Maybe Logan Booker was on to something – Seth Emerson got three inquiries in his most recent Mailbag about whether a benching of Murray was in the cards so that the staff could get Hutson Mason ready for next season. Skip over how shitty it would be to treat somebody who came back for his senior season and is holding up his end of the deal so far like that. Forget about the fact that there’s no guarantee Mason is the 2014 starter at the position (heresy for some of you, I know). Here’s what I’m curious about: how many examples you can think of when a productive collegiate starting quarterback has taken a seat mid-season like that?
I guess if the 2014 season doesn’t click, we can talk about benching Mason to get the next quarterback ready.
Get The Picture 
Off the top of my head, I can only think of Terrell Pryor.
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I think that Pryor’s had more to do with “swirling allegations”. IMHO, it would simply be a crappy way to treat a DGD.
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He wasn’t benched in the middle of a lost season. He quit prior to the season and declared for the supplemental draft instead of sitting out the first four games of the season.
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Missouri has no quarterback now. If we beat Florida, and Missouri loses 3 SEC games, won’t that get us into a two-way tie with SC for the top spot in the East? In that scenario, we have a shot at a BCS game via the SECCG: Since we have the head to head against SC, and we each have 1 additional loss in the SEC: does that make us the favorite to go to the championship game: or does the loss to a team they beat play into it? I don’t even know the 2-loss SEC tie rules. (not 3-way tie rules) ::: Point: Play Murray every offensive down until all hope is lost. There is still hope.
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680 The Fan did this same exercise the other day. It is just plain dumb. By the retarded reasoning of those people we should also bench our o-line seniors and Garrison Smith, cause they won’t be here. It really is an asinine proposition.
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In the offseason, Coach Richt talked about honoring the commitment that Mason has made to the program by getting him playing time this year. He said that Mason was doing well enough that he’d earned some playing time and that both Mason and Murray would play this year.
Well, we’re running up to Game 8 and Mason still hasn’t seen the field. We haven’t really blown anyone out, so there hasn’t been garbage time to speak of. The fact that the Mason playing plan has essentially been scrapped gives me some pretty deep reservations about how good he actually is. There’s no shame in not being better than Aaron Murray. Most college quarterbacks aren’t better than Aaron Murray. Still, if that coaches haven’t been impressed enough by Mason to get him a package of plays to run in one of these games so far like Richt more or less promised would happen… well, what impression does that leave you with? Sure, he has looked good on G-Day. Unfortunately, our defense has made a lot of quarterbacks look good.
Hutson Mason is not better than Aaron Murray. There may have only bee one or two quarterbacks in the history of Georgia football who are. Winning football games is important. If you don’t believe me, talk to the Georgia fans who debate whether Mark Richt would be safe if UGA finished 7-5 or 6-6. Winning matters in recruiting and it matters in retention of players and coaches. IF Mason is indeed the best QB option in 2014, he’ll be ready. And if he’s not, which he certainly might not be, why waste games against our rivals just to give playing time to a guy when it might not even bear fruit in ’14?
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There’s no shortage of dumbasses.
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+1
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I agree, Ward, but I wouldn’t mind if your coaches decided to bench Marshall for the UGA game. Gotta get the next QB ready, ya know. Plus I wouldn’t want him to be overcome with emotions about having to face his former school. I think it would be in everyone’s’ best interest if he didn’t play.
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I agree. Think of the kids.
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Some people have this fantasy that it is always the next guy who will be the next Bear Bryant, Joe Montana, or Herschel Walker and as soon as they decide that whoever the current coach, quarterback, or running back is not going to be the next Bear Bryant, Joe Montana, or Herschel Walker (however good they may be) they are ready to move on to the next guy.
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Yes, indeed. Remember the clamoring for Joe Cox in 2008? Jesus, people are stupid.
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I remember being at a game in ’08 and a guy in the row behind us was yelling “Put in Joe Cocker!”
That is still the phrase I use with some friends whenever the Hutson Mason talk starts.
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He must not have been feeling too good himself
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While I hope Mason turns out to be great I have to say that if he is so awesome why haven’t Richt and Bobo gotten him in games ala Shockley? I worry that he isn’t the boy wonder some expect. Besides I would be pissed if Murray got benched after all he’s endured to be the QB. When he’s gone we may realize just how good he has been.
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This.
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I kinda thought Shockley being a “change of pace” kinda QB, with some running skills, that made it logical to bring him in for a series or two each game. As far as I know, Mason is more like Murray, a pocket-passer with some athleticism not a second coming of Shock. I would like to see him get some garbage time play. But I don’t care whatever anyone else’s opinion of Murray’s skills are, he’s a DGD and deserves the right to start rather than benched to get Mason ready. For all we know, Mason may bet beat out anyway.
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I think we’d all like to see him in garbage time. Wouldn’t that be awesome vs. UF?
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That would salvage the season for me personally stoop.
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As long as you clarify that he is only handing the ball off the kill the clock because we are so comfortably ahead…
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He he, are you related to the Oregon DC who whined about backups being allowed to succeed when their other team was down by 4 TDs and it would hurt his defensive stats, or perhaps affiliated with the HS program suing for bullying a team that kept scoring? I wouldn’t advocate throwing a double reverse pass into the end zone as time expired and up by 20+ but it was an FU coach who said it was our job to stop his offense for 60 full minutes.
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I meant i didn’t want to see Mason play in the other kind of garbage time. I could care less if he’s throwing the ball.
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Murray should remain the starter and get most of the snaps as he’s earned it but we need to get some snaps in for the backups now that there is no NC/SECC in the cards. Despite having a 2nd team All SEC QB/ pee wee football legend in 2004 with David Greene, D.J. still threw 60 passes and played quite a bit before he became the starter in 2005. Of course, if none of the backups continue to get playing time, next year when they are making bad reads and throwing INTs (see Stafford’s freshman year) the fans will be grumbling about that.
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The season is over. It has been since mid-afternoon last Saturday. QB is the most important position on the field. Getting Mason some reps (not necessarily making him the starter) is not a crazy idea. Nor is putting in some young bucks (on O and D) to take their lumps early. This season is already lost so why not make it beneficial for some young guys for next year?
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**Chuckle** Isn’t that what they’ve been doing on defense all season?
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Where you been, Fluff? The young bucks, and even a few baby bucks have gotten significant pt this year, or haven’t you heard?
ps. They’re not doing so great right now.
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People who aren’t morons are circumspect, refective and thoughtful. They believe that communicating to the team that “the season is lost” by making personnel decisions that have little to do with winning this next game would lead to catastrophic attitude problems that could lead to an unacceptable results like losing to tech. It’s much better for the program to go 10-3 than 7-6 just to get some freshman reps. Besides the same morons who would push for a “fuck it lets get ready for next year” approach would be the same morons calling for the head coaches job when his team of back ups gets throttled by auburn. I’m all for playing the young guys if the intention is that it helps us win the game. Anything that distracts from winning the next game is a stupid idea.
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I was going to respond myself, but this will do even better. Well said.
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Yeah, what he^^^^^^ said.
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well said, Derek. I was also under the impression that the goal every week was to win the game we were playing, not “get people ready to play next year so we can try to win some games next year, unless we lose a couple of games next year, in which case I guess we should start getting people ready for 2015.”
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Thank you. It’s nice to read coments like this. The people that think the season is over are not fans of UGA.
Didn’t that asshat Weiss try something similar at Kansas last year? It has done wonders for KU.
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The season is NOT over. Tired of hearing this crap from folks who have no clue. Beating Florida, Auburn and Tech is important, SEC CG or not. Jeeeez, give me a break.
Sure we need to get Mason some reps, but not at the cost of losing a game. With all the challenges this team has had this year with schedule, injuries, special teams disasters etc, a 9-3 record would be damn spectacular.
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Amen. “The season is over” sentiment is so ridiculous to me. I hope the players don’t read bullshit like that. We have a chance to go 5-0 over USC, UT, UF, Aub and Tech this year. Beat the Gators.
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AMEN! GATA!
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Si, seniorita!
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senorita? Whatever…Si!
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I’d like to see Mason get some snaps in the 4th quarter against Appy State and UK, but barring injury there’s no situation where Murray shouldn’t be taking every snap in the first half of every game, no matter the opponent. Even if it’s in junk time, though, I’d prefer for Mason to not be taking his first snaps against Clemson next year, if he does get the starting job (which I’m guessing he will for at least the first few games).
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They wouldn’t be his first live snaps. Just a small correction. They would be his first in two years though.
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Fair enough – his first live snaps in two years, then.
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The only time in memory is the benching of Major Applewhile in favor of Chris Simms at Texas. All Applewhite ever did was win. He was clutch. But in comes a highly ranked freshman and Brown gives the reigns over to Simms. Applewhite road the bench his senior season and I believe had to come in during the bowl game when Simms got injured. What’d he do? yep, lead the team back to another win.
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That was a great game. Forgot all about that.
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Benching Murray for the sake of “next year” is beyond shitty and I can’t even imagine our coaching staff doing that to such a DGD. If people wanna see Mason get some snaps then they should be bitching about the defense and special teams preventing us from putting teams away. Fix those issues and Mason has plenty of snaps by now.
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And by the way, there’s still plenty more to play for this season. Going three in a row against Fla is one of them, but so is ruining Auburn’s glory and crushing tech. By the “bench Murray” logic, every team should just bench all of their seniors once they get two losses because “it’s not like they’re going to win the NC so the season is over.”
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Good points, but Murray was basically benched last week by taking the ball out of his hands with the ultra-conservative play calling in the second half against Vandy.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Mason in there for a possession a half to gain some experience. Not sure how that would be disrespecting to Murray, the program’s needs should be more important at this point.
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It would be disrespectful to the entire team. The coaches owe it to the players to give them the best chance to win. Putting in a back up when it clearly isn’t needed isn’t doing that.
Plus, I’m just gonna go ahead and say it: We’re probably not going to win the NC next year either. We haven’t won one in over thirty years. Having that goal as the sole determination of success for a season is a bit ridiculous for a GA fan.
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So winning th NC is the only way to have a successful season? According to that thinking only one team has a successful season each year. That leaves 120+ teams with failing seasons. Do I want a NC for UGA? Damn straight. Short of that beating SC, UF, Auburn Tenn and Tech in the same year can still be termed a “success” in my mind. I don’t know how anyone could suggest not playing the guys who give the best chance to win against those hated rivals. As I posted earlier, we’re going to miss Murray when he’s gone and it would be a crappy way to treat him to pull him for “next year”. Besides who was the last UGA QB who had a chance ffor a three peat against Florida?
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I don’t think 165 was saying winning an MNC was the only way to have a successful season, but there is a large and vocal segment that does view things that way. That is how the sports media has come to define “success”, and so that’s now reflected in how fans feel. As you note, this creates an environmentronment where there is only 1 success story at the end of each year, and 118 disappointments. No wonder so many people are depressed, unhappy and delusional…
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So you want Mason to get some experience with ultra-conservative playcalling?
As for the “program’s needs”, it’s well documented that Richt and Bobo are incapable of getting a quarterback with no game experience functional for the start of a new season. Well, except for David Greene. And Aaron Murray.
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And remember Matthew Stafford as a freshman when JTIII went down during the 1st series in Columbia.
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Staff-Daddy might not be the best example. He had to be bailed out the next weekend and he also lost at Kentucky that year. Granted, he also beat a top 5 Auburn team at Jordan-Hare that remains one of my favorite Georgia games EVER. All in all, though, I’m hoping for a much more even performance out of our quarterback next year.
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And, of course, the program’s needs would be best served by basically signalling for every incoming QB “You better hope you don’t lose a couple of games, because then we’ll bench your ass, no matter how loyal you may be, to get the next guy ready.” This entire discussion is asinine.
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This idea is one of the dumbest I’ve heard from the lunatic fringe. It would be a slap in the face to a guy who is a DGD, and every coach would use it in the living rooms of blue-chip QBs. If Richt and Bobo see opportunities to get Mason meaningful snaps, that would be great. If not and we win 9 (or 10) games, we’ll deal with the QB position in spring practice.
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“This idea is one of the dumbest I’ve heard from the lunatic fringe”
No, no. They can do worse.
When Donnan was hired, I remember some people wondering out loud if Donnan could somehow retain Goff on the staff due to his South Georgia recruiting prowess.
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I forgot about that 🙂
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Sigh.. I need a Bloody Mary.
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The Georgia Center makes the best ones in Athens.
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It’s simple. If these are your options, what do you choose?
1) Lose to Florida. But guarantee win over Clemson next year.
2) Beat Florida. Clemson outcome undetermined.
There are many fans who would choose #1, and I hate those fans. They should stick with the NFL.
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Any UGA fan who picks #1 should move on to rooting for another team right now…and don’t come back.
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Any fan of any team who would pick option 1 should stop following sports altogether, ’cause they’re not doing it right. You play for NOW, not next week, not next season, not the next recruiting class.
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If you wanna throw them a bone, ok. Play everyone against Appy State. There is no chance they can even stay on the field with UGA anyway.
Other than that, the BEST PLAYER at each position should see the field-particularly against our three most hated rivals.
Isn’t that SUPPOSED to be our philosophy?
We are STILL GEORGIA.
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Can Richt bench Grantham?
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that’s good, Mike, not gonna happen, but still funny. 🙂
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I heard Olivottii needs some reps playcalling for our first string D.
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Wilson has ben a DC before so let him polish back up. He is the only D coach that has had his players doing great. I say Richt tells Lakotas that we are playing at home next week and leave without him.
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Who the F:*&k says the season is over when we haven’t played UF yet?
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or Auburn, or Tech. We still have to count those games in the overall record, right?
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Agreed. Forgive me for my Gator tunnel vision right now. As a UGA student of the 90’s I get this way toward the end of October.
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no forgiveness needed. All of us who suffered through the 90s can understand your focus. The most important game is always the next one up, anyway.
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Succinct. And correct.
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Mason has faced top SEC talent/speed (no snark about scheme please) everyday in practice for years and learns multiple offensive schemes running scout teams for game prep. He’s under the mentoring of Richt/Bobo and Murray who, btw, just happens to be the SEC leader in yards, etc. He’s looked fine in the few plays he’s had over the years, he’ll be a senior, and he’ll open at home after a very challenging Spring/Fall practice to win the starter’s job (assuming he does). He’s ready now because he HAS to be in case Murray goes down…which at this rate, is sadly likely to happen, so the idiots may get their wish anyway.
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Was the season over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
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Media misled me to believe it was the Japanese.
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Let him go. He’s rolling.
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No, he’s trolling.
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What the f*ck happened to the UGA I used to know? Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re gonna let it be the worst. “Ooh, we’re afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble.” Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I’m not gonna take this. Wormer, he’s a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer…
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So young…
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Seriously. It should be a requirement to comment on the blog that potential commenters view the film that gave our fine blogger his nom de plume.
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Why is the thinking an all or nothing situation. My question about the QB roster and there are several on the list. Some for practice and socut team work. Have there been times when the OC could have played Hutson? Other than when game has been put away, and there have been none of those this season.
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The OC never went into the season wanting to run another QB excetp in mop-up. After the injuries on offense to W/Os and RBs in preparation did the OC not use Ramsey on some plays. Freshman, but has solid footwork and movement. Why sit a player for 4 years. It all about the system they run.
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What, don’t y’all remember when Florida started John Brantley in the ’10 Sugar Bowl?
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Makes me want to puke that there are dawg “fans” who would deny Murray the opportunity to beat UF, Auburn, and Tech in his final season. Color me the Disneyest of Dawgs, but aren’t we still in the hunt for the east? It’s a long shot, I know, and it feels like the stars are aligning for Mizzou, especially with Shaw out this week, but it’s not too far-fetched to envision three losses among SCar, UT, Ole Miss, and aTm. As for us, where there’s a Gurley, there’s a way.
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Mizzou and Vandy brought in their “other ” QB when starter went down. Left the game winners. My thoughts are why do you wait to have a QB go down with an injury or the game is put away. Why not put the other QB in when the game is still hot. Change it up and let the other side wonder where you might go with this player.
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Brilliant idea, Will. Wish they’d have tried that against Florida in 2002… wait, what?
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Shorter Will:
“Look! Shiny object!”
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A-freakin’-men!
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While there is some logic to the proposal of turning over the reigns to Mason, I agree with the prevailing sentiment that it would be really low to do that to a DGD like Murray. Besides, as much as this season has sucked, I still want to beat Florida, Auburn, and Tech.
I’m not nearly as sold on Mason as many in the Dawgosphere are. The comparisons to Shockley don’t hold much water. D.J. was one of the most prized players in the country coming out of high school; Mason was a middling prospect. All qualifiers about the inexact nature of recruiting aside, it’s clear Mason doesn’t possess Shockley’s physical tools. I think the best-case scenario is that Hutson is a homeless man’s David Greene. If he keeps his mistakes to a minimum, he should be fine, considering all the weapons around him. I do wonder if he’s good enough to fully take advantage of said weapons.
I think Ramsey will have a say in the QB competition next year, though knowing the nature of this coaching staff, he’ll have to blow their doors off to beat out a senior like Mason who has waited patiently for his opportunity.
I don’t know what the deal with LeMay is. I guess he’s just been a bust.
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I ask this in as non-snarky a way as possible: what is the logic, exactly? I mean, if it’s so sensible, why isn’t it a widespread practice?
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The logic is that all of our goals for this season are seemingly out of reach, so we should build for next year by letting our presumptive starting QB take his licks and gain valuable experience.
Really, it’s not that nonsensical, as long as you don’t care about the rest of this season and have no regard for what Murray has done for this program. But I do care about the rest of the season, and I have tremendous respect for Murray, so I do not advocate this move.
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As noted this season is not over. And here is exactly what is going to happen…UGA will win every game they play in which Todd Gurley is healthy – which could be all of the remaining games. SCar will beat Missouri this weekend. And Missouri will lose to TAMU on the last week of the season. So that means that the East will come down to how Missouri does against Ole MIss on Nov. 23. Whether you want to Missouri to win or lose to Ole Miss comes down to these considerations:
1. Mizzou win means the Ole Ball Sack wins the east. Yuck! But then SCar gets clubbed by Bama and UGA goes to a better bowl.
2. Mizzou loss means UGA wins the east, gets clubbed by Bama and drops down to the Outback Bowl or worse.
For my money, if it isn’t a BCS bowl, who cares which bowl. So, I would prefer a Mizzou loss and UGA wins the east andthe privilege of facing Bama in Atlanta with no receivers.
I understand the above scenarios mean UGA must beat Florida, Auburn and Kentucky. I think all three can happen with a full speed Todd Gurley. It will be amazing how receivers are magically open when we go play-action with Gurley. So, please continue praying for Gurley to stay healthy, he, like Obi Wan Kenobe, is our only hope.
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In your #1 scenario with Mizzou losing to SCar and aTm but beating Ole Miss, and assuming SCar and UGA win out, wouldn’t Mizzou win the east, not SCar? Mizzou, UGA, and SCar would all be 6-2 in conference, each beating one and losing one to the other two tied teams. It then goes to division record. Mizzou would be 5-1 in the east, with the Dawgs and Cocks each 4-2.
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In that scenario, SCar has head to head tiebreaker over Mizzou.
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Th Good Senator writes
” how many examples you can think of when a productive collegiate starting quarterback has taken a seat mid-season like that?”
During the 1995 season, Spurrier once sat Danny W down to let Eric Kresser start a game. It was against a vastly inferior non conference opponent and prior to the game Spurrier said something like; ‘Eric has practiced well enough to start one game for us.’
Danny had no public comment, as far as I know.
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You know, when I typed that, I thought to myself, “if anyone’s done it, it would have to be Spurrier”.
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did Spurrier do it so he could bring Wuerffel in for the 4th quarter as his “scrub QB”? That seems to be his style.
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Well, that is a good point 81Dog. Up in Athens, he did bring in his second stringers to run a flea flicker and score a coupla TDs toward the end of the game. He late admitted he did this just to be the first team to score more than 50 points ‘tween the hedges. The only thing about it that made me mad is that after the final TD with less than a minute to go, he did not go for two and then onside kick. Had he done that, the Mighty Gators might have cracked sixty points
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Todd Gurley was healthy when we played Clemson, and I think we lost!
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Gurley was out for almost half the Clemson game with an injury.
You got the loss part right, though. Well done!
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“almost half the Clemson game”
I have to scratch my head when people keep saying that. Gurley went out after his TD at 9:29 of the 1st quarter. He had played two consecutive series at RB to that point.
The next two series Marshall was the RB.
The third series after his TD/injury, Gurley was back and took his next handoff at 10:38 of the 2nd quarter. So Gurley was out of the game for less than a quarter.
Actually, it can be argued Gurley missed only one series in which he would have probably played. Furthermore, the two series he was out due to injury resulted in touchdowns.
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Touche, sir. More rhetoric than accuracy there.
Nevertheless, he was injured.
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But, but even though we scored TDs on those possessions when he was out, if Gurly had been in, they would have been 12-second single play TD drives like the first one. That would have saved time for even more 12-second single play TD drives before the half, and we never would have been behind in the second half. Nyuk, nyuk.
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Where is the rhetoric? That he missed half the game? Yes indeed.
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I seriously loathe my own fanbase more and more everyday. Crap like this is exactly why.
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Self-loathing Dawg fans – can we add that to the Lexicon?
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No matter who plays at RB, if they don’t fumble – we will be ok.
Druther it be TG.
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We need to count our blessings. “Missouri reserve quarterback Corbin Berkstresser is out indefinitely with a torn medial meniscus in his left knee.” I think the OBC caught a break.
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