What I did on my spring break.

Can you win the starting quarterback job if you’re suspended for the first two games of the season?

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UPDATE: David Hale sheds some light on the answer to my question.

How much did last year’s penalties really matter?

Aside from the turnover situation, the thing about last year’s Georgia squad that got the most attention as being evidence of why the program slipped to a five-loss season was the number of penalties the Dawgs racked up.  Georgia finished 113th nationally in penalties per game and 107th in penalty yardage per game.

But if you look at the record, it’s hard to see how much difference those numbers made as to wins and losses.

First Downs						Penalties
Date	Opponent	Rush	Pass	Pen	Total
09/05/09	Oklahoma St.(10-24)	5	8	3	16	7	58
09/12/09	South Carolina(41-37)	6	8	2	16	13	108
09/19/09	Arkansas(52-41)	4	15	1	20	14	93
09/26/09	Arizona St.(20-17)	5	9	3	17	7	55
10/03/09	LSU(13-20)	1	10	0	11	7	59
10/10/09	Tennessee(19-45)	6	7	0	13	9	79
10/17/09	Vanderbilt(34-10)	8	10	1	19	8	71
10/31/09	Florida(17-41)	5	10	1	16	9	87
11/07/09	Tennessee Tech(38-0)	12	7	1	20	11	86
11/14/09	Auburn(31-24)	10	6	2	18	4	29
11/21/09	Kentucky(27-34)	10	12	0	22	5	75
11/28/09	Georgia Tech(30-24)	15	6	0	21	5	39
12/28/09	Texas A&M(44-20)	9	8	0	17	6	39
Totals		96	116	14	226	105	878

Georgia’s worst numbers came in the South Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee Tech games – all wins.  For the season, the team averaged 8.5 penalties per game and 65 penalty yards per game in the wins and 7.4 ppg and 71.6 pypg in the losses.

That’s not to say that some penalties don’t hurt more than others.  But the commentary I heard last season didn’t break down the effect penalties were having on Georgia’s performance; it simply focused on overall national rankings as some sort of catch-all rationalization.  And for that, there doesn’t seem to be much of a causal link at all.

If there’s one thing to take heart from, it’s the way the penalty numbers drop fairly precipitously in the final four games of the year.  That coincided with Georgia’s best run of the season with regard to turnovers – even with the four in the Kentucky game.  The team played its most disciplined ball at the end.  Why that was the case – and I’m guessing a stabilized offensive line and a team that got back to running the ball consistently well were the biggest factors – is something the coaches need to identify, raw numbers aside.

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We clap/slap this state.

It’s a slow news day.  But there’s never a bad time to put Georgia Tech in its place.

Here’s a clip of the last 30 seconds of this season’s Georgia-Georgia Tech basketball game:

And here’s one documenting a lost bet:

If it hasn’t been the greatest stretch the last six months or so, at least it’s been a good one.