Wednesday lunch buffet

One more day…

• It sounds like the Oregon trip is destined to become the last of its kind, so savor it, Dawgnation.
• My kind of focus:  “Richt again said his No. 1 message to his team this year has been fixing the turnover ratio. “Flip that stat and we probably win 10 or 11 games last year. Make them beat us. Let’s not beat ourselves.” Along those lines, he said, in practice players are disciplined for every turnover or penalty and then after practice their unit is also disciplined.”
• Easily the wettest I’ve ever been at a football game.  It was as if God took a gigantic bucket of water and dumped it on Sanford Stadium.  Fun game, in spite of that.
• Nobody blows smoke up your ass more than Houston Nutt:  “We’re in the people-helping business.” Nobody.
• I hate to say it, but this is so similar to what we’ve heard out of Athens that it’s almost depressing.  It’s certainly a reality check about our expectations.
• Some of the contributors at friend of the blog Saurian Sagacity have started a new blog here.
• Paul reminds me that it’s about time to start surfing the South Carolina message boards.
• Jerry Hinnen’s preview of the Auburn-Georgia game is definitely worth a read, even if you don’t agree with his ultimate game prediction.

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The Greatest Hypocrite Of Our Era

Oh, puh-leeze.

… That’s right, Meyer has instructed the Florida media relations staff to keep an eye on how many questions Brantley is fielding about Tebow.

“If I saw that was getting to him, he would be off-limits (to the media),” Meyer said. “It’s our job to get him ready to go play, but he handles it probably as good as anybody I’ve ever seen.

“The guy in front of him (Tebow), I thought, answered questions pretty well, too. But Johnny … the way he’s handled this, I love his statement, ‘I’m just a regular guy from Ocala that’s going to play quarterback.’

“That’s exactly who he is.”

Corch, you’re the guy who spent years feeding the Tebow frenzy (I owe GPOOE™ to your hyperbole, after all) and now you want it tamped down?  I can’t wait for that first presser and that first impervious stare:  “Guys, no Tebow questions.”

And I was so hoping that Clay Travis would get his chance to ask Brantley if he shared Tebow’s personal philosophy about pre-marital sex.

The Luxury

On the topic of Trinton Sturdivant, Stacey Searels had this to say, “We don’t have to work him in quick right now.”

Good Lord, when’s the last time you heard a Georgia offensive line coach utter words like that?

We’re all sensitive people.

Granted, it’s dangerous to psychoanalyze from a distance, but after reading this, I wonder how much the team’s psyche was affected by all the criticism lobbed Joe Cox’ way last season.

Richt’s quote about Aaron Murray, “Hopefully our fans will understand he’s a freshman,” and Kris Durham’s comment that “He can’t sit there and worry about outside critiques and that sort of stuff” have a whiff of sensitivity to them that make me think that those guys paid a lot more attention to Internet chatter than they let on (or denied, even).  And I don’t believe it’s warranted in Murray’s case.

People were in Joe’s corner when last season started and confidence in him went sky-high after the Arkansas game.  It’s simply that the support started bleeding away as it became apparent that Joe’s interest in avoiding turnovers was casual at times.  Too many times, actually.

Richt’s done a good job of preaching game management with his new quarterback.  If Murray listens, he’ll be fine.

“… and I hope we’ll get something out of it.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I find this a tad creepy:

Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley’s policy is that reporters are not allowed to watch practice, but they can watch games.

So when the Volunteers held a mock game last week, Knoxville Sentinel writer Austin Ward asked Dooley if reporters would be admitted since it was a ‘game’ and not a ‘practice,’ per say.

Dooley’s response, according to Jack McElroy, the editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel, was interesting to say the least.

The coach offered access to only certain reporters, as a “reward” for their work during training camp.

Tennessee’s gone from a raging narcissist to a control freak.  Can’t Mike Hamilton find a normal person to coach his football program?

“That’s what gets you to 8-5.”

Those are the words that safety Nick Williams said he hears from new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, one of three coaches Mark Richt hired after the Bulldogs’ first five-loss season in his nine years at Georgia.

I need to quit reading Grantham stories, at least until I see how his charges perform.  Because his comments get me more pumped up about the defense than is sensible, given all the in-season let downs we’ve all observed over the past few years after being seduced with preseason sweet talk about new attitudes.

But it’s so hard to resist when you read quotes like this.

“Every day we talk about that,” Williams said. “Every day somebody says 8-5. It’s on our minds all the time because that’s something coach Grantham makes sure. He lets us know he doesn’t want to get back to (8-5). … It just keeps our intensity up in practice and just keeps us going hard. Every day he’s letting us know 8-5, 8-5, 8-5. Every day. That’s something we do not want to experience again.”

It’s clear that Grantham knows his Xs and Os.  If it turns out that he’s the best motivator at Georgia since Erk, I’m not sure I could handle it.  But I’d like to find out if I could.

A thank you, and an observation

Last month was the best month evah at Get the Picture, in terms of traffic (261,000+ hits).  And for that, all I can do is shake my head and express my appreciation to every one of you who clicked a mouse in this direction in August.

But here’s an interesting thing:  in almost four years of posting, the two top months at GTP for visits were August and January of 2010.  That’s the month of preseason camp and the month in which Richt found his replacement for Willie Martinez.  And keep in mind that these months saw significant traffic spikes of about 30% over the average level here.  Is that what you’d expect from a fan base that’s put its head coach on a hot seat?