Idiot induced rant

I wasn’t going to post anything else tonight, in the hopes that my aggravation would dissipate by the morning, but listening to a couple of morons on 790 during my ride home changed my mind.

It was one of those something’s-wrong-with-Georgia discussions, which was fine, but the two proceeded to get into an argument started by moron #1’s assertion that teams aren’t afraid to play Georgia.  With all due respect to the intellectual power on display, that ain’t Georgia’s problem right now.  Georgia’s problem is the exact opposite, in fact.  Georgia’s afraid of taking risks.

I’m not trying to be overly dramatic here, but how else do you explain Logan Gray, punt returner extraordinaire?  No offense to Logan, who did some good work on offense today, but as well as this program has recruited over the past decade, there’s no way he should be the team’s second best option returning punts.  (Or even third, if you want to argue that A.J. would have been second.)  He’s basically a concession that Georgia doesn’t intend to mount a threat fielding punts.   And it’s not like anyone who watched Georgia football last season lacks an understanding of what Gray brings to the table.

The reaction to the Arkansas punter picking up the first down on the fumbled snap was simply icing on the cake.

I’m not asking the Georgia coaches to turn themselves into a bunch of riverboat gamblers, but there’s nothing wrong with being occasionally aggressive.  The ultimate message you send when you make timid choices like this one is that you don’t trust your talent.  Which is weird, when you think about it, since you picked the talent in the first place.

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So much for the big game.

Today’s metaphor: Washaun Ealey following the “Where’s UGA?” McDonald’s game on the scoreboard. Discuss.

Vernecrush Watch

What’s the over/under on the number of times Uncle Verne mentions The Departed One on during today’s broadcast?

Last minute game day thoughts

Nothing particularly profound, but I’ve got a few minutes before heading out to Athens, so here goes:

• Green’s appeal being denied doesn’t make me happy, but I can’t say I’m surprised, either.  Seth Emerson has a good explanation as to why.  Bottom line:  he had to know he was crossing a line of some sort when he sold the jersey.  Life goes on, though.
• Potentially disturbing trend to be aware of – if the Dawgs lose today, that will mark a fourth straight home loss to a ranked team.
• I don’t think either team has much of an advantage in the intangibles.  It’s pretty much a must-win type game for both, albeit for slightly different reasons.  Petrino acknowledged that he had his team spend a week in the spring prepping for Georgia.  Richt knows that the loss in Columbia makes today’s game big for his team.
• Yeah, the Dawgs are down a few key players.  But if the offensive line, running backs and special teams step up and play to their reputations today, that’s more than enough to offset the walking wounded/suspended.
• Two things I took away from watching the South Carolina game that give me grounds for optimism today are Aaron Murray’s upside and the pass rush.  Especially the latter, given that Arkansas doesn’t have a running threat on the order of Lattimore and its quarterback is less mobile than Garcia.
• On the other hand, two things that bother me:  Georgia got killed repeatedly with the draw play on obvious passing downs.  That has to tighten up today, or it’ll be another long day on the third and Willie front.  And Georgia’s run blocking in the second half was noticeably more feeble than in the first.  A big reason for that was Chapas being out.  He’s not playing today, either.

No wonder Tech lost to Kansas.

The defensive coordinator was preparing them for the wrong team.

AP Photo/John Bazemore