I’m telling you, the pundits are starting to come around. Here’s something from Matt Hinton’s piece surveying the present groundwork for playoff entry:
After surveying the field, I’m almost tempted to jump onboard with Georgia, which has looked solid since its September 13 loss at South Carolina despite its reliance on a pedestrian quarterback and the extended absence of the best player in college football. Then again, UGA is coming off a bye week, and this is the kind of season that can start to make not playing look like a virtue simply because it means not losing.
And this week it’s on to Agent Muschamp, while Auburn and Ole Miss chew on each other.
Patience, grasshoppers. This team has a chance.
Get The Picture 
May we “snatch the pebble from your hand, Master?”..
LikeLike
I’ll feel pretty good if we go down to Jax and do what we’re supposed to do. We can’t fool around down there this year, and I remember 2002 and 2005. I also remember a few years ago when we forced 6 turnovers down there and almost didn’t come away with the win.
Victory is not certain this week, and I won’t light the cigar until it is (figuratively speaking; I don’t smoke cigars. But y’all get the reference.)
LikeLike
I just hope the coaches made sure the players know the Florida is going to show up, regardless of what everyone may say. These next two weeks are going to be the toughest, just because I can see the team over looking either Florida or UK. Both of which are good enough to beat us if we piss around and do not take care of business.
LikeLike
I am inclined to agree with you. But, this coaching staff impressed me with the focus the team had in the midst of Gurley-gate. I dont think this team will take anyone for granted.
LikeLike
I don’t think we will take either one for granted either, but we aren’t that much better than them so we could lose and still be prepared and show up motivated. It wasn’t that long ago we were coming off a loss to SC and a weak showing against TN and hoping we could hang on for 8-4 and no worse than 7-5. We are a better team than that now, and have survived two road tests but we still don’t get back to Sanford for three more weeks.
No, we aren’t going to take them for granted but while 1-1 might be disappointing, it would not be shocking. Look how well SC used their bye week to refocus themselves, FU could show up a better opponent than a -13 point spread would indicate.
LikeLike
SC didn’t have a bye before UGA.
LikeLike
He means against Aub this week.
LikeLike
this past week I mean, ughhhh
LikeLike
Wasn’t he implying Auburn?
LikeLike
Sorry wasn’t clear. I felt SC was reeling and close to coming unwound after the first half of the season but that was a different team, and HC that I saw on The Plains Saturday. I felt Spurrier got them to rededicate themselves and they gave it all against Auburn. Before seeing that effort I felt SC might lose three more for sure, including maybe TN this week. After watching the effort, I have to give the edge to the Cocks at home.
LikeLike
Plus the fact, Merk, that we never seem to have to fight for our lives in Lexington…
LikeLike
I meant to say we ALWAYs seem to have to fight …
LikeLike
“Survive and advance, Georgia.” Well said Senator.
All this talk and speculation about the playoff and the selection committee seems to obfuscate the fact that this year is really not much different than years past. You just need to win your conference and be at or near the top of the polls at the end of the year. Really no different, just four teams have a shot at the MNC instead of two.
LikeLike
I’d love to see ’em in the playoffs, but even if they don’t quite win out, it’s still going to be a really solid year for these guys if they continue to play hard like they have been.
I’m trying to learn to just enjoy the season, regardless…but it’s a lot of fun to be in the hunt!
LikeLike
Agreed.
LikeLike
Attaboy, Cos! I’ll smoke to that.
LikeLike
Ditto. I get so tired of people crowing about how good we are when we haven’t achieved anything of stature in terms of securing a place in the conference championship or having beaten a ranked opponent from the SEC yet. That is the acid test. It should be rightly assumed that if we are as good as some think we are, then we SHOULD beat Florida. But as we all know, this team has the propensity to point a 12 gauge at their right foot and pull the trigger. Herewith, I give you 1st and goal at the four yard line against HBC. Who won that game? Right, I thought so.
We need to play with steely, deadly precision and make sure the game is over with by mid 3rd quarter this week.
I will then relax, pour myself a couple of fingers of Buffalo Trace and be thankful.
Please don’t disappoint me Bobo, please. Jeremy, tell your defense their swing thought should be “Kill”. And Mark, I hope you are able to rest in righteous satisfaction that your program is ascending to new heights after a solid performance against our hated opponents this week.
LikeLike
That has certainly been the case for a long time, Roswell. But I’ve not seen that this year. This team, to this point, is different (see below).
I agree with all you’ve said today about the game. I believe it’s right, and it’s good advice in any case. We better be prepared for anything.
No question that was a self-inflicted shot that proved fatal. But it came from the sideline, not from the players on the field.
In fact, it was a potential game-winning play by the defense that set it up. All the difference in the world, IMO.
~~~
LikeLike
last i remember, mason intentionally grounded that ball, not bobo.
LikeLike
I have a general question for the group. If/when Gurley is reinstated, will the NCAA announce it? Or is it strictly up to UGA to announce it? The reason I ask is I’m wondering if UGA would announce it immediately. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t announce it. I’d make FU wonder about it until game day.
LikeLike
I wondered about that myself. What good does it do (if they found out he could play) to announce beforehand. Boom already said he fully expects him to play. My gut says CMR isn’t capable of being that devious.
LikeLike
I’m slightly worried about this game if I’m honest. It seems that every CBS 3:30 game this year has been a battle no matter who was playing Hell, even UK gave Miss St. trouble until it was finally put away in the 4th quarter this past weekend.
Logic says that UGA should destroy UF, but logic doesn’t always follow UGA around…
LikeLike
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=400548364
LikeLike
I’d take a 59-0 style whomping of da Gatahs!
LikeLike
LOL. Great line.
~~~
LikeLike
Guess I don’t have the “win out and we’re in” faith. Not with voters and lobbyists calling the shots. Hell…we’ve moved 3 spots since our only loss. We’re 5-0 since…3 spots! Except for Michigan State, all the one loss teams ahead of us lost after us. Some very recently. Some very ugly. Just yesterday I saw two talking heads posing situations where we win the SEC but a west team gets picked. Yeah….it’s all talk and wouldn’t matter if this was TRULY decided on the field. Problem is…it’s not. Problem is…voters and lobbyists. I’m not THAT worried since there is a lot of football to be played but I can’t help but look ahead and remember the history of who is calling the shots. To make it worse…it wouldn’t matter if the 4 best teams were from the SEC. The SEC isn’t getting 4 or 3 and probably not 2. Not this first year. Not if there is ANY legitimate argument to accept Notre Dame. These lobbyists are doing what they do best in politics. Muddle things and influence minds long before the election.
LikeLike
If UGA wins out and wins the SECCG, there is no way they’ll be left out of the playoff. Down the stretch, the Dawgs would’ve beaten a good Auburn team plus the almighty SEC West winner (probably a top 5 team) So, no way the Dawgs get left out if they have one loss and win the SECCG. Just crush the Gators this weekend!!!
LikeLike
That’s what everyone keeps saying…
LikeLike
Only way the Dawgs would get left out as an SEC champ, I think, would be if we get there as a two-loss team. What would really suck would be to beat the SEC West champ (like we did to LSU in 2005), get locked out of the playoffs, and open the door for Auburn to get in.
LikeLike
Yep. It’s a longshot, but it ain’t impossible to win the SECCG as a three loss team.
Missouri could lose two SEC games, we lose one more SEC game and inexplicably lose to Tech, we could still win the SEC east with three total losses, go on to win the SECCG but get left out of the playoffs.
That is not the kind of math I enjoy…
LikeLike
You sure worry about nothing….
The SEC Champ is in…..
LikeLike
I do believe that we’ll win. But I am constitutionally incapable of feeling even remotely confident during Georgia/Florida week.
LikeLike
Hey wait, this doesn’t taste like sweet tea…..this is……. MID SEASON KOOL AID! Spit it out, everyone! Spit it OUT!!!!!
LikeLike
We always seem to choke when the pundits come around….we need Herbstreit to send a signature UGA out of control tweet.
LikeLike
BTW- I missed that OSU/PSU non-interception play mentioned by Hinton, but of the 10 min I saw of that game the officiating was absolutely horrendous. There were two times called by officials that were never called for by the coaches. Sad to see because I think OSU deserved to lose that game. Fuck Urban Meyer.
LikeLike
Nobody here wants to do that, Klompus. You do it.
LikeLike
here’s the “interception.”
LikeLike
What’s pat dye doing this week?
LikeLike
Like everybody else I was glad to see CTG go. But if he had one redeeming quality it was bringing a lot of intensity when he was up against fu. It was a complete attitude change in coaching from the previous 10+ years.
The good thing is CJP’s fsu D laid an a$$ whippin on fu too. So I hope to see more of the same smashmouth D.
LikeLike
I tend to believe that Pruitt is superior to Grantham in every way possible.
LikeLike
Grantham easily has him beat in yelling.
LikeLike
And towel holding 😉
LikeLike
And hand signaling.
LikeLike
And choke gesturing.
LikeLike
Commo obfuscation, like this.
LikeLike
Did Hinton really think Ole Miss looked like a dominant team? They scratched out a win over Alabama in Oxford, and their second best win had been…Texas A&M? Their offense hadn’t been any better than average. MSU looks like the best team in the SEC and probably the country, though their pass defense is sketchy. They already have Auburn and LSU under their belt, haven’t really struggled with anyone, and while I think they’ll lose at Bama, I wouldn’t be shocked if they win out.
LikeLike
I’m with you Bro. Ole Miss really hasn’t played anyone. Their signature win before Bama, A&M, has been exposed. Bama would have beaten Ole Miss except for the outstanding interception by an Ole Miss DB as Bama was going in to score the winning TD. Look for an Ole Miss loss to Auburn, too. The Rebs look like a 10-2 or 9-3 team to me.
LikeLike
Despite all of the poo-pooing of the matchup, this is a huge game this weekend? When is the last time we rolled out of Jax controlling our own destiny nationally? I guess we could say that for 2012, but we were nobody’s darling the same month we crapped the bed in Columbia.
LikeLike
How I see things playing out in Jax:
1) We start a little too bland relying too much on our great RBs up the middle. The Gators load the box with their very good D and slow our running game. Not stopping but holding us to FGs and such. Back and forth because their offense sux too, until some big play by the jorts. Everyone gets panicky and Bobo goes all Bobo and starts calling weird crap. Treon looks like the next GPOOE; or
2) Richt or Bobo plan a solid, creative but low risk first drive that settles the team down. (They have to come up with two or three new plays to get them on their heals. The team usually responds when he goes into attack mode.) We run the ball and calm down. A bad turnover happens/there’s a terrible call by the refs and we get nervous but the O-line takes over. Treon gets nervous and throws three picks.
LikeLike
…or…late in the game with Georgia up by 40, a third string special teams player is handed a coke by a fan cruising the sidelines. An NCAA official sees this and runs onto the field and declares the game forfieted by UGA because a Georgia player received a gift from a booster. Georgia is given the death penalty, because, after all, there is a pattern here. Pen Wagers blows his whistle and stops play and grins into the camera. The replay official reviews the transaction of the soda and notices there is also ice in the cup…ruling upheld. The NCAA can really act fast when they need to.
LikeLike
Well yeah. I thought that was a given. But more likely a fan throws a cup onto the sideline and it lands near a player. But same results.
LikeLike
Keep the focus on one goal at a time. Pre-Season Goals:
Beat Clemson – Check!
Beat USCe – Fail….
Beat Mizzou – Check!
Beat Florida – TBD
Annihilate Auburn between the hedges again! – TBD
Beat Tech – TBD
Win SEC East – TBD
Win SECCG – TBD
Make Playoffs – TBD
Win Playoffs – TBD
Gurley wins Heisman – TBD
Loooonnnnggggg list to complete. Let’s focus on FU for now.
LikeLike