Uneasy lies the point spread

I’m not gonna lie to you. I don’t feel particularly optimistic about Georgia’s chances tomorrow.  It’s the why that’s so part I’m having trouble putting my finger on.  Yeah, it’s a road game, and, yeah, Ole Miss is ranked.

But the Rebels have a losing record and in the course of that have managed to blow two huge early leads.  Games with Alabama tend to take their toll the following week and I can’t help but think the early start doesn’t help Ole Miss’ cause in that regard.  There’s also the reality that Hugh Freeze is under immense pressure to win; if Ole Miss goes to 1-3, there’s very real chance this season gets away from him, maybe even to the point that the school goes proactive on its postseason as a sop to the ongoing NCAA investigation.  In short, the intangibles don’t favor Ole Miss, either.

I suppose my knee jerk response is to see a talent advantage on the side of Freeze’s troops, but this Jeff Sentell post neatly skewers that perception, as well.

So why my gloom and doom?  I don’t know, exactly.  Any suggestions?

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It takes a village to repair a knee.

Here’s a great story from Mark Schlabach about Nick Chubb’s recovery process.

Part of what’s amazing is all the different things that went into bringing him back.  And part, of course, is Nick Chubb.  When the two collide, here’s what you get:

Courson also used an experimental training method to help rebuild the muscles in Chubb’s left leg. For the first time, Courson used Kaatsu blood-flow restriction training to help a Georgia player recover from injuries. Japanese doctor Yoshiaki Sato invented Kaatsu training in 1966, but it wasn’t widely used in the U.S. until recently. U.S. skier Bode Miller used Kaatsu training to help him recover from a bad leg injury.

A thin, pressurized ban was wrapped around Chubb’s left leg to restrict the amount of blood flowing back to his heart. As a result, his injured leg was engorged with blood, filling his capillaries and muscle fibers while he worked out.

When Courson initially explained how Kaatsu training worked, he told Chubb that Georgia’s trainers were going to push him until he reached muscle failure.

“Do you know what that means?” Courson asked him.

“No,” Chubb said.

“He had never experienced muscle failure,” Courson said. “Our biggest issue was slowing him down. Some people do rehab; he attacked rehab. I told him early on, ‘Don’t come in here and just do your time. Get everything out of it you possibly can.’ He worked so hard.”  [Emphasis added.]

I doubt Courson really had to do much urging there.

You gotta love Kirby’s immediate reaction to seeing Chubb being Chubb.

When Courson sent Smart a three-second video of Chubb running a cones course, in which he was cutting and sprinting between the cones, Smart replied: “Should he be doing that?”

“I didn’t know,” Smart said.

Who would?  Hell, we watched Chubb’s work ethic for a couple of seasons and still doubted he’d make it back as quickly as he did.  But in the end,

Georgia’s coaches certainly weren’t worried about his overall strength. According to Courson, Chubb is still one of Georgia’s strongest players. He squatted more than 600 pounds (strength coaches wouldn’t let him lift additional weight) and he also had the longest broad jump and heaviest power clean lift of any UGA player.

“Nick takes his body so seriously that he was never going to be out of shape,” Smart said. “I think the guy was so aggressive in rehab that he came back stronger. He put on weight and he’s heavier. He seems just as fast.”

There’s only one thing left for Chubb’s villagers to do.

Chubb didn’t have as much success running behind Georgia’s revamped offensive line in his next two games. In a 26-24 victory over FCS foe Nicholls on Sept. 10, he ran 20 times for 80 yards with one touchdown. In last week’s 28-27 win at Missouri in the SEC opener, he ran 19 times for 63 yards.

On Saturday, Chubb hopes to write the next chapter of his remarkable comeback story at Ole Miss.

“It’s unreal,” Smart said. “The guy is not normal. His heart beats to a different drum than everybody else. People like him eat challenges. He needs it, wants it and desires it. If you put something in front of him, he’s going to handle it.”

Let’s get to blocking, o-line.

Leave it to the pros, ctd.

Athletic director at University of Louisiana-Monroe attempts to justify his school playing so many road games not by stating the obvious, which would be they need the guaranteed money from cupcake games, but rather, that the school’s fans  “…  can’t afford to pay for a season ticket with 6 home games.”  Way to build morale there, fella.

Somebody mentioned AD school in the comments the other day.  Sadly, that’s not such a bad idea.

Random randomness about the Ole Miss game

Just a few things I’ve snarfed up on the Intertubes…

• Over at the great Ole Miss blog Red Cup Rebellion, you’ll find this post about Chad Kelly and how he performs under pressure (spoiler alert:  not well).  Let’s just say it sure would be convenient if Georgia’s front seven generated a consistent pass rush this week.
• And here’s an Ole Miss beat writer’s somewhat sarcastic take on the Rebels’ likely offensive game plan:  “Running game? Is that the name of a movie? I’m confused. Ole Miss’ running game is a mess. Before losing Swinney, the Rebels lost Jordan Wilkins to an academic administrative snafu. Yeah, that happened at a Power Five program. Can you imagine Hugh Freeze’s blood pressure when someone dropped that news on him. Akeem Judd is a great kid, and he has his moments, but he’s never going to be an elite SEC running back. Eugene Brazley, his backup, isn’t as talented as Judd. Freshman D’Vaughn Pennamon is eventually going to get a look, and I won’t be surprised if he has a bigger role against Georgia. However, Kelly is Ole Miss’ best rushing threat, and when it matters, I think Ole Miss is going to just say “Screw it” and start throwing the thing all over the field in a high-tempo offense and let the chips fall where they may.”   For what it’s worth, I lean that way, too.
  
• If you’re looking for a hot take on keys to the game, this William McFadden post should serve.  I’d probably summarize by saying time of possession will be a good indicator of whether Georgia’s game plan is succeeding, not so much because of Smart’s preference for the power running game, but because it likely means the Dawgs are converting third downs at a decent clip and forcing a few turnovers (yeah, it would be nice if they could turn some of those into points).  If that’s not breaking Georgia’s way, look out.

“You get to enjoy something masculine, but you get to be feminine while you do it.”

Don’t laugh, but this is a well-researched, interesting story about why women in the South, particularly in Athens, Georgia, dress as they do for football games.

“You hear that saying,” says Kerr, “‘Girls in pearls, guys in ties.’ But the ‘guys in ties’ in our data, they were not nearly as present.” Schmeichel agreed, “There were men who were maybe wearing a polo shirt, but in comparison the women were much dressier.” The researchers considered “dressy” outfits as involving any kind of dress, skirt, low-cut/spaghetti strap top, heeled shoes, or items of clothing that don’t have a “masculine” equivalent. “We heard a lot about cowboy boots,” says Schmeichel.

As to why this is more common among women rather than men, a little bit of sports history can help explain. It turns out, the practice is actually more of a preservation of tradition than a creation of one, as Kerr and Schmeichel discovered. According to local newspaper articles from the 1890s cited in The Ghosts of Herty Field, women from neighboring girls’ schools (because UGA wasn’t integrated at the time) were present at what the book claims is the very first football game in the deep south in 1892. And by 1893, women were such a fixture that at away games, their absence was notable.

“This was somewhat of a disappointment to the men… Athens is far superior in this respect, as the Lucy Cobb and Home School girls have become almost as essential to a game as the referee and umpire.” — The Red & Black, as quoted in The Ghosts of Herty Field

So, if there have always been women at UGA games, and up until the ‘60s, they were always — quite literally — dressed up, women in attendance at SEC games didn’t start dressing a certain way, they just never stopped.

Tradition!  (Bonus points for the boots reference.)

Oh, and it’s not that guys are complete schlubs.  It’s just that we spend our clothing budget on sneakers.

Today, in duh

AP article tries to make a major whine out of the length of college football games, only to be ably rebutted by Rogers Redding, of all people.

“I don’t mean to sound flippant, but most fans make college football an all-day event anyway,” Redding said. “They’re already in the stadium, so I’m not sure if they care that much.”

“Offensively, the first half was embarrassing.”

Sad Paul Johnson is the best Paul Johnson.

By the way, nice safety there, Jackets.

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UPDATE:  Dayum, if the genius has lost Mark Bradley…