noted that Bryan Evans isn’t exactly 100% and hasn’t started since he hyperextended his knee against South Carolina in Week 2.  He played hurt last week, and it showed.  A healthy Evans would be right there with Miller and Allen for a starting job.  Coach Richt wouldn’t commit to Miller starting (that’s Coach Martinez’s decision), so we could still see Thomas Flowers get the nod.  It’s really that close.  As it is, expect to see all four of those cornerbacks get a lot of time on Saturday.

The talk of a strong two-deep at cornerback has a lot of people asking this week what it all means for someone like Vance Cuff (not to mention linebacker Rennie Curran).  The two true freshmen were mentioned quite a bit heading into the season, and they saw playing time right out of the gate.  They haven’t played much in SEC games, and their limited role has fans wondering if their redshirts might have been wasted.  Coach Richt spoke to that point on Wednesday:

“They’re close to getting more time. They’re practicing with the first and second units, which is good. They’re not doing any scout team work. They’re preparing to play. When they get far enough along where the coaches feel comfortable enough, they’ll play and they’ll play more than they have to this point. That’s kinda where they’re at.”

The key point is that their redshirts were burned not for immediate contribution but for depth.  They must be game-tested and able to step in at a moment’s notice because they are each a serious injury away from much more significant playing time.  As Richt said, “they’re preparing to play.”  I do expect to see more of them this year.  Considering some of the concerns with depth and fatigue late in games, we’ll need the depth of players like Curran, Cuff, and Ramarcus Brown at some point this season.

I’ve read a lot of the analysis of this weekend’s game with Ole Miss, but I can’t seem to fall in line with the "letdown" worries.

It’s true that this game sets up as a possible letdown or "trap" coming after a big emotional win and another big road test next week. It’s also true that Ole Miss played us much closer than we would have liked last year.

Why am I having trouble getting properly worried for this game? The first is that Ole Miss isn’t a particularly good road team. Zero road wins in the SEC under Orgeron. They barely escaped a bad Memphis team and lost by double-digits at Vanderbilt. If this game were in Oxford, I’d be a lot more concerned.

The main reason for my mindset is the effect of the Bama win. Some emotional wins are draining, leaving you empty and unable to get back up for the next game. But others have a way of lifting pressure and getting a team on a roll. We saw that after Auburn in 2002. Georgia was a completely different team in those last three games of 2002 once the pressure of winning the SEC East was removed. It’s impossible to predict, but I think that the Bama game will have that kind of effect on this team.

There was a lot of doubt and pressure on the team after the South Carolina loss. While the season will surely still have other tests and struggles, the step forward in Tuscaloosa was significant. Not only was it a big shot of confidence for the team, but the win also got rid of a lot of the woe-is-us mentality from a fan base badly needing an SEC win. The crowd will be into the game. Is it enough to start the Dawgs on a more consistent roll into October? I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say it is. If you want solid reasoning, others have that down much better than I. This is strictly gut-feel stuff today.

You’ll notice I don’t do predictions very often. Some of that’s a result of superstition, but I figure it’s usually a crap shoot most of the time anyway. But for some reason I think the Dawgs start building on that Alabama win this weekend, handle an opponent they should beat, and cover the 15.

One of the negatives from Saturday’s win was another late-game drive against the Georgia defense. Twice this season and going back to some disasters last year, "finishing the drill" hasn’t been a hallmark of the Bulldog defense. Coach Richt discussed that point on Tuesday and said,

"It might be just an attitude thing," coach Mark Richt said Tuesday. "I’m going to challenge the defense this week on that very point and really the rest of the season that we’ve got to finish."

It’s unfortunate that this element of the defense gets the most attention. They played very well on Saturday and are second only to LSU in SEC total defense. Not bad for a unit replacing all but a couple of starters. Still, the late drives are a glaring and not isolated problem.

It’s fine to challenge the defense, but let’s not gloss over that the offense could do much more to put games away. The Bulldogs had that chance at Alabama. Up 7 with 6:24 to go, the Bulldog offense moved the ball just 15 yards in 4 plays before punting to set up Alabama’s game-tying drive.

It’s not the only time that the offense has wasted a chance to close the door. Most glaring is the Vanderbilt game in 2006. Trailing by a point, Vanderbilt muffed a punt and gave Georgia the ball on the Commodore 33 with 7 minutes remaining. Georgia moved the ball 13 yards in 5 plays over two minutes and then missed a short field goal. Vandy got the ball back still down just one point and drove for the winning field goal.

We can go all the way back to Richt’s first season in 2001. Munson’s favorite call, the "Hobnail Boot" play, only happened because Georgia couldn’t seal the win on offense. Late in the game, Jermaine Phillips intercepted a Tennessee pass near midfield. All the Dawgs had to do was get a single first down to end the game as Tennessee ran out of timeouts with little more than a minute left. Of course Georgia didn’t convert, Tennessee scored on a screen pass, and the offense was forced to be aggressive needing a touchdown with less than a minute remaining.

I don’t have a problem with Richt and the defense doing a little introspection because the need for them to make plays, stops, and turnovers is there. Let’s just evaluate the entire team’s approach and attitude to closing out games. It all could use some work.

Now that the games have come and gone, the big national story is Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy going off on local columnist Jenni Carlson for a critical piece about quarterback Bobby Reid.

Gundy’s sin was losing his composure. By doing so, he becomes the story in a clownish sort of way that’s up there with John L. Smith losing it last year or Jim Mora’s famous "PLAYOFFS!?!?!" meltdown. That’s too bad because he has a valid point, and it will likely never resonate because of his histrionics.

The issue isn’t a coach trying to stamp out dissent or criticism, though some would have you believe that every time a coach questions a reporter he’s trying to control the press. There’s nothing wrong with critical opinions, and I think that there were more than a few critical pieces after Oklahoma State’s 1-2 start and the loss at Troy.

The problem here is the journalism. Carlson, in her response, states that her goal was to tackle the question "why have the Cowboys, who so adamantly backed Reid, suddenly switched course, benched the biggest recruit to ever sign with the program and jumped full speed ahead with Zac Robinson?" That’s a clear and reasonable focus; Reid was considered a key element of the Cowboy offense, and his benching raises some questions (and eyebrows). So how should one approach getting the answer?

Let’s think this through. There are a handful of people with some very good insight into the attitude of the quarterback. The first is the quarterback himself. Who better to respond directly to questions about his state of mind? The head coach might be a good person to talk to. The decision of the starting quarterback ultimately rests with him, and he can also evaluate how Reid has played through injuries before. Offensive coordinator Larry Fedora might also get a phone call. He is the mastermind of this high-powered offense, so he might be able to provide some technical analysis of Reid’s struggles as well as a comparison of Robinson and Reid. Of course teammates and other coaches could help, but they are secondary sources in this story.

Isn’t it a little strange that of those three only Reid is quoted in her original piece? And those Reid quotes were taken from other reporters in different contexts. Carlson doesn’t offer a single sourced quote in response to a question that she asked. Unnamed sources and Carlson’s personal observations are of course appropriate and can be sprinkled into the story, but are they really the substantial stuff around which to build a column that reaches such a harsh, personal, and definitive conclusion?

A few weeks ago, Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jeff Schultz penned a controversial column suggesting that Mark Richt needed to show a little more toughness and fire. Many, including myself, disagreed strongly with Schultz’s position. Others found it spot on. My biggest problem was a distortion of the historical record. But as much as I disagreed with Schultz’s conclusions, he at least got Richt on the record about the subject. He asked Richt on-point questions at the weekly press conference, and he based his column in large part on his evaluation of Richt’s responses. Even though I found fault with Schultz’s reasoning, Richt’s comments on the topic were right there for evaluation.

Carlson claims that she stands by her sources and observations. But she is about as forthcoming with additional information as Gundy seems to be about specific disagreements. Is "trust me" really what journalism is all about now? In both her original piece and her response, Carlson never claims to have asked Gundy or Reid for comment before the original piece ran. Her "show me what was wrong" sideshow is the kind of journalistic legwork she should have done through Reid, Gundy, and other primary sources before the fact.

After a column full of whispers and rumors, she opened the final paragraph of her orignial column by asking "Who knows?" Ms. Carlson, you’re the journalist with the press pass. You have access to these people. Throwing rumors out there to see what will stick and extrapolating from watching the guy eat chicken is amateurish message board territory. Columnists often rely on speculation and opinion, but they are usually backed up by something much less flimsy.

Now let’s look at a few responses from the community of sportswriters:

Football Writers Association of America president Mike Griffith issued a statement about the incident on Monday. "I consider Coach Gundy’s behavior completely inappropriate. It shows a lack of respect for the media and doesn’t speak well for the university and the fans that he represents. Coach Gundy’s actions have brought national attention and further scrutiny to the situation that could have been handled in a more private and appropriate matter."

Association for Women in Sports Media: "The Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM) is alarmed at the unprofessional manner in which Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy chose to take exception with a column written by AWSM member Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman. Gundy has the right to express his opinion, just as Carlson has the right to express hers. But his decision to air his objections in the form of a personal attack shows a lack of respect for all journalists."

It seems to me that the expectation of respect is one-way here. The two statements didn’t have much to say about the appropriateness, professionalism, or respect demonstrated by a piece that all but called Reid a mama’s boy.

The refrain that the response "could have been handled in a more private and appropriate matter" has popped up in a couple of places since Gundy’s outburst. Writers can splash their columns in front of tens or hundreds of thousands of readers, but objections and responses should be handled out of the public view through the back channels. This kind of column needed and deserved a public response if only to illustrate the lack of professionalism and respect that the FWAA and AWSM demand from the people they cover but not from their own.

Remember that Carlson states that her subject was the question "why have the Cowboys, who so adamantly backed Reid, suddenly switched course, benched the biggest recruit to ever sign with the program and jumped full speed ahead with Zac Robinson?" Did her column do a good job of attempting to answer that question?

Georgia’s performance against Alabama was a pessimist’s nightmare. They lost the turnover battle. They were outrushed. Their golden placekicker missed two kicks. They twice lost 10-point leads. Dropped passes hurt them at key times. Missed opportunities abounded. Yet…the Dawgs won. They won on the road against a red-hot favored opponent brimming with confidence.

Georgia won for a reason that is at the heart of so many football victories: they won up front on both sides of the ball. While no one will mistake the current Bama defense with the Copeland and Curry unit of the early 90s, Georgia’s performance up front Saturday was nothing short of a miracle. A starter, Scott Haverkamp, missed the trip entirely due to injury. The Dawgs started three freshmen (including two true freshmen) on the offensive line. His replacement, Clint Boling, was injured for much of the week.

Despite all that, they blocked for two backs who went for over 70 yards apiece. They allowed zero sacks. Of course they had their moments – there were missed assignments and penalties. On the whole, Coach Searels had his guys ready, and Wallace Gilberry will have to hold onto that FTD Pick-Me-Up bouquet for another week.

The Dawgs got timely blocks when they needed them. There was Sturdivant leading the way on Thomas Brown’s screen reception for the first score, and then there was this nice example in the second half.

But the success wasn’t limited to the offensive line. Georgia’s defense got pressure. Marcus Howard was a noticeable factor. Rod Battle survived against Andre Smith which is all you can hope for. Jeff Owens nearly took John Parker Wilson’s head off. Though the Dawgs failed to tally a sack themselves, the results showed up in the stats. Bama’s explosive tailback Terry Grant was held to his lowest rushing total of the young season.

Some more random notes:

• For the first time this season, Thomas Brown had more carries than Knowshon Moreno. Both backs finished with 74 yards. Though many fans want to see more of Moreno, experience might have been the motivation in this game. Brown is a seasoned senior, and it was Moreno’s first SEC road game. Brown was effective on Georgia’s opening scoring drive, and he was also in at the end of the game where he had a key third down run on Georgia’s final drive of regulation. Moreno was most effective when the Dawgs needed a spark following Bama’s equalizing score in the third quarter. Both backs delivered in their roles, and as we watch and enjoy Moreno’s rise, we cannot forget about the value of having the #9 guy on Georgia’s career rushing list.
• Asher Allen played his guts out. Though Bryan Evans did the best he could on a bum knee, the rest of the secondary really stepped it up. A passing game that torched Arkansas the week before was held to 185 yards.
• Is there a bigger anonymous contributor on the team than Geno Atkins? He gets into every game, makes plays, gets props from the coach, yet he’s completely off the radar. I don’t know if it’s a question of playing behind Owens and Weston, but he’s not going to remain unknown much longer.
• Alabama’s overtime series showed off the entire Georgia defense. You had the line and linebackers combining on first down to stuff the run. You had pressure affecting the pass on second down. Then you had coverage make the difference on third down and nearly get the interception. After a demoralizing series to allow the tying score at the end of regulation that left the defense gassed and banged up, pulling it together for overtime was an incredible show of toughness. Still, you do have to get a little nervous about these late-game drives going back to last season.
• It turns out that the closed practices did have an impact. Though the injury to Haverkamp was becoming less of a secret late in the week when the starting offensive line was announced, the extent of Boling’s similar injury went unreported. Had Boling not "made a good turnaround Friday and Saturday," the offensive line situation could have been much more dire, and we wouldn’t have known a thing about it.
• How do you know punter Brian Mimbs is doing a good job? No one is talking about him. For a position that was unsettled right up to the first game, he has been consistent, overcome a few bad snaps, and is actually leading the league in net punting.
• Georgia’s defense is tops in the SEC when it comes down to opponent third-down conversion, and holding Bama to just 3 conversions in 15 attempts Saturday was a big part of the win. For most of the game, Bama just couldn’t get anything going. The Dawgs converted 9 of 19 chances, a good bit above their 39% season average. As a result, Georgia had 15 more plays on offense in regulation this week than they had against Western Carolina (75 vs. 60).
• The Dawgs finally had a strong showing in kickoff coverage. Bama averaged just 16 yards per kickoff return (Georgia averaged 21 yards).

Many of us, myself included, read a bit too much into the convincing win over Oklahoma State. The young Dawgs had bested a quality opponent, and they were going to be just fine. Stafford was brilliant, the defense was up to the job, and receivers caught the ball. That’s how it would be all season, right?

The win over Alabama means many things, but in the end it simply means that the Dawgs get to move on to the next challenge. It gives us a push to be forward-looking. Had the Dawgs lost, the future would be on hold as we scrutinized everything that could be wrong with the program. Not many people are talking about 0-5 vs. the SEC East this morning.

There are a lot of teams who can look impressive on a given weekend. I don’t mean to downplay the significance of the win, but I find myself hesitant accepting the common chorus that the Dawgs "grew up" at Alabama. Certainly winning in that type of environment takes a certain level of maturity and pride from a team still licking wounds from the South Carolina loss. Avoiding the ups and downs from week to week will tell us much more about how "grown up" this team is than a single week’s result.

As teams like Louisville, Florida, and Nebraska so graciously demonstrated on Saturday, the toughest part of being a top team isn’t getting up for the big games. It’s maintaining that level of play each week and being able to come down from the big wins as quickly as you bounce back from the disappointing losses. ESPN called this weekend’s games "Hangover Saturday," but Georgia’s hangover test will come a week later as we welcome the Rebels to Athens. Their performance against Florida was more than enough to make sure that the Alabama celebration was brief.

Georgia has shown twice that they are capable of playing good football against a diverse set of challenges. The question going forward is how many more times this season they can meet or exceed that level of play.

Mark Richt’s decision to close practice this week has drawn a lot of reaction from the indignant to the indifferent. I agree that it’s really not that big of a deal. The only thing the media is losing is the opportunity to watch or photograph stretching and positional drills – there is still access to the coaches and players following practice. It’s not just the media being singled out. The rule extends to "any face that we don’t really recognize."

Even the tightest security can be thwarted from within. Perhaps the "closed practice" mentality will give some of those people who like to impress their buddies with inside information a hint.

You’ve got student assistants this and student assistants that, and they might want to tell dad something. (People) might see something and want to say it to a friend, and the friend puts in on the Net, and it becomes clue for someone.

I do have a bit of a problem with those framing Richt’s decision completely in the context of the New England Patriots /Belichick / Saban stories. Reporters in the local media should know better – they were there over a month ago before the season when Richt spent a long time on the subject.

The roots of this decision go back to early August. You might remember that Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer closed preseason practices (ironically enough, there were vague accusations that Georgia had spied on VT practices). When you read Mark Richt’s comments related to Beamer’s decision, those quotes lay the foundation for Richt’s decision this week.

"I wish I could close it down completely, but it is kind of hard to do with our set up. I can see why any coach would want to close everything that they do, especially with the Internet…."

"…Even if we let our fans come in who love us, they would just talk about everything that happened and then people would read it and be able to find decipher some things that would help them win…."

"…I have seen enough things and people cannot help themselves. Like if you (TV) guys had a camera rolling on stuff all day long, you would be thinking that you are getting b-roll (footage) for the eleven o’clock news, but when you show the b-roll, you show something a good defensive coordinator could say, “oh I like that. I did not know they were doing that. They did not do that last year.” I do not think anyone is purposefully trying to sabotage Georgia."

Don’t those sound as if they could have been said this week instead of at the beginning of August? Richt’s view on the issue hasn’t changed much. Were current events a catalyst for the move? Maybe, but more likely is Richt following through on a decision that was 95% made several weeks ago.

I will give him credit for being very frank with this statement:

"The reality is what we do is big," he said. "People care about winning, and losing has a profound effect on peoples’ careers and everything else. The saying is, ‘Loose lips can sink ships,’ and it’s true."

People, especially the media, might feel inconvenienced and unfairly accused of spying, but if Richt feels that he can better do his job and prepare his team to win if there are not a few dozen strangers standing around practice, then he should do it.

Brown scores against WCU (Photo: UGASports.com)

I guess I was a little surprised to read that only 11 Bulldog running backs had at least 2,000 career yards before Thomas Brown became #12 last weekend. Congratulations to Brown – he’s not far from becoming one of the top ten running backs in Georgia’s history.

2,000 yards certainly isn’t insignificant. It requires a certain amount of skill and longevity. Still, some college backs approach that figure in a single season. Spread over 3 or 4 seasons, it’s less than 700 yards per season or 60 yards per game – hence my surprise at there only being 12 Bulldogs in this club. The Dawgs have had many tailbacks with good seasons but relatively few with complete and consistent careers. One also has to deal with injuries, sharing time with other backs, and the fact that a four or even three-year starter at tailback isn’t common. Herschel Walker, Garrison Hearst, Lars Tate, Rodney Hampton, and Kevin McLee are the only Bulldog tailbacks with over 2,300 career rushing yards. Some other recent notables:

• Robert Edwards: 1,955 career yards (some sources have him at 2,033 yards)
• Musa Smith: 2,202 career yards
• Jasper Sanks: 1,651 career yards

So while 2,000 yards might not seem impressive on one hand, Brown’s longevity has placed him right up there among the most productive backs Georgia has had in recent years. With just 40 more yards, he will pass Bulldogs like Tim Worley and "Gliding" Glynn Harrison to move into ninth place behind Musa Smith on Georgia’s career rushing list.

It should also be noted that Kregg Lumpkin isn’t far from becoming #13. He entered the season with 1,617 yards and needs about 380 over the rest of this season. 380 yards doesn’t sound like a lot, but considering Lumpkin’s current injury, the rise of Knowshon Moreno, and Thomas Brown getting plenty of carries, it’s not a sure thing.

Do you think Lumpkin will get there? Georgia only had two tailbacks from 1993-2006 break or approach the 2,000 yard career total, and now they might have two do it in 2007.