Mumme Poll, Week 12

Rank	Team	Votes (top five)
1	Alabama	257     (256)
2	TCU	257     (249)
3	Texas	256     (252)
4	Florida	256     (251)
5	Cincinnati	256     (205)
6	Georgia Tech	253
7	Boise State	252
8	Oregon	250
9	Pittsburgh	231
10	Ohio State	231
11	Oklahoma State	142
12	Iowa	137
13	Penn State	75
14	Clemson	63
15	Virginia Tech	55
16	LSU	28
17	Oregon State	25
18	Mississippi	21
19	BYU	9
20	Utah	8
21	Miami	6
22	Houston	5
23	Stanford	4
24	North Carolina	3
24	Temple	3

COMMENTS

• Wow, we lost one-sixth of our voters from the previous week.  About 70% of those are Georgia followers.  Gee, I wonder what caused that?
• No team appeared on all 258 ballots cast.
• The farther we get along this season, the more consolidation there is for the top ten teams.
• That being said, we still have 34 schools that received votes this week.
• Only one team outside of the top ten received a top five nod:  Penn State.
• Check out the love for 9-2 Temple.  I know it’s a MAC team, but considering the program only had ten wins in its three prior seasons combined, that’s one helluva job Al Golden’s doing this year.

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Detached from reality

Is there anything that has an angle that PETA can’t grandstand?

Tech Week: first random “key to the game” thought

Georgia is going to have to play a perfect game Saturday night.

Not because Georgia Tech is so superior in every phase of the game (which is not the same thing as saying Tech isn’t a good team) that the Dawgs don’t stand a chance otherwise, but because the Georgia team psyche is so fragile that I expect it to crumble to bits at the first sign of adversity.   Take the Kentucky second half and substitute the nation’s twelfth best offense (UK’s at #87) and you’ve got the potential for some very ugly football if you’re a Georgia fan.

I keep talking about a crisis of confidence – that the coaches lack faith in the players’ ability to execute and the players lack faith in what they’re being asked to do by the coaches.  Here’s a quote from Mike Bobo about Joe Cox that’s a perfect illustration of that:

“Going into this season, he was a very accurate passer, knows his progressions,” Bobo said. “But a lot has to do with not trusting it, worrying about making the mistake, and then we’re making mistakes…” [Emphasis added.]

There are a lot more people in the program than Joe who are guilty of that exact mindset.  And that, more than anything else, is what’s going to make Saturday night’s task so tough.

Tuesday morning buffet

The sun will rise, Georgia is only a seven point underdog against Tech (huh?) and breakfast is served.

• I hope Reshad Jones gets his chance for redemption.
• It just gets better and better in South Bend, doesn’t it?
• Along those lines, the only catch to this tongue-in-cheek proposal is that you still wouldn’t have a functioning defense.
• And I can think of eighteen million reasons why Charlie Weis has no reason to feel bitter towards Notre Dame.
• GTP made Brian Cook’s “This Week In Schadenfreude”.  Again.  Sigh.
• Amen, brother.
• Tell me how much of this surprises you.  That’s life in the SEC.
• According to Houston Nutt, eight recruits stayed away from Ole Miss this weekend because of the Ku Klux Klan’s presence in Oxford.  Regardless of what you think of Nutt’s antics, that sucks.
• Mmm… beer.

SEC Power Poll Ballot – Week Twelve

Aw, mom, do I really have to clean my room now?

In case you can’t guess, this isn’t a very fun exercise this week for a Georgia fan.

1. Alabama. Whipped up on a cupcake.  Yawn.
2. Florida. See Alabama.
3. Ole Miss. Getting hot at season’s end again.  Think the Nuttster would like a mulligan on Dexter McCluster’s season?
4. LSU. Les, Les, Les.  We used to think you were crazy like a fox.  Now we’re beginning to suspect that you’re dumb as a rock.
5. Tennessee. It was a good week for Lane Kiffin:  his team becomes bowl eligible and his best freshman avoids criminal prosecution.  Sadly, that’s all it takes to make number five in the Power Poll.
6. Auburn. Enjoy that bye week bounce while you can, fellas.
7. Arkansas. Another home win.  Let’s see how they do in the finale on the road in Baton Rouge.
8. South Carolina. Another bye week bounce, with the season wrap up against an energized Clemson looming.
9. Kentucky. If the ‘Cats can get off the schneid against Tennessee, I’ll move ’em up a bunch.  Anyway you look at it, kudos to Rich Brooks for milking this team for everything it’s got.
10. Georgia. So, how bad is it?  Bad enough that Mark Richt said he’d be grateful for an invite to Shreveport.  Ouch.
11. Mississippi State. Can these guys stop Dexter McCluster?  Nah, I didn’t think so.
12. Vanderbilt. At least the ‘Dores won’t lose this week.

What is the antonym for “synergy”?

This is awesome:

The only thing better for Blair Walsh and Drew Butler than wrapping up their seasons with national awards would be doing it together.

They’ll get a chance to do just that next month, as Butler was named a finalist for the Ray Guy Award, given annually to the nation’s top punter, and Walsh earned a nod as a finalist for the Lou Groza Award for the country’s best place-kicker.

I wonder how often that’s happened before.  Kudos to both gentlemen for their great seasons.

And the best part is how much each has meant to Georgia’s special teams on kickoffs and punts, where the Dawgs have enjoyed spectacular… wait a minute…

Georgia is 88th in the nation in punt return yardage defense.

Georgia is 119th in the nation in kick return yardage defense.

That’s not easy to do.  As I said the other night, you’ve almost got to work your coverage teams at being that bad with kicking talent that stellar.