I think I’ll wait for the movie to come out.

If there’s a weirder college football story than this one that’s come out recently, I’m unaware of it.

How easy is it to get from Rock Hudson to fixing football games – at the University of Kentucky?

If you are a bit skeptical about the charges, relax.  The author sounds credible enough:

… Ragland, a former attorney who pleaded guilty to taking fees owed to a law firm where he worked in the early 1990s and spent time in prison…

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Georgia Tech: the Toyota Camry of college football

When you think about it, this picture from last night’s game is a pretty good metaphor for this unpredictable season of college football we’re all enjoying:

Of course, Georgia Tech got its ass handed to it in the process.  It’s comforting to know there are some things you can still count on in this crazy world, like going 7-5 on the Flats.

Dennis Erickson is Dink NeSmith’s kinda coach.

Per Dennis Dodd:

… Dennis Erickson signed the contractual equivalent to what a washed-up major league veteran would get. His $500,000 base contract is laden with incentives. Big ones. Erickson already has received a $50,000 bonus for winning his eighth game. He could earn a staggering $1 million more if he wins his final four games.

Erickson gets $100,000 for his ninth win, $200,000 for his 10th win, $300,000 for his 11th win and $400,000 for his 12th.

I bet ol’ Dink could cut a helluva deal with Gary Barnett if the occasion arose.

The Dead Guy does some figurin’.

I meant to mention this post over at The Dead Guy’s SEC site (one of my favorite blog names, by the way), but sort of got distracted with you know what this week.

Anyway, TDG has taken a fantasy football approach to ranking the teams based on certain statistical criteria…

* Points per game (Offense and Defense)
* Yards per game (Offense and Defense)
* Yards per carry (Offense and Defense)
* Pass Efficiency (Offense and Defense)
* 3rd Down Conversions (Offense and Defense)
* Turnover Margin

… he’s pulled from the SEC stats site.

You can see the chart he’s assembled with the data at the link.  For the most part, the stats track the team’s records fairly well, with two exceptions – Arky, which looks much better, statistically speaking, than its 5-3 record would indicate and South Carolina, which is just the opposite.

Once again, you look at LSU’s stats and wonder how the Tigers ever lose a game.  Georgia and Alabama’s numbers are interesting for their consistency (and note that ‘Bama doesn’t rank higher than LSU in any single category, although I have no idea what that will mean for tomorrow’s game).

Mark Twain or Benjamin Disraeli aside, the numbers don’t lie about Ole Miss.  The Rebs pretty much stink on ice.

Act like you’ve been there.

Nope, I’m not referring to what happened after Georgia scored its first touchdown last Saturday. I’m talking about the next game.

Georgia is currently ranked 10th in the nation going in to its meeting with Troy, a Sun Belt Conference team. No disrespect intended to the visitors, who are 6-0 in their conference, but this is a game that a 10th ranked team should win, and win comfortably (the spread is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15, I believe).

You can find some very good analysis of the game at several sites: Dawg Sports breaks down running, passing and drinking; Mr. Westerdawg provides a succinct picture here. Kit posts about the game here. The statistical rankings for Troy are listed here.

Given all that, I risk restating the obvious, but here are a few points of note:

• Georgia and Troy share two common opponents to date, but I’m not sure how much those games tell us about Saturday’s matchup. For Troy, Florida was one of those games that looks more impressive on the final scoreboard than it really was. The Gators had a 49-7 lead at the half – I think everyone attending the game this Saturday would be amazed if the Dawgs led by half that margin at the same point – and Troy was forced to throw the ball 52 times as a result. And everyone likes to point to Troy’s win over Oklahoma State (by a bigger margin than Georgia’s win was) as something of major significance, but, while it was a good win for Troy, it came against an OSU team that had just demoted its starting QB and had its starting tailback out due to injury. The Cowboys looked flat and turned the ball over a bunch. Er… on the second thought, maybe there is something Georgia should take from that game.
• Obviously, the biggest question going into this game is the health of Troy’s excellent quarterback, Omar Haugabook, who’s resume is pretty much what you’d want to put together to come up with a QB who would give the Dawg defense problems: he’s experienced (a senior), decently sized (6-2, 220) and throws (2081 yards) and runs (420 yards) pretty well. The one big hole in his game is that he’s turnover prone (28 picks in his last two seasons), but given that Georgia has only two interceptions on the season, that may not mean too much. He’s ailing, though, and if he can’t go, or if his abilities are hampered, you’d have to think that Troy’s offense will suffer as a result. Sounds familiar, right? The other thing that sounds familiar is that Troy has only given up five sacks all season.
• Troy hasn’t been able to stop the run all year. Bobo likes to establish the run and has the third ranked rusher in the SEC at his disposal. You’d have to think that he’ll continue to pound the ball. You’d also have to think that Troy will bring its safeties up to try to limit what Moreno does, which should open up some other options on offense.

Broken record time: if the Dawgs come out focused and execute, they win this game. On defense, they got a terrific game out of their front seven last week and need a similar effort to control this game to a win. Throw in some Moreno and a Stafford who plays efficiently and Georgia can cover the spread.

Georgia took a nice step last week. The Dawgs played a fast, physical game against a tough opponent. This week the challenge is to maintain some consistency in their level of play. That’s what good teams do. This program has certainly been there before.

A tale of two photos

It was the best of times…

(via Georgia Sports Blog)

… it was the worst of times…

(AP Photo/Phil Coale)