Daily Archives: August 26, 2013

And… there was much rejoicing.

It doesn’t take much to make me happy five days before the opener.

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UPDATE:  And then he had to go all Debbie Downer on us.

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UPDATE #2:  Those eight guys?  Two of ’em are starting defensive backs.  Wow.

39 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football

Mr. Congeniality

It’s the smile that makes the first part of this clip so great.

It’s like Corch is trying to pretend he’s not quite sure whether Fowler’s pulling his leg or not.  Not working, Urbs.

(h/t Lost Lettermen)

41 Comments

Filed under Urban Meyer Points and Stares

Something else Spurrier is good at.

The man can hold a long-term grudge or two.

“I’m a Dukie,” Spurrier said Sunday at his weekly press conference. “I’m a Gator, a Dukie, and now I’m a Gamecock. For us Dukie’s back then, that was our big game. I doubt if it was for North Carolina because we did not beat them that much, but when I was there we were fortunate enough to actually beat them more than they beat us.

“It was always a fun game when that occurred. But yeah, it is a little special when you are coaching against a team like that, just like coaching against Georgia. The Gators and Georgia were teams that didn’t like each other very much. That’s a special game, too, so anytime you coach against a team that was a little special wherever you coached at, it remains a special game.”

Obviously, if you can hold a hate since the sixties, you shouldn’t break a sweat over a heated rivalry that’s twenty years younger.  I give him credit – a little bad blood is part of the glue that holds college football together.

19 Comments

Filed under The Evil Genius

Monetizing the passion

Just another way to squeeze a few bucks from our love of the game:

Two of Florida’s long-time college football rivals are coming together in a new contest: To sell lottery tickets.

The Florida Lottery is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars so it can use the logos of the University of Florida and Florida State University on a new $2 scratch-off lottery game aimed squarely at football fans.

Isn’t that special?  In the words of the Lottery secretary, “We felt it was a great opportunity for us to showcase the rivalry and do it in entertaining manner.”  

Call it a new tradition, if you’d like.  The NCAA can’t figure out what to call it.

The NCAA has maintained a strong stance against gambling, but it referred questions to the two schools. The NCAA has rules that prohibit athletes as well as athletics department employees from wagering on sports in which the NCAA conducts championships. Those include office pools for the NCAA basketball tournament.

Well, technically they’re not betting on sports.  Maybe the NCAA is taking notes on how to market a March Madness lottery ticket to make up for the revenue lost from dropping the EA Sports deal.

23 Comments

Filed under It's Just Bidness, The NCAA

What are we waiting for?

In case you were unaware, it’s opening week for college football.

I thought I’d get the festivities started with an excellent question Year2 raised in this post:

So with game day just about upon us, what are you looking forward to most?

I’ll start.  As a Dawg fan, for me it’s all about seeing how quickly the defense gels.  As good as the offense looks like it will be, if the team can continue the downward trend of defensive scoring shown under Grantham, 2013 has the chance to be a very special season for Georgia.  But how much time will it take for things to settle in?

On the larger college football stage, it would have to be seeing how Autographgate plays out, both on the field and in ESPN’s studios.  Does Johnny Football crack under the media pressure?  And if he doesn’t, will PAWWWLLL be able to keep his shit together?

And you?

55 Comments

Filed under College Football, Georgia Football

The continuing adventures of proof this could be Florida’s year.

Behold the wonder that is the Gators’ offensive backfield depth:

The three members of Florida’s starting backfield missed portions of preseason camp, highlighting the inexperience of the reserves. The dropoff from Driskel, who missed the first six practices after an appendectomy, to back-up quarterback Tyler Murphy is most severe. Like Driskel, Murphy is mobile, but during three open practices, he was off target with many throws. Sophomore tailback Matt Jones, out since late July with a viral infection, had 52 carries as a back-up in 2012. But none of the reserves behind Jones have even that much experience and don’t come close to matching size (6-2, 226) and speed. Junior Mack Brown, the current starter while Jones is recovering from the infection, is serviceable. Sophomore Valdez Showers is more explosive, but played a safety until a month ago. Mark Herndon has had a strong camp, but was a walk-on until last week. At fullback, Hunter Joyer, the unsung hero of the Gators’ run game, missed a week with a hamstring injury. Back-up fullback Gideon Ajagbe is a converted linebacker who did not play in 2012.

Now mind you, the linked article also informs us that one of the top five things we learned from Florida’s preseason is that Driskel’s got some receivers to throw to, so this is not a case of the author wallowing in Munsonesque pessimism.  There really isn’t much margin for error back there.  Which makes me wonder if they’re going to limit Driskel’s runs – one of the positives he brings to the table – this season to try to protect him.  Tough call.

22 Comments

Filed under Gators, Gators...

Game on.

The Week One picks of the Fabris Pool are up.  The format is the same as last year’s, ten games against the spread with a tiebreaker.  There are two Thursday night games, so keep that in mind as to when you fill out your choices.

If you played last year, you should have already received an invite by e-mail to sign up again.  You are not automatically enrolled if you played last year, so if you assumed that to be the case, take this as your wake up call.

For those who need it, here’s the invite link to enroll:  http://www.funofficepools.com/joinpool.php?Passed_Pool_Key=4e5f346c71c

4 Comments

Filed under GTP Stuff