Just Trippin’

Hey, look who’s back on defense!

Here’s an intriguing thing: Brendan Langley is working with the defensive backs in warmups.

Langley started last season at cornerback, then switched to receiver after spring practice. He has yet to play this season there.

Georgia’s defensive back room took two hits this week, with the dismissal of junior Sheldon Dawson and the medical disqualification of Rico Johnson.

Necessity is a mother, and all that.

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Game day post, Vandy edition

Dawgs, could I ask a favor of you today?

Please don’t take off the first series or two of the first quarter.

Thanks.

Readers, feel free to add your insights in the comments.

Is it in his head? Yeah, it’s in his head.

Jeebus, Hutson.  Don’t make it easier to doubt you.

Perhaps the Georgia football team’s most telling moment of the past week occurred Tuesday. Hutson Mason was asked if he was surprised he didn’t develop a trust in another receiver besides stalwart veterans Michael Bennett and Chris Conley.

No platitudes or fakery. Mason just shook his head and said, “Not really.”

It was just as telling moments later when Mason, speaking of the expected returns of Malcolm Mitchell and Justin Scott-Wesley, referred to “my four receivers.”

Yikes.  Is it any wonder during the first four games he seemed to lock in on his downfield targets too often?  Or why the tight ends have been little more than afterthoughts in the passing game?

It’s good timing he gets those two back today, although I doubt either sees more than a dozen plays.  On the down side, if their returns don’t light a spark for Mason, I’m not sure what will.

Trolling a troll

Bill Connelly provides a little context for the performance of the man Michael Cunningham is extremely impressed with.

S&P+ is typically quite volatile at this time of year (my own ratings are why Ole Miss is so damn high, too) and one team benefiting from that is Louisville, which has had, from a raw data standpoint, one of the most successful defenses in the country so far. The Cardinals rank fourth in Defensive S&P+, and while that wouldn’t be the biggest reach in the world — they ranked 10th in Defensive F/+ last year, after all, and new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham did have some success at Georgia before a 2013 fade — they have gotten what are probably a couple of artificial boosts.

First, Louisville has played Wake Forest. As long as raw data plays any role, even a minor one, in the ratings, playing Wake Forest is going to be good for you. The Ville held the Deacs to 100 total yards (1.8 per play) last Saturday, and while that’s certainly not bad … well, UL-Monroe held Wake to 94 yards (1.9 per play) in the season opener.

Maybe that just means Richt should have hired UL-Monroe’s defensive coordinator instead of Pruitt.

Meteor game thoughts

Well, I can’t let Florida-Tennessee pass without saying something.

So here goes:

First, it’s worth remembering that while Georgia is no longer Florida’s bitch, Tennessee still is.

Second, it’s rather startling to consider how irrelevant today’s game is.

59 Years since Florida and Tennessee squared off and neither team was ranked, as is the case for their game on Saturday. In 1955, Tennessee defeated Florida 20-0 in the most recent game in the series between unranked teams. Since the AP poll began in 1936, Florida and Tennessee have met twice when neither team was ranked, the other a 14-0 victory for the Gators in 1954. The teams had 31 consecutive meetings in which at least one of them was ranked. In 20 of those games, both were ranked. In the previous 28 games, Florida was ranked.

And if the Gators lose today, it’ll be even more insignificant.

Approach with caution

While wandering back to reminisce about one of the two worst home game experiences I’ve had as a Georgia fan, Patrick Garbin compiled this rather astounding chart:

… And, as far as point spreads, which are considered “reliable” beginning around the mid-1960s, a loss to the Volunteers—an 18-point underdog—would have indeed ranked as one of Georgia’s biggest upset losses since a lot of us can remember:

>Losses by Georgia since 1964 as a two-touchdown favorite or more

-20 over Vanderbilt, 1994 (lost 43-30)

-18 over Wake Forest, 1979 (lost 22-21)

-17 over Vanderbilt, 1973 (lost 18-14)

-16 over Kentucky, 1996 (lost 24-17)

-15½ over Vanderbilt, 1991 (lost 27-25)

-14½ over Tulane, 1970 (lost 17-14)

-14½ over Vanderbilt, 2006 (lost 24-22)

That’s a lot of Vanderbilt there.  And that doesn’t include losses like last year’s debacle, or close calls, like the game in 2012, 2011.

So when people stubbornly insist that Georgia should never lose to Vandy, history doesn’t bear that out.