Kevin Scarbinsky puts his finger on it.

You know, it was that key coordinator bolting the Georgia program a few years ago for what he thought were greener pastures that’s knocked Mark Richt back.  Yeah, it’s a shame Brian Van… excuse me, who?

… And has anyone else noticed that Georgia hasn’t quite been the same since Neil Callaway left for UAB?

To answer your question, Kevin, no.  Even after you asked it.  No.

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2006? I do not think that year means what you think it means.

Sobering point from cocknfire:

… You might have heard something about 2006 from Richt and Co., who are referencing it as a reason why Georgia’s season still might turn around. After all, they lost to UK and Vanderbilt and things still got straightened out in the end, right?

Not exactly. The Dawgs started out 5-0 in 2006, and then things fell apart with a 51-33 shellacking at home against Tennessee that started a 3-4 close to the season. We remember the 37-15 victory over national title darkhorse Auburn and the three-point victory over ranked Georgia Tech in part because they were stunning giving how the season was going in the last half, not because of the struggles in the first. Indeed, if Georgia loses in the second half of this season to the same teams against which it lost in 2006, it will be 6-6 when the season ends.

A look at Georgia-Vanderbilt: because a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

Birds fly.  Fish swim.  Bloggers blog.

There’s a game tomorrow, so here I am.  Georgia, in case you’re wondering, is currently ensconced as an eight-point favorite on the road.  We all like to tell ourselves that Georgia struggles with Vanderbilt, historically speaking, but as Mr. Steele records it, if that margin were to hold up, it would actually be the third closest result in the last twelve years.  Things, in other words, generally aren’t that tight when these two play.

So the Dawgs aren’t getting much love against a team that they’ve beaten in 13 of their last 14 meetings.  And to add insult to injury, this isn’t a particularly strong Vanderbilt squad Georgia is fixing to meet on Saturday.

Vandy is basically Tennessee-lite:  solid running game, questionable passing game (yeah, I know), respectable defense.   I would expect the ‘Dores to follow the UT game plan on both sides of the ball.  And in a normal season, that shouldn’t be enough.  After all, this is a team with a twelve-point loss to the next worst team in the SEC.  And Vanderbilt lost to Army last week.

But as we all know, this isn’t shaping up to be a normal season.

The two things that have to be of greatest concern tomorrow seem pretty apparent.  The first is turnover margin, usually the best way for a lesser opponent to level the playing field in a game.  Vandy did a great job riding that through the early part of last season en route to seven wins despite having a sub par offense.  This season, the ‘Dores are currently +5 in TO margin, which is actually a better pace than they finished with in 2008.  Georgia is -11 in TO margin.  Sad to say, it’ll be an above-average game for the Dawgs if they can do better than -2 on the day.

The other area of worry has to be team psyche.  There’s no telling how the coaches and players are going to react to the firestorm created in the wake of the Tennessee debacle.  But I will say that as bland as Coach Richt sounds in saying this, he’s right.

“I just said, ‘Priority No. 1 is to focus on preparing for Vanderbilt and trying to win this game,’ ” Richt said. “There’s nothing else that’s worth focusing on. There’s nothing more important that we can do right now other than get a plan together and get ready to win. Everything else is really just not important right now.”

Competency and focus would be welcome right now – even against Vanderbilt.  And, yeah, on a certain level, I know how bleak that sounds.  But Richt’s got a huge, immediate task in not losing his team and he can’t afford to get bogged down in bigger picture stuff.  It’s not a time to worry about making a statement – although I’d enjoy a game like that as much as anyone.  It’s a time to rebuild confidence.

Tech tales

My brother, the Georgia Tech fan, isn’t very optimistic about the Jackets’ chances against Virginia Tech this Saturday.  I tend to agree with him, although here’s a statistical snapshot that may indicate that the game will be more interesting than we anticipate:

… Well-blocked option plays are designed for big gains, and the run-first philosophy has opened up occasional deep passes. This season, for example, Georgia Tech has had 30 plays of 20 yards or more, and five of its touchdowns came on plays of 50 yards or more.

Virginia Tech’s defensive weakness has been its susceptibility to big plays. This season, the Hokies have allowed 22 plays of 20 or more yards as a result of poor tackling, mental mistakes, miscommunications and sometimes a combination of all three.

It’s weird to think of a Virginia Tech game as a potential shoot-out, but there it is.

On the other side of the coin, Georgia Tech hasn’t shown that it can stop an offense with a pulse all year.  When you get the likes of Mark Bradley making comparisons with Georgia defensively that come off in Willie Martinez’ favor, that can’t be good.

Passion is no ordinary word.

Meme of the day, from innumerable posts on message boards and blog commenters:  if only Coach Richt were more fiery… if he’d only show more emotion on the sideline…

Hey, I’ve got your fiery right here.

Why does the Zooker rage?

Yeah, that’s working out well.