Todd Grantham begs to differ with you, Boom.

To what should be nobody’s surprise, Georgia’s defensive coordinator was asked last night at the UGA Days event in Buckhead what he thought about Will Muschamp’s promise to make Georgia’s winning streak over Florida short-lived.  Grantham’s response was, I thought, fairly muted and expected, but about one area he felt strongly enough to offer a rebuttal.

Muschamp cited the Gators’ turnover issues in last year’s 17-9 Georgia victory and characterized them as self-inflicted.

“Obviously, when you turn the ball over six times, you’re not going to win many games,” Muschamp said. “We fought through a lot of adversity we created for ourselves in the game. It just didn’t work out.”

Grantham took exception to that. He clearly feels the Bulldogs should be given some credit for coming up with the football.

“We actually created six turnovers and we were plus-3 for the game,” Grantham said. “In this league, when you turn the ball over you’re going to have a hard time winning. The last two years we’ve had 62 (takeaways), which is second only to LSU. If we’re plus-1 since I’ve been here we’re right around 92 percent win. It’s a critical point, we emphasize it and we work it every day. It’s a part of the game. You have to protect the football.”

A little professional pride’s showing there.  And Grantham does have a point.  While some part of turnover margin can be chalked up to random luck, such as fumble recoveries – hi, Mayor! – it’s been clear from the get-go that Grantham’s emphasis on putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks hasn’t been mere lip-service.  And that Georgia defense Florida saw played hard, physical football.  That +3 was earned, Boom.

(As an aside, if you need proof of what tends to make AJ-C coverage so obnoxious these days, this piece is a good example.  There’s nothing wrong at all with what Towers wrote, but check out the header and the photo used with his article.  Clearly somebody wanted to give the impression that there was something angry and controversial in what Grantham had to say.  And just as clearly, there wasn’t.  So let me just say to you, nameless editor, you’re an ass.)

About these ads

A different view of Florida

I read this analysis of LSU’s 2013 schedule out of interest to see what the beat writer had to say about the Georgia game, but here’s the part that really caught my eye:

5. FLORIDA, Oct. 12 – I’m not saying TCU is better than Florida, but the Tigers get the Gators at home and not in the season opener. The Gators were one of the few teams in the Miles era to out-physical LSU in last year’s victory against the Tigers. But this year they limped out of spring practice and didn’t have enough bodies to close out with a game, opting for a practice instead. The roster is still in transition from the Urban Meyer days. QB Jeff Driskel is mismatched for the offense and the Gators don’t appear to have the passing game up to speed. Leading rusher Mike Gillislee is gone and the defense replaces seven starters, but Florida is still Florida and will show up with excellent athletes, and Coach Will Muschamp’s mentality.

Color me floored.  Not because it’s inaccurate.  Quite the contrary; he hits on every flaw and still gives credit where Florida deserves it.  It’s just that I haven’t seen anyone else in the media look at the Gators as dispassionately.

Florida will be a tough out this year.  But to me the Gators look like a team in transition that used every drop of what they had last year to get to 11 wins (again, Muschamp turned in a good coaching job).  A lot of holes remain and to this point they don’t all seem to have been filled.  So it’s weird for even a short description like that to read so differently from what the media consensus has been.

Best caption of the month

Some editor at Al.com deserves a raise for this one.

The Cocktail Party shoe is on the other foot now.

I don’t care how jaded or critical a Dawg fan you are – bitch about the South Carolina losses, moan about coming up short in two straight SECCGs, complain about not winning the big games lately – if you can’t count this as real progress, Jack, you dead to me.

Muschamp spoke to the Gator Club of Jacksonville before a packed room at the Jacksonville Fair and Expo Center, which is about a nine-iron shot from EverBank Field, where Muschamp’s Gators made a mess of things last season — and the season before — against the Bulldogs.

The result is the Bulldogs have a rare (at least in recent decades) two-game winning streak in the series against their former starting strong safety (Muschamp).

But that Georgia winning streak is going to end soon, Muschamp vowed Tuesday night.

“Well, it’s not going to be a long winning streak, I can assure you,” Muschamp said before his speech.

Sure thing, Boom.  Define “long” for us.

These days, it’s Gator fans who have Georgia on their minds.  And you-know-what is still a big deal after six years.

Muschamp was asked if the Georgia game would be an extra emphasis in the offseason, like it was following the Gators’ crushing loss to Georgia in 2007, when the Bulldogs stormed the end zone after scoring their first touchdown. UF used that bitter defeat as motivation throughout the offseason.

Where’s Corch when you need him?

No predictions here about this season other than to say that if the Dawgs pull off a third win in a row, don’t try to tell me there won’t be some major sphincter tightening in Gainesville afterwards.  At that point Muschamp will be working on a personal seven game losing streak in Jax.  That seems respectably long to me.

An alternate history of the national title game

This paragraph from Mike Bianchi’s latest paean to Coach Boom…

Florida’s offense ranked 103rd in the nation, but still UF was miraculously in the running to play in the national championship game until the final weekend of the regular season when Notre Dame beat Southern Cal.

… got me to thinking.  What if Notre Dame had screwed the pooch and lost to Southern Cal and then Georgia had found a way to score at the end of the SECCG to beat Alabama?  Would we have seen a Cocktail Party rematch for the national title?  And if so, how many talking heads would have exploded over it?

Just as a refresher, here’s what last season’s Week 14 standings looked like.  Hard for me to see how Georgia would have finished lower than second with an SEC title, so the question is whether any other one-loss school would have jumped Florida (or, I suppose, whether the Irish would have stayed ahead of the Gators).  After all the talk about Florida’s resume, it would have been tough to deny UF, but maybe there would have been enough negative reaction to a rematch repeat to screw the Gators’ chances.

What do you think the reaction to such a rematch would have been like?

Sure, the hours are long. But at least the results don’t matter.

Brent Pease got a raise.  Let me repeat that, in italics.  Brent Pease got a raise.

Brent Pease is now making $590,000 a year.  That is more than Mike Bobo makes.  Let me repeat that, in italics.  Brent Pease is now making $590,000 a year.  That is more than Mike Bobo makes.  (Somewhere, Greg McGarity high-fives himself.)

This is Brent Pease’s current resume:

In 2012, UF finished 103rd in total offense (334.4 yards per game) and 76th in scoring offense (26.5 points per game).  The season before Pease’s arrival, the Gators finished 105th (328.7 ypg) and 71st (25.5 ppg) in those two categories, respectively.

I guess compared to Charlie Weis, that makes Pease a real bargain.

And Pease gets a bonus just for sticking around.  As Woody Allen said…

The running backs coach got an extension, but no raise.  I bet he’s wondering what he’s got to do better.

Yes, there’s a ridiculous amount of money swimming around SEC athletics.  What’s your point?

We’ll always have Tebow.

Gator fans, you give love a bad name.

And to think this is a fan base that doesn’t pause twice about mocking us for Herschel worship.

Jessamen Dunker, you will be missed.

I tell you what – Florida football has proven itself good for some chuckles this week.  With the news that Gator offensive lineman and scooter maven Jessamen Dunker has elected to further his talents elsewhere, we learn that Dunker didn’t play well with the others.

But it should also be noted that Dunker was regarded by many as a bit of an outsider in a Florida locker room that has seemed more mature and composed in recent months. There’s this Robbie Andreu tweet…

Dunker transfer is no surprise. I've heard from several sources that he did not fit in real well with the rest of the team.—
Robbie Andreu (@RobbieAndreu) April 24, 2013

…and there were comments calling Dunker “kind of a shithead” and “not a stand-up citizen” in Inside the Gators’ Parting Shots series ($), so it’s possible that Dunker’s departure is related to being a misfit in Muschamp’s new football culture as well as his arrest.

Gee, nobody likes being a misfit, especially in Boom’s “new football culture”, whatever the hell that is, so if there’s a personality clash, it’s probably for the best… wait, what?

Despite those character concerns, Dunker was likely to get a shot to play as a rotation lineman with the Gators if he made it made into Muschamp’s good graces and onto the team…

Meet the new football culture in Gainesville, same as the old football culture.

Is Florida taking up Quidditch?

Oh, my Gawd, yes.  This is real.  And it’s spectacular.

There are times when you really wonder what people were thinking.

And if the Redcoat Band has a sense of humor, it’ll do a Harry Potter tribute at halftime of the Cocktail Party this year.

Wednesday morning buffet

It’s a buffet.  Just a buffet.

• “I don’t think you can ever go too wrong calling something what it is,” Scott said. “Things that make sense tend to stand the test of time.”  So how long should we give a four-team playoff?
• Alabama and Georgia are poised to dominate this year’s NFL draft.
• Preseason homerism, Gator style.
• The AJ-C breaks down Georgia’s 2013 schedule.
• SEC! SEC! SEC!:  “The ACC, the Pac 12, the Big Ten and the Big 12 all now have a “grant of rights” agreement. The SEC doesn’t have one, but it doesn’t really need one.”
• The new playoff, and a cry in the wilderness for economic fairness.  I was wondering if somebody would step up.
• Todd Gurley:  Georgia warhorse.
• They’re excited about football at Kentucky.