Ask the experts: Greyson Lambert

All week I’ve seen the beat guys and bloggers turn to other members of the media for insight on what Lambert’s transfer to Georgia really means.  There have been some interesting insights offered, no doubt.  But I’ve never really felt like I’ve gotten to the real nitty gritty.  You know, the kind of deep analysis that comes from years of almost obsessive observation of Mark Richt’s football program.

Fortunately, I know just where to turn for that.

They never fail to satisfy, do they?  This is the best line from the entire bunch:

I hate the Dogs, but I think it’s irrelevant in June whether this kid plays for them or not. Heck, Joe Cox is 1-0 vs us as a starter at the cesspool…ugh, I just threw up a little in my mouth.

I know how you feel, brother.  Kinda felt that same wave of nausea after last year’s pooch kick.

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The most important game this season?

Jerry Hinnen looks at projected win totals for this season in the SEC East and has this to say about Missouri:

Missouri, 7.5 wins (over -180, under +140)

So: the Tigers weren’t as strong as their record last season. Maty Mauk was erratic even in the best of times. The receiving corps has been decimated by graduation (again). At some point, surely the well of NFL-caliber defensive linemen will dry up. At at -180, that over is pricey. No matter: after picking the Tigers to go under each of the last two seasons and being woefully, woefully wrong both times, I’m not doubting Gary Pinkel again — especially when the outstanding Barry Odom has taken over the defense … Southeast Missouri State, Arkansas State, UConn, Kentucky and Vanderbilt are all on the schedule … and South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi State, BYU and Tennessee all come to Columbia. OVER 7.5 WINS.

I’m not saying the Missouri game in Athens is the biggest game of the season – that’s obviously Alabama – but in terms of winning the East and given Missouri’s track record the past two years, I am thinking that one may be the game Georgia has to have to win the East.

I know, I know… 34-0 last season didn’t wind up meaning squat.  But Georgia would have been eliminated from the division race much earlier had it lost both Columbia games.  Beating South Carolina (or losing, for that matter) hasn’t been a key to winning the East for Georgia.  I’m not sold on Tennessee being back on top in 2015.  And Florida appears to have a ton of issues that a Georgia team that doesn’t show up with its head up its ass should be able to take.  That leaves Pinkel’s Tigers.  Given the relative strength of their schedules, Georgia giving Missouri a two-game margin with the tiebreaker is something I’d prefer not to risk.

It’s only rock ‘n’ roll.

Ohio State expects to turn a $600,000 profit from hosting a Rolling Stones concert.  That’s a handsome number by any measure.

Why not Athens, you may ask?  Beats me.  It’s not like McGarity lacks experience.

Athletic director Greg McGarity worked at Florida when the Rolling Stones performed before a packed house at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in 1994, so he understood the enthusiasm that SEC football fans might show over a concert in their stadium.

Instead, it was Jason Aldean and settling for a $250,000 “operational fee”, plus parking and concessions, because, believe it or not,

“There’s a little bit of a carrot out there for us,” Brooks said, “but at the end of the day, the goal of this was never, ‘Let’s think about how we can make some money.’ It was, ‘Hey, let’s do something cool and if we make a little money off of it, great. We’ll use that money to offset some field improvements we need to do.’ “

So the athletic department that’s known for squeezing every last cent out of the budget, for zealously guarding its reserve fund, has a vanity project.  (“Although I’m not a country music fan, I got that and I understand that. How cool is it that these guys love Georgia athletics and they’re from Georgia?”)

There are times when I really don’t get the Georgia Way.