Tuesday morning buffet

And it’s not being delayed by NCAA investigators, either.

  • Seth Emerson ranks Georgia’s schedule in order of importance.  Auburn is too low.  In fact, if Georgia somehow manages to win #1, Auburn would belong at #2 on the list.
  • Phil Fulmer’s counsel for Mark Richt:  “Keep winning, brother,” Fulmer said. “That’s the best advice I can give.”
  • Bullshit detectors on, Captain:  “Former USC athletic director Mike Garrett eventually wrote a letter to the other schools apologizing for Baxter’s claims. But sources said that was done primarily to bury the controversy.” Yeah, sure.  After all, Junior “… also did not deny Baxter’s claims.” That settles it for me.  [UPDATE: ESPN says it was all made up.]
  • The emergence of Marlon Brown continues:  “In a three-receiver set, Marlon Brown is likely the next wideout on the field.”
  • When you have the worst returning offense in the SEC, losing your best offensive player to injury isn’t a positive development.  Let’s hope it’s nothing serious.
  • I guess this is meant as a rhetorical question.
  • If you take trends seriously (and I tend to), Paul Myerberg offers a decent rebuttal to the argument that Georgia Tech is likely to decline in 2010 due to the player losses it suffered.

25 Comments

Filed under Don't Mess With Lane Kiffin, Gators, Gators..., Georgia Football, Georgia Tech Football, SEC Football

25 responses to “Tuesday morning buffet

  1. Cynical in Athens

    I happened to be in Statesboro for Game 1, Year 3 of the Paul Johnson regime in Statesboro.

    That was Adrian Peterson’s debut. He went for 135 and the rest of his career was history. It was like watching Tebow X 2. Unstoppable.

    Paul Johnson is no doubt a mastermind, but he got to enjoy 3 years of dive right, dive left and watch AP go for 8 yards a pop.

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  2. AthensHomerDawg

    PJ has won at Tech. Beat the Dawgs between the hedges too. Last year Lady Luck smiled on our beloved canines a bit when Cox got his bell rung forcing Bobo to run more. That dropped, well thrown, sideline pass by a pretty good WR sealed Techs fate at BDS. Still……. even though Clemson saw that offense twice and couldn’t stop it- I watched an LSU defense play a disciplined ballgame that ruined the Techsters evening. To my knowleged they never saw it prior to that night. PJ has a .608 winning percentage at Navy. I believe in trends too ….like the spread and the 3-4 D to counter it. Is it what your familiar with? What you can prepare for? The time it takes to prepare for it adequately? The no huddle offense is a lot a fun to watch unless its your team with their hands on their hips, shuffling up to the line of scrimmage.

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    • Hackerdog

      Cox looked sharp enough to me. And I have more faith in Bobo than you do. The coach that led our offense to first place in the SEC in conference scoring was sharp enough to notice that GT couldn’t stop the run. No conspiracy required.

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      • Noonan

        Mark Richt informed the crowd at the Albany Bulldog club that Cox getting his bell rung was the reason we ran the ball so much in that game.

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      • AthensHomerDawg

        My bad. I’m just as high on CMB as anyone. It was CMR that stated in reference to the all out running attack that Cox had got his bell rung early running over that Tech db and that he really didn’t know where he was at. The early running game was a reflection of waiting till Joe got his center of gravity back. It wasn’t in the initial game plan. The dropped 4th down pass was lady luck smiling on us. It was a see-saw game and Tech was in it until the end. Go Dawgs!
        just sayin’

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      • AthensHomerDawg

        2009 SEC Football Leaders
        SCORING OFFENSE G TD FG XPT 2XP DXP Saf Points Avg/G
        1. Arkansas 13 60 16 58 0 0 1 468 36.0
        2. Florida 14 63 22 58 0 0 0 502 35.9
        3. Auburn 13 55 15 54 0 1 1 433 33.3
        4. Alabama 14 52 30 43 2 0 0 449 32.1
        5. Ole Miss 13 49 15 45 0 0 0 384 29.5
        6. Tennessee 13 49 13 46 0 0 1 381 29.3
        7. Georgia 13 45 20 42 1 0 1 376 28.9
        8. Kentucky 13 44 11 40 0 0 1 339 26.1
        9. Miss. State 12 37 16 35 0 0 1 307 25.6
        10. LSU 13 39 17 34 1 0 1 323 24.8
        11. South Carolina 13 31 17 29 0 0 1 268 20.6
        12. Vanderbilt 12 21 16 20 0 0 1 196 16.3

        Hackerdog I see Georgia at 7…..am I missing something?
        Just sayin’

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  3. BeerMoney

    Re: Tech…

    “It was once unthinkable to say Georgia Tech would pass Georgia as a program — but this year, for the first time in a decade, the Jackets start out ahead of the Bulldogs in the preseason polls.”

    The last time this happened (2001) we began a 7 year winning streak against them. The jury is still out on Johnson and Tech and we probably won’t know just how good of a coach he really is there until about year 4-5.

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  4. Scott W.

    Finebaum is in Birmingham laughing his ass off. No matter how true CMR being on the hotseat is, he has started a meme that has made it all the way to Herbstreit.

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  5. 81Dog

    I hate to rain on the Mustard parade, here, but by any chance, does anyone recall how many junior starters went to the NFL after the Mini-Skipper’s second year at either Navy or Georgia Southern? Also, were they any rule changes about cut blocks after either of those seasons?

    I don’t expect GTU to be 0 and whatever this year, but losing their best two players off an already wretched defense, plus installing a new defensive system, doesn’t exactly seem to be the prescription for rapid improvement to me. Likewise, taking two of their top three, and possibly their top two, players on offense, plus dealing with increased scrutiny about illegal chop blocks, doesn’t seem like the ideal path to a national championship, either.

    but hey, some guy found a trend at 1AA and Navy, which might as well be 1AA. I guess that means the Mustard Juggernaut is about to roll over us all like the Mongol hordes rolled over Asia. The horror, the horror……

    pardon me for waiting until the games get played to see if doom and panic are really appropriate here.

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    • Gen. Stoopnagle

      I agree with the wait and see approach, but I think it’s reasonable to expect that Tech will be pretty good every year under their current staff.

      I dislike ’em as much as the next man, but to think they won’t be a challenging game for us is just unrealistic.

      I’ll add that I don’t think they will ever win a national title under Johnson for two reasons: once a year his offense will have a multi-turnover game that the defense won’t be able to overcome and the months of prep before a BCS title game will eliminate any advantage Tech’s scheme brings to the table. That is, unless they luck into a year where an undefeated Boise State is their opponent; otherwise, it’s reasonable to expect a talent-laden, well-prepared major team will treat them as LSU and Iowa have in their last two bowl games.

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    • Hackerdog

      I assume you have tempered expectations about UGA’s defense too? After all, our defense was mediocre, we lost good players to the NFL, and we have a new scheme.

      I think in both cases, the defenses will be improved because it would be hard not to improve. But I don’t expect a top ranked defense for either team.

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      • 69Dawg

        What I don’t understand is if we are supposed to have such a hard time converting to the 3-4 with better players why does no one mention that GT has no chance of finding a huge Nose. By the way I think GT will be trying to 2 gap with their midgets.

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      • 81Dog

        I have tempered expectations, but it’s not like our defense was lacking in talent last year, or lacking in talent this year.

        How many starters off this year’s Tech D could start for us? How much depth do they have? Who are they plugging in to replace the two top flight guys they lost?

        Are you trying to tell me GTU has a better safety than Morgan Burnett to trot out there? Or that they have plenty of depth at LB and DL? You could get Bill Parcells to coach Tech’s D, but they still have mediocre talent.

        I dont expect Tech to be winless or anything. I’m just not drinking the “keep getting better without missing a beat” Kool Aid. I guess that’s why they go ahead and play the games.

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        • Hackerdog

          I’m not saying they’ll have better players than last year. But I wouldn’t say that about us either.

          Coaching can mean a lot for a team. Look at the top defenses last year. Do you think TCU or Boise State had superior athletes to us, or Tech? I don’t. But they had better defenses.

          I don’t really expect Tech to be better than last year. But that’s because I think they plateaued (hard to do better than winning your conference) and because I don’t think they can replace their offensive losses in the same scheme rather than because losing good players off a bad defense means your defense must be worse (even though you’ve hired a proven coach with a new scheme).

          I’m just saying that the criticism against Tech’s defense can just as easily be aimed at UGA. Tech commenters are certainly doubting whether we can replace Owens, Atkins, and Weston with a group that includes a converted OT and a true freshman. They noticed the performance of our LB corps last year and are confident that we will miss Rennie Curran.

          I believe our defense will be improved for the same reason I believe Tech’s defense will be improved. We were bad last year, we played with poor fundamentals, and we hired a new DC to address the issues.

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  6. Ward Eagle

    Re: Kiffen (if you invert the “f”s it’s actually Kittens – which makes more sense)

    Does “Unimpressed” mean “Is A Dumbass”?

    “Kiffin unimpressed

    Kiffin said, “I don’t really understand it. How you can be ranked in one poll but you can’t in another?””

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    • JasonC

      It takes some pretty sorry SOBs to make Fulmer look like a good guy. That fat SOS is dirty and dishonest as they come.

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  7. Macallanlover

    GT is only ranked because that schedule is so weak even they are guaranteed a winning record. Their freshman teams back in the 60’s (when they played D1 CFB) played better talent than they will face in 6-7 of those games.

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