So, who’s the fourth string quarterback?

It turns out the coaches were right about one thing in the preseason:  all three of the quarterbacks were about even.

Cocktail Party game day thoughts

The quarterback choice will drain the oxygen out of the tent, but the big deal for today?  Line play and turnovers.

Can’t say I’m feeling overly confident about the Dawgs’ chances, but I’ll be there.

I’ll try to update from Jax if circumstances allow, but in the meantime, consider this your game day comment thread.

Advertisement

Words to live by

This pretty much sums it up:

“It’s time,” senior wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell said. “We’re in the last half of the season. If we’re going to try to make a push for anything, now’s the time to do so.”

There’s a fine line between a sense of urgency and sheer desperation.  Let’s hope Malcolm and the rest of the team stay on the right side of that line.

Passing the Faton?

By now, I would be surprised if you hadn’t heard the report Gridiron Now’s Mike Huguenin dropped last night about the decision to name Faton Bauta as tomorrow’s starter.

Sources tell gridironnow.com that Bulldogs junior Faton Bauta, who has been the third-stringer for much of the season, will start against the Gators in a game that seems likely to determine the SEC East title. Greyson Lambert had started Georgia’s first seven games.

Bauta (6 feet 3, 215 pounds), a fourth-year junior who already has graduated, has received scant playing time as a Bulldog. He has played in 14 games in his career, but hasn’t run or passed the ball in seven games this season. Most of his action this season has come as the holder on kicks.

In his career, Bauta has 10 rushes for 46 yards and two touchdowns, and he is 4-of-5 for 48 yards as a passer.

There have been plenty of rumors over the past week that the coaches had opened up the competition at quarterback – indeed, Richt flat out acknowledged that Lambert, Ramsey and Bauta all took snaps with the first unit – so the idea that Bauta might get some snaps against Florida isn’t a total shock.  But the idea that he will start is unusual and surprising.

I say unusual as opposed to unique because, if it’s indeed the case, it wouldn’t be the first time Mark Richt elected to change horses in mid-stream.  If you’ll remember, in 2006, Joe Cox briefly supplanted Matthew Stafford as the starter after Cox pulled Georgia’s nuts out of the fire with a brilliant game winning drive against Colorado, only to lose his place back to Stafford when Cox proved ineffective in his only start.

Their situations aren’t identical, of course, in that at least Cox had a moment to prove he could lead the team in a game, while Bauta, as the stats Huguenin cites above show, has never had any meaningful playing time before.  And throwing Bauta out there to start and play a game against an above-average SEC defense to get his feet wet is one helluva sink or swim call by Richt.

If that, indeed, what it is.  Keep in mind all we have to go on right now is an Internet report.  No one on the staff or the team has acknowledged it yet.

Let’s say for the sake of argument that it’s true and Bauta walks out on Georgia’s first possession to take the snap from center.  What does that tell us?

• First and foremost, it’s not a decision you make if you’re Mark Richt and you’ve decided to play for next year.  You’ve said all along your team is in the hunt for the SEC East title and now that you’ve made it to the game that will likely decided which East team goes to Atlanta, you’re not suddenly deciding to throw a kid who’s already graduated out there to see if he’s got what it takes to run the team in 2016.
• Second, starting isn’t the same thing as playing the entire game.  For all we know, Schottenheimer has scripted a complete first series around Bauta and after that’s run, things go back to Lambert.  That would be a sensible way to have used the bye week to prepare a wrinkle or two for Florida’s defense.  And the best thing about that would be Georgia would have a set of plays that could be used later in the game in third down and red zone situations – both areas of weakness for the offense so far this season.
• Third, the timing of the leak is interesting.  It comes conveniently on the team’s travel day, so there’s no way the coaches are available to shed any light on the situation.  But it comes so close to the game that it’s too late to expect Florida to spend any serious preparation time on whatever wrinkle it might think Bauta brings to Georgia’s strategy.  Which begs the question what the purpose of the timing of the news is.  (Unless you really assume this got out by total accident.)
• Finally, what kind of message have the coaches sent to Lambert and Ramsey with this decision?  If it’s just a limited set of plays in a specific package for Bauta, then it’s pretty easy to explain the strategy.  But if this is some sort of sea change in deciding who’s best to lead the offense, boy, you’d better hope the coaches know what they’re doing here, because if that goes south, all you’re left with are three quarterbacks who have no reason to feel any confidence in what they’re being asked to do – not to mention their mates on offense.  (And what pressure does this put on the defense!)

All of which is my way of saying I don’t think this is a sign of desperation on Richt’s part.  But seeing I’m surprised by the decision in the first place, you may not want to rush to accept my take on things.  Your thoughts?

“We are not anywhere near the state of Georgia.”

It was a long time coming between Cocktail Party wins, once Goff became the head coach.  After a 1989 win, Spurrier showed up and Goff never claimed another.  Jim Donnan took over and promptly got smoked in Gainesville.

Then came one of the more improbable wins in the series.  Georgia entered the ’97 Cocktail Party as a big underdog, but it was the Dawgs’ turn to do the smoking.  (In Munson’s case, famously, with a cigar.)

That Edwards TD run that opened up the lead was the closest time I’ve ever come to fainting at a football game.  Cathartic. Hines Ward threw one of the greatest blocks I’ve ever seen from a Georgia receiver.

Of course, this being Jim Donnan’s Georgia team, it promptly pissed away all the momentum it gained from the huge win the next week.  Sigh.

Gator scouting report

… is about what you’d expect.  Florida likes to spread the ball around on offense and stay balanced between run and pass.  And the Gators are fast, solid and pretty conventional on defense.

I do wonder about how injuries may affect the game, though.  Georgia seems to be getting almost everyone back – do not underestimate what Christian Payne’s return may mean – while Florida has to deal with this.

First, punting. Then, the world.

It’s fascinating to think that Pete Carroll’s lasting legacy to the sport of college football could be the introduction of a new, rugby-style approach to tackling.

I mean, say what you want about the tenets of the BCS, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.

David’s got a point here.  Parts of the BCS formula were severely flawed *** cough *** Coaches Poll  *** cough ***, but at least you knew where teams stood.  What you’ve got now with the CFP is a subjective process with almost no accountability.  That’s a recipe for further expansion, which I suspect is a feature, not a bug, for the people who put it together.

The parable of the farmers

Here’s a story that I know will drive some of you crazy.

When Georgia lost to Tennessee and dropped to 2-2 in the SEC, the critics howled. Richt responded by telling his team the story of the two farmers.

“Both were praying for rain to relieve a terrible drought,” Richt said. “One farmer decided to plow his field in case it rained. The other farmer did nothing but continue to hope that it rained.

“So when it finally rained, the farmer who had done the work — had plowed his field — was able to benefit.”

On Oct. 17, Florida lost its first game to LSU. On that same night, Georgia beat Missouri to set up Saturday’s showdown with the Gators by the St. Johns River.

“I just told our guys that if we took care of our business, then we could have a chance to dance in the rain,” Richt said. “And now we have that chance.”

Go ahead, you guys.  You know you want to.

Caveat emptor.

An Illinois judge just tossed a class-action lawsuit against the Illinois High School Association that asserted its concussion policies were negligent and did not do enough to protect the state’s football players.  His reasoning:

The judge, LeRoy K. Martin Jr., sided with the association, a nonprofit organization that oversees high school sports in Illinois, ruling that football players assume the risk of playing contact sports and that increased liability could harm high school football, potentially even causing it to be abandoned.

No worries, mon.

“It is clear to this court that I.H.S.A. has acted to protect student-athletes in this state,” Martin wrote.

That’s a relief.  The plaintiff alleged that he sustained a concussion before his junior season in 2012 and was not removed from practice, later needing an airlift to a nearby hospital.  One can only imagine how much worse things might be if the association hadn’t acted… uh…

Last week, Andre Smith, a football player at Bogan High School in Chicago, died from blows to the head he had sustained during a game. He was the seventh high school football player in the United States to die from injuries this season, the association said.

I don’t know about you, but I were the parent of a kid playing high school football in Illinois, I would have a hard time agreeing to let my kid’s career continue.