Mandel: Bowls, Polls and Presumptuous Plugs

Shorter Stewart Mandel:  Mr. President-elect, excuse me while I use your naive call for college football playoffs as a shameless opportunity to plug my book.

(courtesy The Wiz of Odds)

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Wednesday college football buffet

Lots of items to sample this morning:

• I’m a sucker for stories like this.  Geno Atkins, bless you and your mom.  I’ll be cheering loudly for both of you at next year’s Senior Day.
• It looks like the glow is starting to wear off a bit for the Zooker.  If you listen carefully, you can hear the faint cry of Gator fans everywhere saying, “we told you so.”
• By now, everyone’s heard about Muschamp being named heir apparent at Texas.  Nine hundred large as an assistant living in Austin – who can blame him?  But who knows if it works out, either?  The bigger story seems to me that he’s off the dating scene this year for a number of head coaching opportunities at other schools.  That’s the part that makes Texas look really smart right now.
• Speaking of head coaching searches, this may be the lamest thing Dennis Dodd has ever posted.  And that’s saying a lot.
• Gotta hand it to Spurdog – he suffers the worst defeat of his career and he’s still got the instincts to mock another head coach:  “I saw Charlie Weis on TV today. He’s happy as he can be Notre Dame has got their sixth win and they’re bowl eligible…” If anyone can figure out a way to be an asshole at his own funeral, it’ll be Steve Spurrier.
• Imagine a world with playoffs. (h/t The Wizard of Odds)
• Did you know that in the five year period from 2002 to 2007 Texas Tech spent more money on its football program than either Texas or Oklahoma did?  Genius has its cost.  You might want to keep that in mind, Tennessee fans.
• OK, monkeys really are flying out of my butt.
• Mark Richt had a lot to say this week when he went down to Macon.  David Hale and Travis Fain have some good quotes worth reading.
• And David’s taken it on himself to do something that’s, given the emotional state of the Dawgnation right now, either brave or masochistic:  he’s hosting a live chat tomorrow at 2 PM.

Georgia-Georgia Tech 2001: the streak begins

If the “Hobnail Boot” play was Verron Haynes’ shining moment in red and black, surely his game against Tech was his finest hour.

He was an unlikely hero, being pressed into service as the starting tailback the week before due to an injury to Musa Smith, but Haynes pounded the Jackets, carrying the ball a staggering 39 times for 207 rushing yards, as Georgia beat the higher ranked Yellow Jackets 31-17.

The win ended a three game losing streak that had culminated in a humiliating loss in Athens which cost Jim Donnan his head coaching job.  George Godsey and the Tech offense weren’t nearly so successful in this game.  Tech gained less than 250 yards on the day, Godsey completed less than 50% of his passes and threw an interception in the fourth quarter that Tim Wansley returned for a touchdown.

The other highlight of the day was Billy Bennett’s six field goals, which tied an SEC record for field goals made in a game.  No Dawg fan was heard complaining about red zone inefficiency after the win.

The game would mark the end of an era.  It would be the last game George O’Leary would coach against Georgia as the head Jacket.  Tech would bring in as his replacement the man who was Michael Adams’ first choice to replace Donnan, ironically enough.  But that’s a tale to tell starting tomorrow.

You can find USA Today’s box score and recap of the game here.