More A. J. Green porn!

This is starting to get a little out of hand.

Toward the end of Mark Richt’s media session Friday, a reporter asked him if he was impressed by a catch Green made, which required a bit of a stretch and a straddle of the sideline.

Richt admitted he was impressed, and went on to detail just how much potential Green has.

That then begged the follow-up question: Was there anyone in Richt’s past he could compare Green to?

Richt ran through a handful of Georgia players and couldn’t think of anyone. He went back through his mental rolodex of former Florida State greats, too. Nothing.

“I’m not saying he’s the best one I’ve had,” Richt said, “but there’s never been one like him.”

Whoa.  I can’t recall any incoming freshman under Richt getting this kind of hype from the coach – including guys like Shockley and Stafford.

Speaking of Stafford, how about this story?

When Matt Stafford attempted to send Green deep, he waited and patted the ball twice, assuming Green would need the extra time.

“It didn’t get to him,” Richt said. “The big boy had to wait for the ball.”

Green had outrun Stafford’s powerful arm and had to come back for the ball. Richt said Green was disappointed at the missed opportunity, but gave some advice to Stafford afterward.

“I think he came back to the huddle,” Richt said, “and just told Stafford, ‘Just throw it man, as far as you can.’ “

The best part of all this?  After regaling the media with Randy Moss stories and talk about Green outrunning Stafford’s arm, Richt actually had this to say:

“… He runs with good speed … but let him make a few plays in a real game before anointing him.”

Sure thing…

“Do you mind if I have a sip of your tasty beverage, Mr. Steele?”

As promised, Phil Steele posted his five top reasons why Georgia won’t finish the year undefeated.  To be fair, he’s pretty gracious about the Dawgs in his opener:

Last year I had Georgia rated higher in my preseason rankings (#11) than any other major publication. In fact two of the 18 sources documented by Stassen.com left them unranked in the preseason as they had just 8 returning starters. I had them tied for first in the SEC East while they were the consensus pick for third in the division behind Florida (preseason favorite) and Tennessee. This year Georgia has 17 returning starters and is a stronger team than the team that finished #2 in the country last year! I can understand why the coaches voted the Bulldogs the #1 team in the country in the preseason.

But once again, it’s that dreaded schedule thingy that gets the Dawgs in the end.  His five reasons are five specific games.  Of course, Steele being Steele, there’s some quirky numbers to back his gut feelings up.  Let’s take a look at the five.

• REASON #1 September 13th AT SOUTH CAROLINA – Basically his argument here boils down to South Carolina won in Athens last year + 17 returning starters = very tough game.  But SC (can I type that?) doesn’t have a proven QB coming in and unlike last year can’t gear its early season preparations towards Georgia as much as it did in 2007.  And “Georgia will have to play its A+ game to survive”?  The Dawgs played C+/B- last year and came within a play of pulling out an ugly win.  All in all, this strikes me as pretty weak reasoning.
• REASON #2 September 20th AT ARIZONA STATE – Steele pulls out an interesting stat for this game:  in the last 20 years, Georgia played 5 back-to-back road games vs ranked teams and won just one of those second road trips.  How much of that is reflected in the Richt era?  Unfortunately I could find the data for that only back to 2002.  In the last six seasons, it occurred once, in 2005.  And guess what?  Georgia beat #5 LSU in the SECCG a week after beating #20 Georgia Tech in Atlanta.  So I’m not sure how much weight to give this trend.  The one thing Steele points out that I do give credence to is that ASU plays a lightweight schedule leading into this matchup.
• REASON #3 October 25th AT LSU – Yeah, this one’s gonna be a bitch.  And he’s right when he points out that whichever QB LSU plays will have gotten some experience in some tough games by the time Georgia arrives.
• REASON #4 November 1st vs Florida in Jacksonville – Now Tebow wasn’t merely less than 100%; he was “far less” than 100% in last year’s game.  Sigh.  Good point, though, that neither team gains an advantage this year with a bye week before this game.
• REASON #5 November 15th AT Auburn – Again, here’s an interesting piece of information: In the last 5 years Auburn has taken on the #2, #6, #8, #5, #8 and #7 teams at home in SEC action. That is 6 Top 8 SEC teams at home. A record of 3-3 in those games would be impressive as only twice was Auburn ranked higher than their foe. Auburn is a PERFECT 6-0 vs those matchups!!! That’s impressive.  But Georgia, as Dawg fans know about this series, has held its own on the road with the Tigers.  Steele is right to point out that Georgia will be at the end of a grueling set of games on the road, while Auburn will be coming off a game against Tennessee-Martin, but doesn’t note that Auburn’s opponent in 2006 immediately prior to the Georgia game was equally cupcakey Arkansas State.  And the “Tony Franklin’s Troy offense racked up 488 yards of offense against Georgia last year” line really doesn’t impress me, unless Martinez is planning to let his third stringers play most of the second half on the Plains this year.

Wrapping things up, Steele is once again kind to Georgia.  It’s nothing personal, guys.

I do not think ANY team in the country could go through a schedule like this unbeaten and doubt that any squad in the last few years could go through this tough of a schedule with the additional circumstances making it even more advantageous for Georgia’s opponents.

Let me say that as of right now, I don’t see the Dawgs going through the year – particularly the stretch from LSU through Auburn – unscathed.  So I can’t say that he’s gone out on a limb with this.

By the way, it’s not like Steele sees Georgia’s season turning into a complete disaster.  He projects the Dawgs to play in a BCS game again.

Georgia, Obama, Mike the Tiger and the Pope

As tortured analogies go, this one ranks right up there.

But what do you expect from a blogger who in a thirteen word header manages to make the Pope an afterthought to a college mascot, with a typo to boot?

(h/t Bulldogs Blog)