Eh, what’s a little terminal disease between friends?

PAWWWLLL’s audience is living down to expectations today, I see.

But one Auburn fan phoned took his displeasure over the top, calling in to Paul Finebaum’s daily radio show and comparing defensive coordinator Will Muschamp to cancer.

Hey, he can’t say bad things about Agent Muschamp.  Only we can say bad things about Agent Muschamp.

Advertisement

Don’t do it for the children.

If there’s anyone in college sports who really ought to keep his mouth shut more than Bob Bowlsby, I’d like to know whom.

Bowlsby: "You can't play college football on Tuesday nights and say you care" about education

— Steve Berkowitz (@ByBerkowitz) September 21, 2015

Thursday nights, on the other hand…

“He’s our starter right now…”

The Jeremy Johnson for Heisman campaign is juuuuust a little outside… right now.

Southern’s secret strategy

I guess if you’re Southern head coach Dawson Odums and your team can’t match up with the opponent, change the rules.

“We’re going to play Canadian rules and they’re going to play American rules.”

Wut?  Does that mean they’re going to punt on third down?

Welcome back, Uncle Verne and Gary.

To what should be no one’s surprise, Alabama-Georgia grabs the 3:30 game slot on CBS.

I was wondering how they’d handle it.

With the games Fournette and Lambert had, I wasn’t sure who would be named the conference player of the week on offense.

Turns out they split the baby.

Co-OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – GREYSON. LAMBERT. He went 24-for-25 (96%!), 330 yards and 3 TDs. #SECHonors pic.twitter.com/wBRfPNvaNr

— SEC Sports (@SEC) September 21, 2015

That’s fair.  And congrats to Greyson for an honor well earned.

Observations from the 35, err, err, err! edition

Sandstorm that, ‘Cocks.

Domination is fun.  You pretty much knew the coaches could sense what was happening when the decision was made not to bring in Ramsey for his obligatory second quarter series.  And when the dust settled, you had the kind of ass whipping most Georgia fans have only been able to dream about when it comes to the OBC.

Savor it, Dawgnation.

• The crowd was great.  Electric atmosphere for the players to draw on… not that they needed much help from us.  And the Keith Marshall love was very nice.
• Whoever made the decision to dial down the volume on the PA system, bless you.
• Your team beats a South Carolina team by thirty-two points, there aren’t going to be many brickbats to hand out, but it has to be said that kickoff coverage left something to be desired.  Especially the poor coverage, aided by a dumb penalty, with just seconds left in the first half that allowed Spurrier to steal three points.
• How about Marshall Morgan showing off his mad tackling skillz?
• There is something sad about watching Steve Spurrier reduced to calling plays for an option offense to move the ball.
• And there was something strange about Spurrier not testing the middle of the field against Georgia’s pass defense more than he did, given the success he had with that last year.
• Best thing about the game Pruitt called against Spurrier was holding Pharoh Cooper to one catch.
• There may have only been one sack in the game, but you could tell that Georgia’s pass rush was throwing off Orth’s timing as the game wore on.  As well as his composure – the pick he threw was just an awful decision.
• If you’ve seen any of the LSU-Auburn game and had a chance to compare the way that defensive line played to the way Georgia’s did, going from Garner to Rocker has been a huge trade up.
• Can you believe how comfortable Jake Ganus looks?  It’s like he was born to play in Pruitt’s scheme.  I really only saw one blown play from him in coverage.
• In case you hadn’t noticed, that Leonard Floyd fella’s a pretty good player.
• Malkom Parrish played his ass off.  Again.
• Every time I watch Quincy Mauger, I can’t help but be impressed with how good a secondary coach Pruitt is.  Mauger is just light years away from the confused to the point of uselessness kid we saw in his freshman year.
• Okay, one more negative note:  I’m still not thrilled with how this defense handles running quarterbacks.  It won’t be an issue with Alabama in a couple of weeks, but Tennessee has Josh Dobbs.
• The offensive line gets better week to week.  Pass protection was more than adequate, as Lambert never got touched.  And the run blocking is solid, to say the least.  Chubb wasn’t touched on his last touchdown run, despite everybody in the stadium knowing he was going to get the ball.
• Speaking of Chubb, how amazing is it that even with him getting his eleventh straight game of rushing for more than 100 yards and going over 2,000 yards for his career, he was probably only the third or fourth biggest story on offense on the night?  Abundance of riches.
• Sony Michel is really starting to feel it.  And Schottenheimer is doing a great job making use of his skill set.  All in all, it’s like watching the Georgia version of Percy Harvin.  Every time Georgia lines up in a set with Chubb and Michel, you have to hold your breath.
• Malcolm Mitchell is back, baby!  Great hands, great moves, great everything.  The save he made on Lambert’s throw that was supposed to be a back shoulder toss, but was a little more inside than you’d like, was as good as you’d like from a receiver.
• Terry Godwin is smoove.
• I’m not sure it’s possible to be more wide open than Reggie Davis was on that one reception.
• Five completions to the tight ends and two more to Quayvon Hicks.  Me likee.
• To me, Lambert’s success was about trusting his surrounding cast more and being put in good spots throughout the night by Schottenheimer.  The quick throws that were there all night – really, the South Carolina defensive backs are going to be having unpleasant dreams about those slant passes for a while – were a great way to cut down on Lambert’s propensity for looking down his receivers.  (Although, in his defense, he did a better job with checking off than he’s done before.  It’s just that it’s still a work in progress.)  You can do plenty when you make a quarterback comfortable and give him plenty of weapons to work with.
• For those of you complaining that Lambert’s biggest flaw of the night was not throwing deep, my only question is why did he need to?
• I’ve already lauded Schottenheimer’s night in a previous post, so it’s not really necessary to dig into that again.  But it is nice to know the guy isn’t as big an idiot as some folks have made him out to be.  His next big challenge is going to be figuring out a game plan against a defense that can play press coverage against Georgia’s receivers.

All in all, a great, great game.  The coaches coached; the players played.  The defense looks more assured week by week.  (And remember, Saturday night Pruitt had to plug a true freshman in Abram into the starting lineup because of McGraw’s injury.  They still didn’t miss a beat.)  Offensively, it feels like Schottenheimer is figuring out how to fit all the parts together and the timing of that is coming along fine.

But the best part of Saturday was the psychology behind the win.  That was Steve Spurrier they beat, the guy who has made a career out of maneuvering Georgia teams into routinely crapping the bed.  If there was a time for a Richt team to slide mentally and emotionally, especially after a win in Nashville that left a few questions in our heads, this was it.  Instead, what was delivered was a game of total control.  It wasn’t just that Georgia won convincingly.  It was that it appeared natural in doing so.  If there’s any reason to begin to feel optimistic about where this season may be headed, that’s it.  I don’t know if Georgia’s going to beat Alabama in a couple of weeks, but I’ve got a pretty good feeling they’ll show up to play.  And that’s real progress.

Fabris Pool results, Week 3

This was a pretty rough week, but we had a new top dog at 8-2.

STANDINGS for WEEK 3

Rank	Selection Name	Standings Adjustment	W-L	Pts	Tie Breaker Game 22-30
1	CMR has lost control of my picks	Adj	8-2	8	28-33

Congrats, CMR. A handle like that deserves to be rewarded.

As for the early seasonal race, just slight changes.

SEASON STANDINGS through Week 3

Rank	You	Selection Name	W-L	Pts
1		mcrice	22-8	22
2		mackeraldreams	19-11	19
3		Athens Dog	18-12	18
3	–>	Senator Blutarsky	18-12	18
3		dawgnotdog	18-12	18
3		jbrian29605	18-12	18
3		6claude	18-12	18

SEC Power Poll, Week Three

The SEC West rearranged itself up last weekend.  Some things were bound to happen as we had four division members squaring off against each other, but that doesn’t fully explain the damage Alabama and Auburn did to themselves… not to mention Bert’s bad day against Texas Tech.

1. Mississippi.  Sure, going +5 in turnover margin can’t hurt.  And neither do freak plays that result in 66-yard touchdown passes. But the impressive thing about Ole Miss’ win in Tuscaloosa was its ability to take a punch in a hostile environment and maintain composure.
2. Georgia.  Okay, we’ve had the “bring your C game and win” moment.  We’ve had the “when Georgia is on, it looks like one of the best teams in the country” moment.  All that’s left to find out is whether there’s gonna be a “WTF, Georgia?” moment.
3. Alabama.  A Saban-coached team ran 100 offensive plays in a regulation game.  Wrap your mind around that for a second.
4. Texas A&M.  A nothing special game against Nevada and that win against Arizona State takes a little luster off the shine, so there’s some downward drift to the Aggies’ standing.  But with six straight conference games on the agenda, it’s a trend that can certainly be reversed.
5. LSU.  Leonard Fournette and the defense are special.  The rest of the team, not so much.  Plus, it’s probably wise not to read too much into a win over Auburn right now.
6. Mississippi State.  The loss to LSU doesn’t look so bad now, but this team still makes too many mistakes for its own good, especially with the next two games being on the road against divisional opponents.
7. Tennessee.  It’s meteor game time!
8. Florida.  This Gator team looks like it could beat Georgia Southern.
9. Missouri.  The schedule has been kind, which has been a key to the Tigers’ 3-0 start.  But, boy, that offense looks bad.
10. Kentucky.  Death, taxes and losing to Florida.
11. Auburn.  Damn, I didn’t expect there to be a race to see who would be the most overpaid coach in the SEC West this early in the season.
12. Arkansas.  Bert, karma.  Karma, Bert.
13. Vanderbilt.  Smoking Austin Peay?  Derek Mason will take it, thank you very much.
14. South Carolina.  At least Vanderbilt has a defense.

Monday morning buffet

Don’t tell me you’re full.

• Damn, people.  I know your mammas raised you better than this.
• The commissioners don’t like fantasy football, so they’ve decided to do… something.  “The federal government has determined, for the moment, that it’s not gambling,” Scott said. “But the NCAA has taken a position that we can set the rules and we don’t support it. So that’s where we’ve drawn the line.”  Line drawing, for the win!
• Jeb! comes to Athens Saturday night, boldly predicts Georgia will win the SEC East.  I’d say he might have lost the South Carolina vote there, but after the way the evening went for the ‘Cocks, I doubt those folks would argue with him now.
• Here’s a look at how reporters across the SEC feel they’re treated when it comes to being granted access.  Georgia comes off pretty decently, at least in context.
• It’s never good when people start writing open letters, Gamecocks.
• Amateurism – it’s not just for revenue sports.
• Amateurism – when not paying some of the help frees up more money to pay the other help.
• One check down away from perfection.