Pat Dye comes home.

Now they’re man enough.

Dye,'I think UGA is the 2nd best team in the country. Their QB & offensive line are playing good. You're not going to run against Georgia.'—
Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) September 24, 2012

No word on whether Finebaum started laughing after he heard that.

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Throw Grampa from the train.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting since Saturday afternoon to hear how Bradley and Schultz intended to spin Georgia Tech’s epic collapse against Miami, which was topped with a questionable decision by the genius to go for it on fourth-and-one in overtime.  So far, crickets (although to be fair, Schultz probably deserves a pass since the paper had him out covering the Falcons game).

But we may be finally getting our first little hint in Bradley’s Heat Check:

GEORGIA TECH: It’s difficult to score 36 unanswered points in a game and not win it. But the Jackets just did. Heat Index: It’s likewise difficult to yield 609 yards to a Miami team that managed only 262 in a 39-point loss at Kansas State. Leave it to Al Groh, though.

Negative Grohmentum, for the win loss!

*********************************************************************************

UPDATE:  Shorter Mark Bradley:  The only thing holding Paul Johnson back is Paul Johnson.

Hey, it’s a start.  Some addictions are a bear to quit.

In his next life, Michael Adams wants to come back as Gordon Gee.

Since 2007, between salary and expenses, Ohio State’s president has cost the school over sixteen million dollars.  My favorite part:

The university spends tens of thousands of dollars alone branding Gee around his signature bow ties. Since 2007, Ohio State has spent more than $64,000 on bow ties, bow tie cookies and O-H and bow tie pins for Gee and others to distribute, the newspaper found.

“It’s a nice icebreaker. The freshmen show up on campus and President Gee hands them a cookie. They love it. The students love it,” OSU spokesman Jim Lynch said.

Branding the president.  Not bad work if you can get it.

Those who cannot remember the past…

Count Mark Richt in as a student of George Santayana, at least when it comes to this week’s Tennessee game.

The Bulldogs 45-point win Saturday tied for the largest in SEC play under Richt, but big wins don’t always carry over.

In 2004, a 45-16 blowout of LSU was followed by a 19-14 loss to the Volunteers.

“We played just superb in that LSU game and then the next week … they beat us,” Richt said. “We’ve got to get our minds right and get this out of our system as quickly as we can and get ready for the next challenge.”

Damn straight.

Upon further review, Georgia-Vanderbilt

Watched the replay yesterday, and three things got my attention.

• Offensive line.  Easily the biggest surprise was how good the guard play was.  Burnette, Lee and Gates were physical, mobile and, best of all, consistent.  They opened holes that even Carlton Thomas could have exploited.  Especially Burnette, who had a fabulous game.  I understand why the coaches want to stick with Andrews at center; it just makes the line better overall to keep Burnette at guard.  Theus, though, remains a work in progress.
• Jarvis Jones.  Maybe I’m just getting jaded.  But the broadcast clip showing how he set the table by clogging the middle so that Vasser could run down the play from the back side was an excellent reminder that there’s so much more to his game than the spectacular stuff he pulls off with regularity.  Speaking of Vasser, compare how he defended the option against Vandy with how Jarvis performed against Missouri.  Vasser is well coached and knows how to defend the play, but he lacks Jones’ instincts to occupy the precise spot to limit the quarterback’s time to commit and to break correctly in that instant when the quarterback decides.  It’s uncanny.  He’s just playing on a different level from any other defensive player I’ve seen this year.
• Aaron Murray.  I’ve mentioned the improvement in his mechanics.  That’s reflected in the ease in which the ball comes out when he throws.  But the other thing I noticed on the replay is that he’s gotten better at not holding on to the ball too long.  Georgia is fourth in the conference in sacks allowed; that’s one big reason why.

Fabris Invitational results and standings, Week 4

Kudos to weasom, who pulled off a sizzling 9-1 mark this week.  We had a fair number of folks go 8-2, as well.

Standings for Week 4
Rank	Selection	Adj Scores	Picks Edit	W-L	Pts	Tie Breaker CL-FSU 37-49	Tie Breaker Winner
1	weasom’s picks			9-1	9	24-27
2	Wolfman’s picks			8-2	8	23-38
2	Gators Eat Boogers’s picks			8-2	8	20-34
2	wncdawg’s picks			8-2	8	24-31
2	CoastToCoast’s picks			8-2	8	28-30
2	HahiraDawg’s picks			8-2	8	17-30
2	Bernie’s walk-ons			8-2	8	20-24
2	ManBearPicks			8-2	8	35-28
2	Streit’s picks			8-2	8	31-28
2	beussetd’s picks			8-2	8	21-17
2	DawgomaticForThePeople’s picks			8-2	8
2	Dawgfan0000′s picks			8-2	8

And we’re starting to see a little separation in the overall standings.

Overall Standings Through Week 4
Rank	Selection	W-L	Pts	Tie Breaker Winner
1	wncdawg’s picks	27-13	27
2	SilverBritches’s picks	25-15	25
2	weasom’s picks	25-15	25
2	ManBearPicks	25-15	25
5	4boysbrew’s picks	24-16	24
5	rosey1′s picks	24-16	24
5	Gadgetdawg’s picks	24-16	24
5	Moore Determined	24-16	24
5	CallingtheDawgs’s picks	24-16	24
5	reipar’s picks	24-16	24

I managed another 6-4 week.  I’m settling into a comfortable mediocrity.  Go me!

My SEC Power Poll ballot, Week 4

Two things about the conference become more readily apparent each week:  the bottom part of the conference is worse than it’s been in a while and the superiority of the West has vanished.

We’re a third of the way through the season.  While that’s not a definitive sample size (Ole Miss hasn’t played a conference game yet), it’s enough to start drawing some general conclusions about a program’s health.  I’ve added net yards per game numbers to the ballot this week as illustration.  Given the time of year, the cupcake factor is outsized, but on the other hand, any team running a net negative ypg figure now is not going to contend for a division title in 2012.

1. Alabama (+240).  The Tide just keeps on keeping on.
2. LSU (+242.5).  That’s actually the best net number in the SEC, but playing a tight game against a weak Auburn squad doesn’t strengthen the Tigers’ case.
3. Georgia (+186.7).  Given the suspensions and the reliance on true freshmen at key spots on offense and special teams, it’s fair to say that so far things have gone as well as Mark Richt could have reasonably hoped.
4. South Carolina (+124).  The defense hasn’t missed a beat without Ellis Johnson.
5. Florida (+102.5).  A bye week and then it gets interesting with three top six teams in the following four weeks.
6. Mississippi State (+49).  Undefeated, but the net yardage figure suggests that’s something of a mirage.
7. Texas A&M (+182.6).  Played Florida close in the opener and overwhelmed two cupcakes.  In other words, we really don’t know much about the Aggies yet.
8. Tennessee (+121.5).  The Vols handle another non-conference opponent with ease.  Too bad they’ve got four straight games against ranked SEC foes coming up next.
9. Missouri (+31.5).  South Carolina exposed the Tigers’ weakness on both lines.  This year is shaping up as a tough one for Mizzou.
10. Ole Miss (+114.7).  Enjoy that shutout high, Rebel Black Bears.  This week’s game is going to be short and brutish.
11. Vanderbilt (+56).  Weirdly enough, I look at Vanderbilt and think the ‘Dores should be doing better than they are.  Is that a culture change?
12. Auburn (-121.5).  A quintessential moral victory:  made LSU sweat bullets, but in the end found themselves essentially eliminated from the SEC West race after two conference games.
13. Arkansas (-66.3).  If Kentucky had been able to play Maxwell Smith against the Gators, I suspect the Hogs would still be in my cellar.  Them’s the breaks.
14. Kentucky (-25.5).  Morgan Newton’s passer rating against Florida:  23.96.  Funny, I thought it would have been lower.