Just another day at the office

Here’s a nice video of Rennie Curran’s last minute heroics against South Carolina.

And here’s Boykin’s good work on the night:

This explains a lot.

Mark Richt had this to say about the internets at his teleconference today:

“If you want to get online and start reading that stuff you can really mess yourself up, I think.”

Maybe he’s got us sussed.

“And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger…”

If there’s ever a guy who deserves a special award for college football blogging (whatever happened to those, anyway?), it’s got to be Joe at Coaches Hot Seat Blog, for writing the most consistently over the top posts out there – which is why I’m an enthusiastic reader of his blog, of course.

Most of Joe’s inflammatory rhetoric is directed at the suits running (or ruining, as Joe would have it) the BCS and college football, but today he turns his attention to a little ol’ place we know as Knoxville, Tennessee.

Joe thinks Junior is in for a world of hurt in the Swamp, because… get ready for it… Saturday is a Jewish holiday.  I kid you not.  He even tosses in a couple of Bible references in support of his point.  Although I admit to being disappointed that he didn’t cite Ezekiel 25:17.

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First thoughts about Georgia-Arkansas

• Barnhart refers to Saturday night’s game in Fayetteville as a “classic ‘trap’ game”, which I don’t get (what, the Dawgs are looking ahead to Arizona State?), but also mentions the fatigue factor, which I buy a little more.  Certainly Arkansas, which has only played one game against a cupcake opponent, will be far more rested than the Dawgs.

• I’m not being snarky in asking this, but based on last year’s stats, why is everyone so sold on the Hogs this season?  They were the worst team in the conference defensively, where they return something like nine of eleven starters.   They were also less than stellar on special teams, which is an area that Steele notes has never been something that Petrino-coached teams have excelled at.  I will say that I’m looking forward to seeing John L. Smith patrolling the sidelines coaching the Arky special teams.  Here’s hoping that Brandon/Branden give him a chance to go a little crazy.

• Ryan Mallett is big.  He’s got a cannon for an arm.  He’s also lacking in mobility, so maybe that pass rush we saw emerging somewhat against South Carolina will have more to show for itself.  Mallett wasn’t exactly the most accurate passer in his stint at Michigan, but acquitted himself quite well in that department in Arky’s opener against Missouri State, when he went 17 of 22.

• Arkansas doesn’t have a Dez Bryant – not too many schools do – but overall this looks to be the best group of receivers Georgia’s seen to date.  And given what we saw last Saturday, DJ Williams, the tight end, scares the hell out of me.  He’s not the tallest TE in the world, but he’s a good combination of size and speed at the position.

• My mantra about Georgia’s line play looks key for this game.  The Arkansas defensive line seems somewhat undersized to me.  It’s time for Georgia’s o-line to step it up and dominate a little.  If Richard Samuel goes for 100+ yards, something I think he’s capable of, I love Georgia’s chances.  And on the other side, Arky was 118th in the country last year in sacks allowed.  That was with Casey Dick, a far more mobile QB than Mallett.

The hidden game

Matt Hinton, aka Doc Saturday, didn’t watch the Georgia-South Carolina game, so I can understand why he draws the conclusion he does looking at some of the key stats:

… How on earth did South Carolina lose this game?

The Gamecocks outgained Georgia by more than 100 yards; finished with a plus-two turnover margin; turned all three of those turnovers into points, one directly on an interception return, and had more “cheap” points overall; scored on a safety; and had slightly better starting field position. Losing with that many diverse advantages is absurd.

Even so, his stats direct you to the real reason, which the Doc gets to in the following paragraph – Georgia was far more efficient in its scoring than were the ‘Cocks.  All but nine of Georgia’s total yards resulted in points, while South Carolina left well over 100 yards of offense on the table.

One other thing:  take out the turnovers on both sides and Georgia’s looking at a comfortable 13-point victory margin.  Of course, it wouldn’t have been as entertaining to watch, would it?

Wednesday morning buffet

Sorry, no more links to Layla Kiffin in a sundress.  You’ll have to settle for more football-related stuff.

• Tony Barnhart says Joe Cox is ‘da man.
• Speaking of Joe, it’s fair to point out that for his career he’s thrown more TD passes against South Carolina than Matt Stafford did.
• More proof that Georgia Tech lies and cheats.
• I get the feeling that the loss in Stillwater is going to look worse and worse for Georgia as the season goes along.  (h/t The Wiz of Odds)
• Feel the love for Jonathan Crompton:  “I can understand why Kiffin would stand by Crompton. If not for Crompton he wouldn’t have this job.”
• This is some story about Pahokee, Florida.  If you’ve ever been to Palm Beach County, the disparity between Palm Beach and the western part of the county is stunning.  (h/t The Wiz of Odds)
• Good stuff on Blair Walsh, who is the only D-1 kicker to boot two field goals of 50 or more yards so far this season.  (By the way, if Chris Culliver’s 57-yard kickoff return was due to the trajectory of Walsh’s kick, why was Fabris giving Akeem Dent an “extended talking-to” after the play?)
• Another reason to do away with early season rankings:  even the computers don’t have enough data to make sense.
• Yeah, the humiliation factor will make for some compelling TV, but the real reason I’ll be watching the Florida-Tennessee game is to see if Monte Kiffin is able to come up with some ways to slow down the Gator offense – with or without the help of James Brown.

You got me on my knees.

Tidefan tells me this post at 3rd Saturday in Blogtober “… got linked by every UT perv in the country (and by that, I pretty much just mean Clay Travis and the message board hordes) and the traffic crashed the site.”

Given what happened to the Vols last week and what’s on the horizon for them in the Swamp, it’s good that these people have a hobby.