Clearing the decks with a bunch of stuff I didn’t get to over the weekend:
- Nick Saban is already in mid-season form in his media relations.
- Todd Grantham’s response to the question that is asked about the 1:00 mark in this clip is priceless.
- Mike Huguenin likes, but doesn’t love, Georgia’s chances this year.
- Jerry Hinnen, on the other hand, thinks the Dawgs will go as far in the SEC East as their offensive line takes them.
- Matt Melton makes a good point in his SEC preview: if Vanderbilt has a successful 2012 season, how many people are going to knock that down because of its relatively easy schedule?
- Phil Steele looks at how often underdogs win their games outright.
- He also looks at home field edges. Georgia is ranked 12th (fifth best in the SEC). Georgia Tech is 41st.
- College Football by the Numbers is back with a bunch of stuff on a number of topics: how much a kicker is worth (Georgia at minus-4.6 points last season is no surprise, but ‘Bama at minus-5.1 is; also, check out Missouri’s number); what a running back is worth; and average starting field position (Georgia last season was a surprising tenth, and tops in the SEC).
- The Mario Mathis/Ole Miss story sounds like it’s more complicated than what Michael Carvell was told.
- Good catch by Barrett Sallee about the Brandon Smith situation.
Get The Picture 
“I knew the whole thing, I knew what was happening.” …yeah aw yeah, I’ve never looked forward to a Vandy game as I am this year!
How does one endure this day after day. This would be the most exhausting, crappy part of this job. I know they are paid incredibly well, but I would blow it with some of these questions asked reduntantly again as Yogi would say. Jeeesh.
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One thing Huguenin left out: “One big positive for Alabama, Arkansas, LSU and Texas A&M is they don’t have to play Georgia.”
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That jumped out at me too…
“One huge positive for the Bulldogs: They don’t play Alabama, Arkansas, LSU or Texas A&M in crossover divisional games.”
Texas A&M, what wait? You left out Miss St.
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On the Ole Miss recruit … “It’s difficult for Mario to talk to other coaches if he’s still committed to Ole Miss.” … Since when?
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Why is his mom taking the Ole Miss side?
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She gets to keep the car….
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The Saban media scolding about preseason predictions and hype reminded me of a faux SAT analogy that Conan O’Brien did on his old Late Night Show. “Madonna is to ‘Get these cameras and paparazzi away from me’ as Grizzly Bear is to ‘get these life-giving salmon and berries away from me.'”
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You beat me to it. The notion that Saban feels the need to scold those “vicious” Bammer press guys is laughable.
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You missed St. Nickie’s point….it’s just TOO EARLY for him to be manipulating the press/polls. At least wait until week 6.
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I just don’t have a problem with what he said. I didn’t read it as “the bad ole press has been picking on me and my team”. My read was “the press takes away from the game by stating how higher rated and favored teams should win going away while at any time those lower rated teams can jump up and win”. Having a prediction contest doesn’t hurt Bama or Sabin, but it does diminish the importance of playing the game. I take it as an “in the arena” statement. No biggee.
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I don’t care what Dan Cathy thinks of the situation; I’m in love with Todd Grantham.
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Grantham and Saban both call the media out. Grantham isn’t Saban level, and that is why he is a touch nicer. Nice guy stuff doesn’t matter when you win, and those two are cool with that and understand it. Make fun of Saban, but he doesn’t have time to show you the 3 crystal footballs. Grantham is cut from the same cloth, and I like him.
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It doesn’t cost anything to be nice and karma is a bitch, you know. I think Saban could use a lesson in simple courtesy. Then again, maybe he’s “nice” to everyone but the media since he seems to take his frustrations out on them.
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So if Vandy does well this year, it’s because of the schedule. Does that comment apply to UGA last year?
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Did Coach Grantham just ASS- SPANK the media ? Why I think he did, however he also answered all questions. I like this coach, we need a few more like him(OC), just saying.
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According to Steele’s numbers UGA has an advantage by playing “between the hedges” that is 12th highest in the country–only slightly behind FU playing in the Swamp. ‘Splain that, Senator, since you are always saying that home field doesn’t mean sh!t for the Dawgs, particularly as an argument against the WLOCP becoming home and away.
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I was expecting your call, Mayor. 😉
I’ve never said there wasn’t a home field advantage for Georgia. What I’ve said is that traditionally under Richt, Georgia has played better on the road than it has at home (that’s eroded during the past three years, though.)
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That’s because you never count the WLOCP game as an away game. It is because it is not played in Sanford Stadium. Add all those losses in there too and you get a different picture of the road win percentage. 🙂
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That’s because it’s a neutral site game. No one counts it as a road game. A road game against UF would be in the Swamp.
So “add[ing] in those losses” to make the road win percentage worse makes as much sense as adding the wins in neutral sites to Richt’s home record. Neutral site games aren’t true road games. Period.
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Jacksonville–a neutral site!!! That’s really rich!! I guess playing LSU in the Superdome would be a neutral site, too. And Bama in Birmingham. How about UT at Titan Stadium in Nashville? But…I digress. If it ain’t in Sanford it’s an away game. That said, if you continue to insist on this “neutral site” business then CMR is something like 10-13 in “neutral site” games (7-4 in bowls, 3-8 at the WLOCP, 2-2 in SECCGs and a loss last season in the opener at the Georgia Dome to Boise). Be careful which meme you pick.
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Oops!12-15. Worse than I thought.
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Big deal, it’s still a neutral site. If we’d be kicking ass, I doubt we’d hear you talking about it.
The Cocktail Party isn’t a road game, and that’s all there is to it. The stadium is split entirely down the middle, with just as many of our folks cheering UGA on as UF has on their side.
The ‘road game’ aspect isn’t about playing ON THE ROAD as much as it is about playing in an opponent’s stadium, where you do have to face them having a home field advantage. Generally, you don’t have that in neutral site games.
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You Disney Dogs take the cake. The WLOCP losses don’t count as road game losses because its a “neutral site” game. But since the WLOCP is only a “neutral site” game, losing it doesn’t really mean anything because it’s not a “home game” loss or a “road game” loss. Only “home games” and “road games” count. So having a 12-15 record for “neutral site” games means nothing–like the losses never even happened. Sheesh.
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I loves me some Phil Steele, the guy provides oodles of delectable information snippets on CFB He must have no life at all, but I appreciate his sacrifice. The info on upsets is excellent, but I don’t buy into UGA’s home field edge being 12th best. Given the quality of home games we play I suppose it is hard to get an accurate read.
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Grantham looks like he has lost some weight. Good for him.
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In training for the rematch with Little Jimmy Franklin next month.
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And if they can just get CMR to referee the rematch, it’s going to be promoted as the Thrilla with Vanilla
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+1
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I hate to sound dumb, but I don’t quite understand Sallee’s point. How does that translate into no suspensions for Smith given that he was arrested but passed all drug tests?
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Because the rules don’t require an automatic suspension merely for an arrest.
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Thanks. Someone on the Atlanta radio airwaves is confusing the issue for me by stating that Smith violated the misdemeanor arrest policy which mandates a 10% of the season suspension.
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Consider the source.
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I’m really not trying to beat a dead horse, but I do want to understand the rules in play here. According to Seth Emerson in his article Saturday: “Smith was arrested for marijuana possession in Alabama in March, and eventually received pre-trial intervention. Normally under UGA athletic policy a misdemeanor arrest triggers a one-game suspension for football, but Richt said they had received enough information to let Smith play.” Does “trigger” mean that in the past the school has handed out suspensions even though the policy does not mandate it? Or does the policy mandate suspensions? Sallee had a link to the student athlete handbook, but if there is anything in there about misdemeanor arrests, I missed it. Again, I appreciate any help getting the facts on this.
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I’m fairly certain it’s contingent upon a conviction, and not simply an arrest. I think Seth got his facts twisted a little given that we often see suspensions occurring after arrests, but I believe it’s a bit of a post hoc ergo propter hoc issue…it’s not the arrest itself that is the cause of the suspension, it’s the offense itself. If a player is arrested for underage possession of alcohol, they’re generally arrested while they’re drunk (or have been drinking). As such, they violate the substance abuse policy for UGA, which gets them suspended for a game. In Smith’s situation, his tests came up negative, so he didn’t violate the policy, and was thus free to go. I could be wrong, but that’s the way I understand it. Jordan Love wasn’t suspended for his arrest, was he?
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I’ll have to refresh my memory about Love’s arrest.
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He was arrested for misdemeanor obstruction of justice in 2010 after the whole middle name fiasco. To my knowledge, he was never suspended, and I don’t think the charge was dropped.
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Key word there is “Normally”. Suspension isn’t mandated.
Keep in mind, we’re talking about no suspension for Buffalo. If it were a game with a key opponent (and remember that Rambo was suspended for Boise State even though his offense didn’t involve drug usage either), maybe you could question Richt’s motives. But I think it’s a decision he reached on the merits.
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Football by the numbers: stupid is as stupid does. Of course GT has two backs in the top 25 – running is all they do. Tell me something useful.
I think the key to Branden Smith is two clean piss tests by two different agencies. Obviously, he isn’t using, and sometimes you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He did his pretrial diversion to make Alabama happy, so in the big picture he really hasn’t done anything to merit a suspension.
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