Hmmm… smells like fish.

Jimmy Sexton couldn’t lay out the bait any better than this:

… The three-year contract that Todd Grantham signed to come to Georgia to coach its defense expires on Jan. 31, 2013. And while that’s still 14 months away, what the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator has done on his side of the ball in Year Two has made him a pretty hot commodity.

So says Grantham’s agent, at least. Michael Harrison, an attorney with Venture Management of Las Vegas, said he has already “gotten inquiries” from some NFL teams about the possibility of his client returning to that league as a coordinator. Harrison also said he has “gotten feelers” indirectly from colleges gauging Grantham’s interest in becoming a head coach.

Grantham came to UGA from the Dallas Cowboys, where he coached linebackers, and he was a defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns before that. It’s Grantham’s stated desire to one day become a head coach — the buyout in his contract is waived if he does — and several college positions have already opened up. More will surely become available at the conclusion of the regular season, and Harrison expects Grantham to be a part of those conversations.

“Todd wants to be at Georgia, though,” Harrison insisted. “But we’d like to get an extension.”

Well played, Mr. Harrison, well played.

We’re about to see how bi-polar our fan base has become.  What percentage of those who were pointing fingers at Grantham after the 6-7 season are going to be shrieking loudly now about locking him up, cost no object?

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Excuse me, is that a monkey flying out of your butt?

Did you ever expect the day would come when a Tennessee football player would utter the following?

“I mean, this is the season for us, really,” Johnson said. “It defines our season. We’ve got a tough week this week with Vandy, they’re playing great ball right now, they need one more win for a bowl game, we need two more.

“We’ve got our backs against the wall.”

Derek Dooley sure is building an impressive resume.

Grantham makes an impression.

Another thing you have to admire about Todd Grantham is his efficiency.  On Saturday, he managed to use his pregame preparation as a recruiting sales tool, according to über-recruit Jordan Jenkins’ dad:

… The highlight of the weekend for Jenkins was meeting with Granthan to discuss pre-game strategy, listen to the Georgia assistant explain it to his players, then watch them perform it to near-perfection in the convincing 45-7 win over Auburn.

“Jordan enjoyed watching Georgia’s defense play,” Jenkins said. “There were some things that Coach Grantham discussed with his players prior to the game, some things to look for and how they wanted to execute. And everything Coach Grantham broke down and talked about, they executed it in the game. It was impressive to see how he was teaching and passing down the knowledge to his players in a way they could grasp and use on the field immediately. We all know, coming from a guy with 11 years of NFL coaching experience, the guy knows what he’s talking about. We’ve always been high on Coach Grantham. Jordan has always liked him. He has always been a big plus for UGA.”

In a spare moment, Grantham ponders sub-atomic theory. (photo via AJ-C)

Chicken soup for the Auburn fan’s soul

War Eagle!  As bad as Saturday was, at least you weren’t rooting for a Tuberville-coached team that, on the way to getting waxed by 60, managed to pull off the difficult let-the-other-team-score-on-its-own-kickoff triple axel:

That’s gotta make Bob Stoops sick to his stomach.

Dawg Stat Watch, Week 11

As you can imagine, the DSW is in a very happy place after the Auburn game.

Here’s what we’re looking at now:

1. Hold opponents under 17 points per game.  As a team, Georgia is yielding 18.6 ppg.
2. Finish at least +8 in turnover margin.  Georgia’s turnover margin is +9.
3. Average better than 380 yards per game on offense.  Georgia’s offense is averaging 438.7 ypg.
4. Finish in the top five in total defensive yardage.  Georgia’s defense ranks third in total defense.
5. Finish in the top three in first downs.  Georgia is first in first downs.
6. Finish no worse than third in passing yardage.  Georgia is third in passing yardage.
7. Finish no worse than third in sacks.  Georgia is first in sacks.

The only category that saw a drop was passing yardage.  That’s what happens when you only attempt two passes in a half.  Other than that, it’s an impressive showing.

It’s an innocent question.

Just wondering – if the LSU-Alabama rematch talk continues to heat up as key teams take hits, shouldn’t Oregon get similar consideration?

In fact, if both the Tide and the Ducks win out, isn’t it fair to argue that Oregon would have the stronger case, as the team with the better record and conference title?

Again, I’m just wondering…

SEC Power Poll, Week 11

I briefly thought about listing LSU and ‘Bama one and two, and then randomly pulling names out of a hat in homage to Coach Boom, but decided to play it straight, figuring he can’t tell the difference anyway.

1. LSU (10-0, 6-0).  The Tigers beat Western Kentucky (42-9) a little more handily than Kentucky did (14-3).  Maybe that’s what separates the top from the bottom of the conference in Muschamp’s mind.
2. Alabama (9-1, 6-1).  The word of the day in Tuscaloosa is “rematch”.  That’s how they keep their minds off field goal kicking.
3. Arkansas (9-1, 6-1).  Seal clubbing Tennessee is no great achievement.  We’ll see if they don’t come to paint in Baton Rouge in a couple of weeks.
4. Georgia (8-2, 6-1).  It looks like as many preseason pundits were as wrong with the meme about winning the East with three conference losses as they were about Mark Richt’s hot seat.
5. South Carolina (8-2, 6-2).  A best ever six conference-win season, a legitimate shot at ten regular season wins and the only thought on the mind of every Gamecock is how did they ever lose to Auburn.
6. Auburn (6-4, 4-3).  Gus Malzahn sure looked a lot smarter when Cam Newton was taking the snaps.
7. Florida (5-5, 3-5).  It’s the first time Florida has finished a season in the East with a losing conference record.  Welcome to mediocrity, Gators.
8. Vanderbilt (5-5, 2-5).  The really impressive part of what they’ve done this season is that they’re only minus-12 in conference net scoring.  (Last year Vandy finished minus-175.)
9. Mississippi State (5-5, 1-5).  Some might say that keeping games close for three quarters or so against the upper-tier teams in the SEC is a sign that MSU is close to becoming good.  Others might say it’s a sign that the offense really sucks.  Count me in the latter group.
10. Tennessee (4-6, 0-6).  In the preseason, I doubt even the most pessimistic Vol fan saw a first-ever 0-6 start in conference play and UT opening as a one-point dog at home to Vanderbilt coming.
11. Kentucky (4-6, 1-5).  I guess that makes Joker Phillips the first black SEC head coach to lose to another black SEC head coach.
12. Mississippi (2-8, 0-6).  They managed to make Kentucky look good for the second straight week, as the only thing worse than losing to Vanderbilt by 30 on the road was losing by 20 at home to Louisiana Tech.