“But our leaders can walk and chew gum at the same time.”

And with that ringing endorsement, a new star is born, people:  PlayoffPAC.  Please give generously.

There’s plenty of comedy gold to mine there, including cites to not one, but two John Feinstein articles.

And the usual suspects sound very impressed and supportive.

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UPDATE: Perspective is a bitch, though.

… Geoffrey C. Rapp, an associate law professor at the University of Toledo who follows sports law, said he doesn’t see the PAC making much difference.

“The legislative branch is good at holding hearings, is good at getting angry about things,” he said. “But it doesn’t seem like it’s been as good at actually implementing any meaningful solutions.”

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Break, but don’t bend.

If you’re looking for a weird ray of sunshine for the Georgia defense right now, I’ve got one for you.

Here’s a clip of the winning score in the Ariz0na State-Washington game.

That’s the passing attack that couldn’t catch a cold in Athens about a month ago scoring on a fifty yard bomb in the last ten seconds of the game against the defense that held Southern Cal to thirteen points.

The truly bizarre part of that play was that ASU had two guys running wide open deep.  Even a Bryan Evans-led secondary is less clueless than that in coverage.  It’s a credit to Danny Sullivan that he didn’t freeze up from having options on his throw.  As it was, the play stands as the longest completion of his career.

So at least that didn’t happen in Athens.  Take your triumphs where you can get them, Dawgnation.

It’s not just me saying it.

The Wiz compiles sort of a greatest hits post of officiating calls from the Arkansas-Florida game here.  Make sure you listen to the tone in Gary Danielson’s voice as he reviews the call against Malcolm Sheppard.  Like I said, I’m not the only one feeling it.

By the way, Gator fans, the point here isn’t that Florida won the game because of the refs, or that there’s a conspiracy to put Florida and Alabama together in the SECCG.  It’s that too often SEC officiating is sub par.  Those are the kind of calls that get made by lazy officials who find themselves swayed by a program’s or a player’s reputation instead of keeping up with what’s actually happening on the field in front of them.  And then get excused by people like Rogers Redding who are far more concerned about ass covering than accountability.

If nothing else, these kids need to feel like they didn’t get cheated giving their best.  How hard is that to acknowledge?

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UPDATE: Per the SEC, “(a)fter video review, there was no evidence on the video to support the personal foul penalty called on Arkansas midway through the fourth quarter.” That’s a relief.

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UPDATE #2: Terrell Owens (wait a minute… Terrell Owens?  WTF?) thinks the refs are a bunch of dirty cheaters.

My Mumme Poll ballot, Week 7

This week’s ballot took longer to construct than last week’s.  It’s all Georgia Tech’s fault.

TOP FIVE

• Alabama
• Cincinnati
• Florida
• Iowa
• Texas

REST OF THE BEST

• Boise State
• Georgia Tech
• LSU
• Miami
• Oregon
• Southern Cal
• Virginia Tech

COMMENTS

• Damn you, Georgia Tech – and not for the usual reasons.  Naturally, after proclaiming that Virginia Tech was playing some of the best football in the country, I’m rewarded with the Hokies going into Atlanta and dropping one to the Jackets.  Stupid Hokies.  Georgia Tech scoring 28 didn’t surprise me, but watching the Tech defense hold the Va. Tech to 23 did.
• And while I’m at it, damn you too, ACC.  I’ve got three ACC teams in my top twelve.  I don’t like doing that, but I can’t see any way around it.  And you just know one of the three is going to drop a game it shouldn’t.  One of the three?  What am I talking about?  It’ll be a mild upset if all three of them don’t lose a game like that.
• LSU needs to start showing up and dominating some games.  It’s getting harder and harder to keep TCU out of my top twelve.
• The easiest part of this ballot was the part of the top five that didn’t involve Cincinnati.  I moved the Bearcats up because they’ve got two solid road wins on their resume and continue to play sound, resourceful football.  I agree with the majority sentiment out there that Brian Kelly will be movin’ on up next season to a more prominent coaching job.
• I couldn’t bring myself to put Notre Dame in my top twelve after Charlie Weis scored another memorable signature loss.
• Sure, it was an ugly win for Southern Cal, but so what?  If the Trojans truly are a flawed team, that’ll come out in the wash of the remaining schedule.  Don’t forget that USC has beaten three ranked teams already; nobody in the country has more wins against ranked opponents.

Upon further review: Georgia-Vanderbilt

I didn’t see any shocking truths revealed in the broadcast that weren’t apparent watching the game live, but there are three points worth reiterating/expanding upon.

• Fundamentals and coaching credit where credit is due. There’s been a fair amount of hoopla over Bobo leaving the booth and coaching down on the sidelines, but to me the significant coaching effort came in the week of practice leading up to the game.  It was very apparent that there was a renewed effort at giving attention to fundamentals that showed up with the very first punt and defensive series by Georgia.  Kickoff and punt coverage was solid the entire day – as I mentioned, Vandy’s longest return on kickoffs was 20 yards and its longest punt return was 11 yards.  (And before you ask, yeah, the ‘Dores field the 11th-ranked punt return team in the conference, but their kickoff return average is the same as Georgia’s.)  Defensively, it wasn’t as consistent as the special teams’, but we saw players doing a much better job of staying in their lanes, not overrunning pursuit and not letting receivers run wide open for ten or fifteen yards.  Tackling wasn’t perfect and they still have a problem with an offense which changes pace (good luck with Auburn on that), but all in all it was a solid effort, one you hope they build on in the next two weeks of practice.
• Coaching and the fear of results. I’ve already seen at least one player quote to the effect that all of the pressure will be on Florida in two weeks and that Georgia can go in and play as if it has nothing to lose.  That’s all great, but somebody needs to tell the Dawg coaches that.  There are still scads of inexplicable calls and decisions by them that reveal their uncertainty about everything except their fear of getting burned.  That’s why we see Logan Gray continuing to receive punts in the middle of the field (after the horse is already out of the punt fake barn) on a day when Prince Miller distinguished himself in that department and why Walsh, who continues to lead the SEC in touchbacks and who got excellent support from his coverage team throughout the game, angles a kickoff towards the sidelines with a mere seven seconds left in the half.  That’s why Martinez played soft zone against a quarterback who is likely the worst at his position that Georgia’s defense will see all season and who showed very early that he had no ability whatsoever to complete a deep pass against even Georgia’s single coverage.  There are plenty of playmakers on Georgia’s roster.  The coaches need to quit playing what’s the worst that can happen and start trusting the talent more.  Will there be bumps along the way?  Sure, but it’s not like it’s ever going to be any more embarrassing than what we witnessed in Knoxville two weeks ago.
• Offensive strategy, or, in which your humble blogger finds himself in agreement with Andre Ware. Yeah, it’s kind of sad when even a hack like Ware stumbles on the truth, but it’s that painfully obvious Mike Bobo needs to man up and realize that establishing the run early isn’t a successful strategy with the personnel hand he’s been dealt this season.  I understand it’s been Georgia’s bread and butter under Richt to use the run to set up the pass, but sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.  The reality is that right now, all of Georgia’s offensive playmakers are on the receiving corps and that’s where the majority of plays needs to be going until a running back truly steps up as a legitimate option that opposing defenses respect.  It’s not a sin to use the pass to set up a running attack.  And there’s another reason why Richt and Bobo need to yield in this area.  Joe Cox is a quarterback who gets much better once he establishes a rhythm.  That’s easier to do when you’re throwing frequently on first and second downs; it’s a much tougher task when you hand off on those early downs, get your patented 2.5 yards per carry at best and leave Joe facing third-and-fives or worse on a regular basis.  None of Georgia’s backs have shown an ability to get tough yardage consistently running between the tackles and they’re getting little help from the line, the tight ends and the fullbacks.  Ditch the I-formation at least early in the game, spread the defense out to get more room for your backs (especially Carlton Thomas) and throw on the early downs to keep the defense from crowding the line.  If you’re worried about tipping your hand on run/pass calls due to personnel, what’s stopping you from playing two tailbacks in the backfield together?  Caleb King is proving as solid on pass protection as either Chapas or Munzenmeier, so why not pair him with some of the other tailbacks in a split backfield?  After all, it’s not like Bobo hasn’t seen offensive formations with that before.  In Bobo’s defense, I think he knows in his heart what needs to happen – witness his playcalling in the only successful drive of the Tennessee game and the fact that he didn’t put in the power package on Caleb’s touchdown run – he’s just reluctant to admit it.  Use the Force, Luke.