I’ll hang up now and listen to your answer.

A couple of noteworthy items from this week’s Bulldog Hotline transcript (thanks, Bernie!)…

First, Richt talked about Murray’s pick-six and said something I meant to mention after seeing the broadcast of the game, but forgot about:

… Richt – says he would never accuse Murray of staring down a receiver. Does a great job of reading coverages and going through his progressions. Says there are times when it’s a one receiver route where it might look like he’s staring the guy down, like on the one interception. Says there wasn’t a good enough fake after the snap. Also says our linemen have to have a good posture when it’s a run fake and our fullback’s got to run through there and isolate on the LB and the tailback has to sell the fake as well. That should create the seam we need to get it done.

Live, I thought Murray was guilty of exactly what Richt absolves him of there.  But watching the play on TV, I realized it wasn’t that Murray stared down Charles; Charles was the sole intended target.  The ball was poorly thrown, as even Tim Couch noted, but the other problem was that the Mississippi State defenders didn’t bite on the play fake.  Given how much of Georgia’s passing game runs out of play action, that’s a big problem if the execution isn’t good enough to sell the run.  And Richt’s right to point some of the blame in the o-line’s direction, although I wonder (again!) if all the time the line has to stay in stance for that no-huddle, look to the sideline stuff is having an effect on their mechanics.

Okay, enough grumbling.  See if this quote about the secondary gets the same reaction from you that it does from me:

Tim from Bonnair has a concern about Tyler Bray of Tennessee. How are we going to approach their offense with him at QB? Richt – says Bray is the real deal. Good fundamentals, accurate thrower. They’re 7-1 in their last 8. Averaging about 320 yards passing during that time. Special guy. Thinks they’ll try to balance things out, but they‘ll definitely sling the thing around. Says we’ll try to re-route the receivers and mess around with their timing. [Emphasis added.]  And we also need to get after the quarterback.

Wait… what was that?  Defensive backs are going to try to affect the other team’s route running and timing on pass plays?  Georgia defensive backs?  As part of a deliberate strategy?  What a novel concept!

I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.  We aren’t in Martinez Country anymore, that’s for sure.

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“His parents were asking me for the phone back.”

This seems like one of those stories that’s too surreal to be true.  But it’s still too good to ignore.

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UPDATE:  Of course.

Easley is being represented by a Gainesville attorney with extensive experience representing UF athletes, Huntley Johnson.

On Tuesday afternoon when Johnson was asked why Easley had hired an attorney, he said, “Probably because he read the (U.S.) Constitution. It’s his right.”

Some early, random thoughts about the next must-win game

No doubt to Russ Mitchell’s surprise, Mark Richt goes for his 100th career win as a Georgia head coach this Saturday night in Knoxville.  Here are some Tuesday tidbits to get you started thinking about it:

• There’s some definite potential for a special teams train wreck.  We’re well aware of Georgia’s struggles in that department.  It turns out the Vols are struggling there, too.
• The last six games between the two teams have all been decided by double-digit point margins.  The teams have split those games.
• I don’t know how a Georgia team shows up “like dead” for a game in Knoxville, but Sanders Commings says that was the case the last time the Dawgs traveled there to play beyond Crompton.
• Tennessee 30, Georgia 29.  (Not sure how much I’m buying this projection, as it’s got Justin Hunter making a miraculous physical recovery to snag four catches.)

“There’s something missing in the second half, for sure.”

I told you guys after the MSU game you’d better get used to anemic offense in the second half this season if the defense is really up to snuff now.  Mike Bobo confirms it.

… In both games, Bobo said he felt confident that if his offense avoided big mistakes, the defense was playing well enough to secure the victory.

“That’s got a lot to do with it,” Bobo said. “When you’re playing any team and your defense is handling them like they are, you don’t want to put yourself in a situation where it puts them in a bind, so to speak. You slow down your offensive tempo a little bit, make sure you run more clock, and then that’s when the execution becomes more important.

“We’ve got to do a better job of executing in those situations. I still think we can execute and get first downs, even though we’re slowing down our tempo a bit and how we’re approaching things.”

Note that the goal there is first downs, not more scoring.  That’s Richt ball:  get a lead, then grind out the second half behind a tough defense to the win.  It may not be pretty, but remember, that’s the formula that got Georgia to three SECCGs in four years.

Some of you may not like the aesthetics, but from where I sit, it sure as hell beats what we’ve seen over the past three seasons.

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UPDATE:  More of the same, straight from the horse’s mouth:

“We talk about it a lot. We want to put teams away. We just have not been able to do that. You also get in a situation where if you got a lead you want to be careful not to do what we did where we threw that pick six. We’re up 21 points and the defense is in complete control. So yeah you want keep doing things offensively but the more you throw it the more risk you take of that – a pick six – happening and all of a sudden it’s a two-score game and it gets a little bit tighter than you want it to get. I certainly don’t want to play a conservative brand of football in the third quarter, but if it’s in the fourth quarter and you are up by three scores I think it’s wise to burn as much clock as you can. You do that by running the ball and making sure you don’t snap ball too early in the 40-second clock. Sometimes it’s boring but if you win the goal is to win.”

“Business? You shook my hand, man! You said you were committed to me!”

Shorter Houston Nutt:  The sacred relationship between me and a committed recruit is one that should only be broken by the head coach.

Seriously, that is one off-the-wall interview speech.  “I want to keep my job, y’all.”?

But he’s heard good things about them, I’m sure.

Apparently Nick Saban doesn’t have time for this shit, either.

… After teaching Will Muschamp a lesson Saturday night in the Swamp, Saban was asked in a creative way if he thought Alabama was the best team in America. Lenn Robbins of the New York Post asked that question by saying he wasn’t going to ask that question.

“I can’t make comparisons of our team to anybody else,” Saban said. “I haven’t seen all these people play. I’ve seen LSU play a couple of times because they are in our league, and I think they have a fantastic team. … I haven’t even seen Oklahoma play so I can’t make any comparisons to what our team is.”

There are only two problems with that honest assessment.

Saban is one of the 59 coaches with a vote in this season’s USA Today poll – as are Gene Chizik, James Franklin, Les Miles, Mark Richt and Steve Spurrier from the SEC – and the USA Today poll is one component of the BCS rankings that will decide which two teams play for the national championship.

This seems like an appropriate moment to remind you to register for the Mumme Poll.

Spurrier’s Year of Living Dangerously

Steve Spurrier makes the inevitable move.

Spurrier announced Monday night Connor Shaw will make his second start of the season this week when the Gamecocks face Kentucky.

“This is his game, it’s his opportunity to go play and we think he’s ready,” said Coach Spurrier. “We’re going to find out Saturday. Connor had a good practice tonight and, as most everyone knows, our quarterback play has not been as good as we hoped. We’ve got to do something.”

I assume he’s excluding himself from the “most everyone knows” observation.  Otherwise, how to you explain his decision to give Marcus Lattimore only 17 carries against the worst rush defense in the SEC?

Maybe the OBC just thought Garcia needed the work.

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UPDATE:  Bill Connelly has the statistical side of South Carolina’s mess at quarterback.