Hugh Freeze, a coach in search of a compliment:
That sounds like something Coach Dooley would say back in the day, after he finished fretting about the opponent’s long snappah. Except Vince would usually say that about Southeast Directional A&M State, not another SEC team. Ouch.
Filed under Arkansas Is Kind Of A Big Deal
I see from the comments here that plenty of you have your minds made up about Grantham and I don’t expect that’ll likely change. But I do think the statistical story is more complicated than some of you are willing to acknowledge. This, for example, is pretty staggering:
Georgia has allowed 33 touchdowns this season. About a third (10) came either against Georgia’s offense/special-teams units or on drives that covered 40 yards or less. Nearly a quarter of those 33 touchdowns (eight) came against the offense/special teams or on drives that covered 20 yards or less.
TDs vs. UGA offense/special teams: 4
TD drives of 20 yards or less: 4
TD drives of 40 yards or less: 6
TD drives of 50 yards or less: 7
That doesn’t include the occasional short drive that ended in a field goal, or, for that matter, Saturday’s safety. But that’s how you get to this:
Georgia ranks 112th nationally and last in the SEC in opponent yards per point — a statistic that divides the number of points a team allows by the yardage its opponent covered to score. The five teams that rank immediately behind Georgia’s average (12.1) on that list have a combined 7-35 record this season: Cal (1-8), Colorado (3-5), Idaho (1-8), UTEP (1-7) and Iowa State (1-7).
(The complete rankings in opp ypp are here, if you’re interested.)
Now, Ching is right to note that even if the defense has been handed more than its fair share of tough spots, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have stepped up at a better rate.
“…Georgia’s defense could always have made more stops after being placed in those bad positions. And the Bulldogs certainly could stand to become more effective on third down (they’re 12th in the SEC, allowing opponents to convert 42.5 percent of the time).”
The Dawgs are 110th in opponents’ red zone touchdown percentage.
In other words, the 92nd ranking in defensive scoring has truly been a team effort.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Lundquist said he enjoys the website Every Day Should Be Saturday and described its author, Spencer Hall, as “very, very, very clever.”
This is pretty good, too.
There’s even a Verne Lundquist Drinking Game in which viewers can take a drink depending on when he laughs or makes mistakes on a broadcast. “I’m proud of the fact that mine’s not as active as (Brent) Musburger’s,” he said.
And so is this.
“That’s not a gaping hole in my resume at all,” Lundquist said. “I got to do Georgia-Alabama in the SEC Championship Game last year. That’s enough for me.”
All in all, a fun read.
Filed under College Football, The Blogosphere
You may have heard about the Auburn player who had to come out of the Arkansas game. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if Malzahn hadn’t been so sanctimonious about the subject of fake injuries earlier this year, as this clip neatly indicates:
That said, I don’t know what gives me the bigger chuckle – Malzahn’s wide-eyed “he got hurt” response immediately after the game, or that Bielema had the nerve to complain about another coach’s gamesmanship.
Don’t look now, but Georgia is seventh in the conference in total defense.
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UPDATE: This, too.
Believe it or not — and the fourth-year coordinator’s detractors within Georgia’s fan base will likely be stunned by this revelation — Georgia has held all but one opponent (Tennessee) below its season average for total offense. And after yielding 400-plus yards in four of the first five games, the Bulldogs have held their last three opponents below the 400-yard mark and to an average of 68.5 yards per game below their season averages.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Ledes don’t get much better than this one:
A Pittsburgh-area high school teacher who police say confessed to arriving at school high on heroin and passing out in class had only two words for comment-seeking media members today: “Roll Tide.”
And a happy ending, to boot – it looks like he won’t be serving any jail time over it. (The no comment is kind of disappointing, though.)
Filed under Crime and Punishment, General Idiocy
Miami was exposed as badly as I expected and as each week goes by I find myself less convinced about Auburn’s greatness, so there are a couple of new faces on this week’s ballot. (* tie breaker)
Also considered: Arizona State, Auburn, LSU
Oklahoma State was a pretty easy move for me, but the last slot took a while to fill. I went with Wisconsin over Arizona State even though Wisky lost their head to head, partly because the Badgers got screwed by the refs and partly because ASU’s losses look worse than Wisconsin’s. But I admit it’s a damned close call.
LSU stayed out because I felt like if one set of Tigers went in, another – Auburn – would have to go in as well, and I don’t think both are better than Oklahoma State. So there.
Took almost 30 minutes to decide this, with about all but five or so going to figure out who got the last spot.
Filed under Mumme Poll
With the absence of upsets in the SEC this week, the picking got healthier. There was a relative logjam at the top:
STANDINGS for WEEK 10
Adjustment
6-291 Dawgwalker07 Adj 9-1 9 17-27** 1 jfishernc Adj 9-1 9 10-24 1 HamDawg11 Adj 9-1 9 28-34 1 Meat686 Adj 9-1 9 7-20 1 sanforddawg Adj 9-1 9 13-14
Congrats to Dawgwalker07 for pulling it out in the tie breaker.
As for the season results, there’s been a changing of the guard.
EASON STANDINGS through Week 10 1 BosnianDawg 65-35 65 1 ShockleyforHeisman 65-35 65 3 ParrishWalton 64-36 64 3 Lennay Kekua and D-cups 64-36 64 3 Trbodawg 64-36 64
There are seventeen of us within five points of the top, so this promises to go down to the wire.
All favorites and no upsets make this week’s ballot a dull boy.
Filed under SEC Football
Get The Picture 