Golden Nugget individual game lines are out…

… and some of Georgia’s numbers may surprise you.

• South Carolina Gamecocks at Georgia Bulldogs (-11)
• Alabama Crimson Tide at Georgia Bulldogs (Pick)
• Georgia Bulldogs at Tennessee Volunteers (Pick)
• Missouri Tigers at Georgia Bulldogs (-8.5)
• Florida Gators vs. Georgia Bulldogs (-12) in Jacksonville
• Georgia Bulldogs at Auburn Tigers (Pick)
• Georgia Bulldogs (-1) at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Were that Alabama-Georgia line to hold up ’til game day, it would be the first time in something like seventy games in which the Tide didn’t enter a game as the favorite.

That’s not the weirdest to me, though.  Tennessee is getting some crazy love at home – a home pick ’em against Georgia and a three-point favorite against Oklahoma, for starters.  But the Vols are still listed as a ten-point dog in Tuscaloosa.

Oh, and that Tech line?  FSU is a one-point underdog in Atlanta.

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Tallahassee, Florida, where the law is on your side

You’ve probably heard by now about the Tallahassee Police Department releasing a copy of a police report about an alleged assault by a FSU player who supposedly punched a woman in the face, where the TPD redacted the name of the player, but not the victim.

What you probably haven’t heard is the explanation for doing that.  I tell you what, it’s a real doozy.

“Anything that is considered active criminal investigation is redacted,” said a Tallahassee Police records official on the phone Friday morning. “If the suspect has not been charged with a crime at this time, it’s redacted and then the Criminal Investigations Department is following up with it. If that person ever becomes charged, then it becomes public record. Obviously, a witness name is not gonna be released, because what they can provide is still part of an active criminal investigation.”

So why list the alleged victim’s name?

“Victim’s names are not exempt from public records law,” the official said, unless it’s a case involving sexual violence.

In other words, “Because we can. You got a problem with that?”

Jeebus.  It’s a wonder anyone goes to the trouble of filing charges down there.  What’s the point?

Just because the truth hurts doesn’t make it any less true.

I said on the Blogger Roundtable with the AB-H guys that I’ve gone from approaching Georgia’s next season with the presumption of a loss in Jacksonville to a presumption that a Richt-coached squad would lose one game to a lesser opponent.  At the least.

So, when Ed Aschoff writes that a key to Georgia’s success this season boils down to “If Georgia is going to win the SEC, it will have to get out of its own way in 2015”… well, all I can do is reluctantly nod my head in agreement.

Don’t be afraid to prove me wrong, though, Dawgs.  I think I can take it.

Freak show

Is Georgia trying to become the most intimidating looking team coming off the bus?  Because, between Nick Chubb and now Trent Thompson…

… the Dawgs are definitely making some headway in that department.

The only thing worse than playing a few extra bowl games…

… is not playing them.

Now, if they’d only do something about emerging from an alley…

This has to be a bummer for the editors at the AJ-C.

Starting July 1st, police in Athens will not take students into custody for underage drinking. They'll receive a citation/$300 fine instead.

— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) June 26, 2015

Of course, with what we know about the Georgia Way, the school may think about issuing press releases when an athlete’s involved.

Still, progress of a sort.

“Because, quite frankly, he’s now the most talented QB on the roster.”

If you want to feel good about Greyson Lambert’s prospects in Athens, Murf Baldwin’s got a post for you.

I do see good moments there, but, overall, last season Lambert was as inconsistent with his mechanics as Ramsey.  And Ramsey’s got the stronger arm.

In the end, I’m not sure how much difference this is going to make, at least if by the end of preseason practice one quarterback has clearly got better command of the playbook than the other two.  Lambert’s got more on-field experience than Bauta or Ramsey, which helps.  But he comes in having the least amount of experience with Georgia’s offensive playbook.

I suspect we’re going to be having this debate for a while.  I just hope whoever wins the job in August can play well enough to hold it.

Alabama and Georgia – does it come down to a battle of the offensive coordinators?

The guys at And The Valley Shook! assess the SEC quarterback situation, and really don’t see much of a difference between Alabama and Georgia right now.

POSEUR:

8 Bama: Saban went into last season with a big question mark under center and ended up with one of the most productive passing offenses in the conference. He’s in the same boat now, but I refuse to bet against whatever guy he decides on this year.

9 UGA: Hutson Mason did his part and gave Richt a bridge to this season after the end of the Murray era. Again, UGA has to replace a productive QB, and he’s got plenty of talent but almost no experience. I’m rooting for Faton Bauta for name purposes, but Brice Ramsey has the inside track. The Dawgs have a stellar QB development track record, but this is one of their steepest challenges.

BILLY:

8 (tie) Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina: To me, these three programs are all in the same boat right now. They’ve all traditionally been able to trot out decent quarterbacks, but they’re all kind of in new realms in terms of a lack of experience. Nobody at Georgia was able to really take the job this spring, and now they’re taking a graduate transfer from Virginia that really struggled. That’s not an indication of confidence…

… In Alabama, they’re facing the greenest QB situation any Nick Saban team has had this century. Jacob Coker has been on campus for all of one year, failed to win the job once (when he was brought in specifically to do just that) and couldn’t distance himself from the rest of the pack in the spring. Behind him are a bunch of freshmen.

As Poseur said, all three of these teams have shown they can transition quarterbacks without too many hiccups. But they’ve never quite had this situation before.

PAUL:

8 Georgia: I like the crew here, and I think Brice Ramsey will end up taking the gig. Georgia rarely has bad QB play, so I doubt much changes here.

9 Alabama: I guess I’m turning the corner on Kiffin a bit? Because I look at this group and don’t see much. There’s not much experience, but there is good talent. But now they don’t have an elite WR talent to bomb it to and pray. This could be the most marginal Bama offense in the Saban era.

Add it all up, and you’ve pretty much got a dead heat there.

Beyond that, it’s more than the quarterbacks who look even.  If Malcolm Mitchell stays healthy, he’s the best receiver either team trots out, but you could say both receiving corps have potential – although nobody’s got an Amari Cooper to build a passing attack around.  Georgia’s got better depth at tight end, it seems, but if O.J. Howard ever translates his talents into performance, he’s got the makings of an All-American.  Running back?  For once, it’s Georgia with the advantage, especially from a depth standpoint.  And even at offensive line, where it’s almost an automatic to give the Tide the nod, it’s not as if there’s a huge gap between the two.

So, I’m just wondering – are we looking at a situation where the difference is going to be Kiffin vs. Schottenheimer?

The Boom Effect

Athlon is all in on the Auburn bandwagon, y’all.

Auburn could go from a .500 team in SEC play to a playoff contender. The Tigers are explosive on offense and feature rising star Jeremy Johnson at quarterback to replace Nick Marshall. The defense has to improve after giving up 6.4 yards per play in SEC games last season. With six starters back, Will Muschamp calling the signals and end Carl Lawson back from injury, this group should show marked improvement. And it certainly doesn’t hurt Auburn’s national title hopes that Georgia and Alabama must visit Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2015.

You know, it’s amazing how Ellis Johnson has been reduced to being a complete putz of a defensive coordinator in such a short time.  (I do think if Lawson’s healthy, he will make Muschamp look a lot smarter this season.)  But I digress.

Can somebody explain why it seems to be taken as an obvious that Auburn’s got some huge advantage playing Georgia at home?  Say what you will about Mark Richt’s shortcomings, playing at Auburn ain’t one of ’em.  Georgia is 3-2 over the last five games at Jordan-Hare.  The two losses came with the weakest team he fielded there (and even that was a struggle that took Cam Newton most of the game before Auburn had control) and a miracle fluke play after Auburn had blown a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter.

While I expect a Malzahn offense to excel, I don’t see it being appreciably better than it was with Marshall.  Is Agent Muschamp going to make that big of a difference?

Unbundling and the limits of ESPN

Here are a couple of questions for you.  Let’s say this becomes a real thing in the near future:

One industry source I spoke to believes ESPN would have to charge sports fans at least $30 a month for an a la carte version of the networks to offset lost cable subscriber fees and advertising. MoffettNathanson Research believes Disney would have to charge $36.30 a month for ESPN to achieve the same level of reach it enjoys today.

At this point, we’ve reached a similar structure to European television. Channels such as Sky Sports, which carries popular properties like the English Premiere League, are not part of the basic service and run at $40 a month for the family of networks. Sky Sports even offers “day passes” for roughly $15. While hardcore American sports fans can justify similar prices here in the States, casual fans will balk and just catch the big event games on over-the-air networks.

Would you subscribe and pay $40 a month for the privilege of watching ESPN?

Me?  I probably would, if I could just subscribe for football season.  The rest of the year would be a waste of money.  I kind of doubt that’s the customer base ESPN’s looking for, though.

But if I’m typical, what happens to college athletics’ current business model when the broadcast revenue stream takes a significant hit from Mickey’s wallet shrinkage?  With regard to Ovies’ last point, keep in mind that there is very little college football shown on an over-the-air basis now, so chasing the casual fans in bulk, which is implicit in building up a national playoff, is not as easy as it sounds anymore.

Eh, it’s probably no big deal.  Delany, Sankey and Scott are on the mother, right?