One more Celebration quote…

from Jeff Owens:

“It was just a one-time thing,” Georgia defensive tackle Jeff Owens. “It wasn’t planned. Guys saw other guys running out so everybody else ran out. I saw everybody else do it, so I did it. I didn’t want to be the last one when the cameras looked on the bench and I was the only one sitting there.

“It fired us up big time. I think we had like six personal fouls that game. That was the most we had all year. Guys were just Gator chomping and everything. I felt we had our swagger back after that.”

It’s always great when a plan comes together.  Even when there’s no plan.

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UPDATE: No plan?  The eternally indignant Franz Beard begs to differ.

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Richt on the BCS: “So I’d be careful changing it too much.”

In reviewing what Mark Richt said earlier today at Media Days, I expect that most people will focus on his comments about the You-Know-What, as well as You-Know-Who’s reaction to the You-Know-What, but I was taken by what he had to say about the BCS and a D-1 playoff.

… The BCS as it is, I mean, I’m fine with it. I’m fine with it. Just tell me what the rules are and let’s play by ’em. That’s kind of how I am about that. But, you know, do I think a four team situation would work with the plus one? I think it would work. I think it would work without really throwing our Bowl system into any you know, throwing it off kilter.

Do I think we could do eight? I think eight would be the maximum number of teams you could have and still keep your Bowl system and have something very close to what you have with the BCS without destroying or damaging the regular season.

Our regular season is the best regular season of any sport in America and maybe in the world because every game is so crucial. You lose one game, you might be out. You might not be out, but you might be out. As you’re playing that game, you’re thinking, If we lose this game, we might be out. But after you lose it, you’re looking around, you’re saying, So we still got to keep fighting because we still might be in.

Then last year you lose two, you’re pretty sure you’re out, and then all of a sudden a team with two losses wins the National Championship. So now if you got two losses, you’re still thinking, I might be in, I got to keep fighting. I don’t have to change my goals.

So I like the way it is. If you have too many teams in a playoff, then a regular season game, you might have two teams that play. I always liken, we had Notre Dame Southern Cal a few years ago where they had that dramatic victory at the end with the quarterback sneak. If those two teams were in an eight team playoff system, when that game was over, they might say, So what, I’ll see you here in a couple weeks, no big deal, we’re still in the playoffs.

Well, the way it was, the way we’re designed now, that was just a gut wrenching, heart breaking moment for one team, and total exhilaration for the other team, ’cause you’re still in the race.

I really like that.

It’s so not in their heads.

All those Gator fans, telling me, no insisting, that the whole Celebration thing and the Florida-Georgia rivalry was nothin’.

… I read the message boards and last weekend is already forgotten. Most of us dont really care about Georgia. Sure, many of the really old timers do, but the rest of us dont.

Too bad the head coach isn’t playing along.

… The Gators’ coach did not back off those statements Wednesday during SEC Football Media Days.

“It was uncalled for,” he said. “First of all it’s against the rules. If you really look at it, some players could have been thrown out the game for leaving the bench.

“As for the impact on the game … I understand the motivation of it. It was a big deal. It was just a big deal.”

The GPOOE™ seems to have a different take on the matter, too.

“I think it will definitely intensify it that much more,” Tebow said. “I think it will be a very big game, to say the least. It could be two of the best teams in the country playing for the right to play in the SEC championship and maybe for the national championship. They’re a huge rival of ours, and I think that just increased that much more this past year. I think that will inspire us that much more.”

Listen:  Georgia-Florida will be a big game this year, Gator fans.  Really big.  The biggest, in fact.  Your head coach knows it.  Your star player knows it.  I don’t know if he’ll admit it publicly, but Mark Richt knows it, too.

I can’t wait.

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UPDATE: According to Barnhart, it’s a “fact”

… that Florida feels it lost to Georgia (42-30) not because of the motivational lift the Bulldogs got from storming the field, but because Tebow was banged up and nowhere close to 100 percent.

Whatever gets you through the night, folks.  But don’t worry, Gator fans.  Your man’s got the plan.

… Florida coach Urban Meyer told me that his Heisman Trophy winner won’t have to carry the ball 210 times as he did during the 2007 season. Keeping Tebow healthy and fresh will be a priority in 2008.

“The good news is that we now have some options,” Meyer said. “Tim ran the ball as much as he did last season because that is what gave us the best chance to win.”

And now everything’s changed?  He no longer gives Florida the best chance to win?  We’ll see how long that lasts.  Maybe we’ll need to start referring to the GPOOE™ as “Bubble Boy”.

Ask a dumb question…

At MGoBlog, Brian Cook asks

Is this a good deal? Alabama and Clemson are opening the season in Atlanta. Kudos to them; the trend of moving football games off campus is far less annoying than the one in which no one plays anyone. But I wonder if it’s worth it:

Alabama and Clemson will reportedly earn nearly $2 million apiece for their season-opening matchup in Atlanta.

Quick calculation suggests that $4 million divided by 90k (the approximate capacity of Bryant-Denny) is about 44 bucks, and we know that on average SEC tickets go for well more than that. So why not just have a home-and-home?

Dude.  Dude.  C’mon.

… And one other thing about that game, which will be televised nationally by ABC. is that beer will be sold at the Georgia Dome concession stands. The beer sales will be cut off at halftime.