A minor detail

As nice as this piece on Georgia’s receivers is – and I love this Bobo quote:  “We kept talking at halftime saying, ‘Hey, your number is gonna be called, pick up the phone and answer it,’ and I thought the guys did…” – would it have killed somebody to mention Coach Ball?

You don’t want to irritate Nick Saban, son.

Nick Saban never misses an angle.

… But where the Crimson Tide really stuck it to the Rebels was with a little inside intel thanks to Tyler Siskey, Alabama’s assistant director of football operations. Siskey was on the Ole Miss staff last season as director of recruiting development. He was in the Alabama coaches’ booth for the game with a set of binoculars, and even though Ole Miss changed up its signals, there weren’t many times that the Tide were fooled by what the Rebels were doing offensively. As ESPN analyst Todd Blackledge noted during the broadcast, Siskey’s knowledge of the Ole Miss offense was a big asset to an already imposing Alabama defense in its preparation for the game. The Tide might not have had the Rebels’ signals, but they were sure locked in to the Rebels’ tendencies on offense and played lights-out in shutting out a Hugh Freeze-coached team for the first time in his college career.

It’s not having the intel that makes Saban Saban.  It’s publicizing what he did with it that does.

That’ll show us.

Way to respond to the critics, young man.

Georgia K Marshall Morgan is named the SEC special teams player of the week. Morgan went 3-for-3 on field goals, including a 55-yarder.

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) September 30, 2013

Focus, part two

It’s not going to be easy getting to Defcon 5 this week when your opponent is busting plays like this:

And you thought Georgia had special teams problems.

Mumme Poll adminstrative note

We were a day late in opening up the ballots, so voting will be extended until Tuesday at 11PM for the test run.

If you’ve got questions, hit us up in the comments.

”But our defense has played well, except for some of the big plays.”

Bet you thought that’s a quote from one of Georgia’s coaches.  It’s not.  It’s from the OBC, who’s putting on a new visor this week (h/t Smart Football).

South Carolina’s head ball coach will be the ol’ secondary coach this week at practice.

Steve Spurrier said Sunday he’ll work with defensive backs to prepare for Kentucky this Saturday. The banged-up Gamecocks (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) squandered nearly all of an 18-point lead and escaped UCF with a 28-25 victory Saturday.

Spurrier said he’ll help make sure No. 13 South Carolina’s safeties and cornerbacks keep the ball in front of them and don’t allow the big plays they did against the Knights. UCF rallied back on Blake Bortles’ 73-yard touchdown pass to Rannell Hall and a 79-yard throw to Breshad Perriman that led to Hall’s 7-yard scoring catch.

Spurrier, a Heisman Trophy winner as Florida’s quarterback in 1966, says he’ll teach the players how to break on a passer’s throws…

[Insert Willie Martinez snark here.]

Seriously, that’s a remarkable comment to make publicly there.  But it also goes to show how widespread defensive issues are across the SEC this season.

Looking ahead

I know Richt and his team won’t be spending any time trying to game the season out, but that won’t stop us.  Besides, what’s the fun of that 3-1 start if you can’t fantasize a little?

Looking at the Coaches Poll first, the Dawgs got a nice little bump this week, passing two undefeated teams, Louisville and FSU.  The good news is that two teams ahead of Georgia will play each other (Oregon and Stanford) and Georgia, should it make it back to the SECCG, will get a crack at another highly ranked team, perhaps a top-ranked Alabama squad.  That will clear some of the underbrush.  The bad news is that there are several other undefeated teams still out there, including the Clemson squad that notched a win over Georgia.  It’s also worth keeping an eye on 10th-ranked Oklahoma.

It’s hard to draw too many conclusions on the computer front yet, but a look at Sagarin’s early rankings doesn’t offer much ground for optimism.  Despite playing the toughest schedule on the list and having two wins over top thirty teams (and one over a top ten team), Georgia ranks only ninth, behind two other one loss teams, including LSU.

All of which means it’s still a very mixed bag for the Dawgs.  As BCS Guru puts it,

With its victory over LSU, Georgia staved off BCS elimination and bolstered its credentials considerably now that it’s played three games against top 10 teams and is 2-1. With a win over South Carolina, the Bulldogs are in control of the SEC East as long as they defeat Florida in Jacksonville. Their problem stems from their loss to Clemson as they’ll not be able to jump an unbeaten—or even a one-loss—Tigers, Oregon or Stanford if they finish without a loss.

Which means things are pretty simple for now: focus on getting back to Atlanta and winning the SECCG.  That’s all Georgia can control at this point.  Get there and hope the football gods are kinder than they were in 2002.

Focus

Best one-line summary of where this Georgia team is at belongs to the head coach:

Richt said Sunday that Georgia doesn’t do well when it’s not focused on its opponent, no matter who it is.

“We’re not very good, in my opinion, unless we’re really locked in,” he said.

Fabris Invitational results, Week 5

Nobody was perfect this week, but we had a couple come close.

STANDINGS for WEEK 5

Rank	Selection Name	Standings Adjustment	W-L	Pts	Tie Breaker Game 35-21
1	UGA-DAWG-in-TN	Adj	9-1	9	31-24**
1	cadawg	Adj	9-1	9	44-37
3	watcher16	Adj	8-2	8	35-28**
3	ScoutDawg	Adj	8-2	8	34-24
3	Bone	Adj	8-2	8	31-20
3	Senator Blutarsky	Adj	8-2	8	31-24
3	HamDawg11	Adj	8-2	8	30-20
3	I gave Clowney a noogie	Adj	8-2	8	28-21
3	Cousin Eddie	Adj	8-2	8	42-24
3	ugafoo	Adj	8-2	8	28-14
3	jadams4148	Adj	8-2	8	27-17
3	sushimane	Adj	8-2	8	24-17
3	rex0feral	Adj	8-2	8	24-14
3	Ricks Picks	Adj	8-2	8	24-14
3	BosnianDawg	Adj	8-2	8	24-14
3	Lennay Kekua and D-cups	Adj	8-2	8	28-35
3	SCarolinaDawg	Adj	8-2	8	21-24

Congrats to UGA-DAWG-in-TN, who pulled it out in the tiebreaker.

No change at the top for the seasonal stats, as Trbodawg clings to the narrowest of leads.

SEASON STANDINGS through Week 5

Rank	Selection Name	W-L	Pts
1	Trbodawg	38-12	38
2	danagdawg	37-13	37
3	BosnianDawg	36-14	36
4	remlapmit	35-15	35
4	ParrishWalton	35-15	35
4	Baddawg	35-15	35
4	AuditDawg	35-15	35
4	carchasingdawg	35-15	35
4	ugafoo	35-15	35
4	VanDawg	35-15	35

My SEC Power Poll ballot, Week 5

We’re hitting the part of the season when we start to learn a few things about the SEC pecking order.

1. Alabama.  The question isn’t whether this year’s ‘Bama team is as good as last year’s.  It’s whether it’s good enough for this season. The defense showing up makes that question easier to answer.
2. Georgia.  Don’t look now, but the Dawgs are suddenly sixth in the SEC in rushing defense and tied for fourth in sacks.
3. LSU.  The secondary didn’t hold up well against Georgia, but what’s really got to concern Les Miles is the Tigers’ play on both lines of scrimmage.
4. Texas A&M.  Johnny Football is all-world.  The defense isn’t even all-Conference USA.
5. South Carolina.  So much for that advantageous conference schedule.
6. Florida.  Tyler Murphy continues to look like a better fit for what the Gators want to do on offense than Jeff Driskel did.
7. Mississippi.   Maybe next time you shouldn’t give Alabama bulletin board material, fellas.
8. Missouri.  Falling behind Arkansas State in the third quarter may not have been that big a deal.  Doing the same against one of the five ranked opponents left on the schedule probably won’t be so easy to overcome.
9. Vanderbilt.  Bounced back from struggling with UMass to crush UAB.  I can’t really figure out a way to make that sound impressive.
10. Auburn.  Defense looked good in the bye week, holding LSU to fewer points than Georgia did.
11. Mississippi State.  The Bulldogs did better this week than the three teams trailing them on my ballot.  Which obviously isn’t saying much.
12. Arkansas.  The Hogs just don’t have the horses.
13. Tennessee.  Struggled with South Alabama.  Maybe they can turn it around against Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.
14. Kentucky.  Lost their 27th in a row to Florida.  At least Joker Phillips now has somebody to kick around.