Georgia’s 2015 schedule

You can see it in all its glory here.

If you don’t have the strength to click, highlights are:

• cupcake opener
• cupcake SEC opener in Week 2
• another cupcake before the Alabama game
• one open date, before the Florida game
• Georgia Southern precedes the Tech game

I guess Spurrier can complain that Georgia will have worked through all the suspensions before the ‘Cocks come calling.

There’s always more grist for the Gurley mill.

Man, the Todd Gurley thing must have really struck a nerve with Jeff Schultz, who’s written a third column on the matter in less than a week.  If his first could be characterized as blame Gurley and the second as the same for the NCAA, this one has more of an “if a tree fell in the forest” philosophical bent to it.

But there’s another part of the equation in the matter of suspended Georgia running back Todd Gurley few are talking about, and it would be foolish to ignore, especially given the NCAA’s recent tendency to stick its finger in the air: Even if Gurley did break rules and even if there’s evidence to support suspending him for up to the rest of the season, would they do that?

Well, the NCAA didn’t in the Newton or Manziel situations, so it’s not like there’s not a precedent for that.  But that’s not the real question here.  The real question is even if Gurley did break rules and even if there’s evidence to support suspending him for up to the rest of the season, if the NCAA didn’t do that, would Jeff Schultz write another column about it?

Sometimes you gotta go where the stats take you.

Bill Connelly’s way to nice a guy for me to drop a load of schadenfreude on, so let me just say I probably felt as bad looking at last year’s Georgia-Missouri box score as he did compiling this one.  That being said, you don’t have to delve too deeply into Bill’s effort to see the rout.  Just take it from the beginning:

BASICS	GEORGIA	MISSOURI	NAT’L AVG
Total Plays	87	43
Close Rate (non-garbage time)	80.8%
Avg Starting FP	41.9	22.3	29.8
Possessions	12	12
Scoring Opportunities*	8	0

In the same number of possessions, Georgia ran twice the plays, had dramatically better starting field position and never let Mizzou get close to having a chance to score.  As the wise Talmudic scholar once said, the rest is commentary.

As a bonus, if you’re interested, here’s the advanced box score from the Alabama-Arkansas.  Both teams were more proficient turning the ball over than running it.

Slive’s retirement announcement

Due to health issues, Mike Slive has announced he will retire as SEC Commissioner on July 31, 2015.

No matter what you think of Slive, there’s little question that he will leave behind a significant legacy.  And I feel badly for anyone who has to leave a job he loves over issues he can’t control.  So best of luck in beating cancer, Commish.

Jeff Driskel, Florida just can’t quit you, baby.

He’s like a coach on the field!

Gators OC Kurt Roper admits a few offensive players can't line up without QB Jeff Driskel's help, which could be an issue with Harris in

— Mark Long (@APMarkLong) October 14, 2014

That explains so much.

“I’m just a Georgia fan.”

Ain’t we all, pal.

Gurley and Wagers, a winning combination

Color me a little surprised.  Yesterday’s traffic here at the blog surpassed the day the Montana Project was introduced to the world to become the busiest day ever at GTP (33,297 hits).

After all these years, maybe I’m starting to figure out how to push your buttons.

“I guess I did all right. Not too bad for my first time back.”

One of the great stories from the Mizzou game was the resurrection of Brendan Langley.

Langley hadn’t been able to work his way into the lineup as a receiver and was quietly moved back to defense the week of the Vanderbilt game. After getting in for a couple of plays against the Commodores, Langley started at left cornerback against Missouri and played most of the game. He finished with three tackles and a tackle for loss as the Bulldogs recorded four interceptions, their most since the 2008 Sugar Bowl win over Hawaii.

Langley could have had an “I told you so” attitude, but that’s not what he displayed after Saturday’s game.

“It was just a mutual thing between me and the coaches,” Langley said of moving back to defense. “I really didn’t think anything of it. They just called my number and I knew I had an opportunity to go make plays and I did. I needed to progress and make plays during the week and I did. I guess I did well.”

Langley said he didn’t find out until Friday afternoon that Jeremy Pruitt intended to start him at left cornerback.

I watched the first half of the game again last night and was struck by how controlled Langley looked.  He wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t seem flustered or panicked.  He was good in coverage and made a couple of solid tackles in run support.

More than that, his insertion into the starting line up allowed Pruitt to move Swann to the star position, which is where Swann has played his best at Georgia, and moved Sanders back to safety.  Both moves paid off, and it makes me wonder if perhaps six games in Pruitt has found his best personnel mix in the secondary for deploying the 4-2-5.

Over the top

Considering that every fan base has its share of unbalanced folks – and Georgia’s is no exception (Remember egging Aaron Murray’s house?  Good times.) – it’s still disappointing to see people lose it over a player suspension like this:

The wife of a Lindale man also named Bryan Allen told the Rome News Tribune that she was inundated by calls of people trying to reach the other man by that name

“They’ve been threatening my life and my husband’s,” she said. “They threatened to burn down my house, and I don’t even completely understand what this is all about. One of the calls said that my husband was a snitch for ratting out some guy named Gurley. I don’t even know who that is.”

Sigh.

I’m guessing the guilty Bryan Allen doesn’t live here anymore.  And probably has a few regrets about his tactics.

Tuesday morning buffet

Hungry?

• Arkansas threw the ball 40 times in the Alabama game.
• Speaking of throwing, Cory Brinson broke down Hutson Mason’s game against Mizzou.  (Hint:  he likee.)
• Jimbo Fisher goes all in on Jameis Winston:  “. . . There is not a victim because there was no crime. . .”
• And speaking of Winston, hoo boy.
• Coach Richt, on his evolution at head coach:  “I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t do as much hands-on coaching as I used to. Mike Bobo and Pruitt are doing most of that now. I deal with more things during the game and in the week preceding the game.”
• Jerry Palm notes that the selection committee will continue the tradition of not taking margin of victory into account.  Idiots.
• The descent of Jeff Driskel is a thing:  “Right now, Jeff would probably start, but both will play.”  The “probably” is an especially nice touch.
• Speaking of Boom, this is still a thing, too.
• Georgia moves up a whopping twelve spots, to ninth, in the latest F/+ rankings.