South Carolina’s playing Georgia in Columbia, y’all, come hell or high water.
That’s comforting. It should be lovely this weekend.
The path of the storm tracked moved toward the east, but the National Hurricane Center said in a 5 p.m. statement Wednesday that “when a hurricane is forecast to take a track roughly parallel to a coastline, as Matthew is forecast to do from Florida through South Carolina, it becomes very difficult to specify impacts at any one location.”
The forecast calls for an inch of rain total Friday and Saturday with winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour on game day, but the chance of rain is 60 percent at night, according to weather.com
South Carolina played a game last year at LSU after it was forced to move due to devastating flooding in the Columbia area.
“We don’t want to do it again this year,” Bloom said.
Bully for you. Even if the weather isn’t awful, infrastructure will be strained to the max with all the evacuees from the coastal region. And no state support makes that tougher. So what if it’s impossible for the school to get its shit together Saturday night?
Hey, no problem.
That followed what South Carolina executive associate athletic director Charles Bloom said earlier on 107.5 FM in Columbia the chance of the game moving out of Columbia is “very, very minimal,” according to The (S.C.) State.
He said there is a “potential” to move the game to Sunday or Monday.
Morehead said he had not heard of moving the game to a different day and didn’t want to say if he would be willing for the game to be played then.
“If the (SEC) commissioner calls me with a proposal, we’ll discuss it, but that has not yet been discussed yet,” he said. “I know they’re having some calls later this afternoon on the issue. …We have a great commissioner. He’ll work through the issues with the two schools and we’ll have a good outcome.”
You can already see where this is going, can’t you?
By the way, one of the two teams involved in this potential scheduling debacle has an off week following this weekend. I leave you to figure out which team that is.
Get The Picture 
So who makes the final call here? USC? League commish?
Part of me says that there’s no way the league puts UGA in the position of playing Monday night followed by Saturday noon. And then I come to my senses and accept the fact that I’ll be parked in front o’ my TV on Monday night, cursing my fate.
If we end up playing on Monday, the bashing of McGarity may break the internet.
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We did it in 83, correct?
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UCLA Monday night, BYU Saturday?
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That was also planned and at the beginning of the season.
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Kirby ain’t playing on Sunday or Monday. At least he better not from where this armchair qb is sitting. Move the game …sucks for uSC. We will donate to their disaster fund.
They may need it. But I don’t want the kids playing football on the edge of a hurricane.
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Columbia weather won’t be the issue. The issue will be the million people on the road filling up Columbia and the highways and the law enforcement needed to manage the evacuation. Rain totals in Columbia are expected to be no more than a couple of inches and the wind will not be above 30 or so mph. The concerns are logistical not weather.
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I would disagree with your assessment that 30 mph winds blowing rain wouldn’t be an issue. You could forget throwing the football and kicking and punting would be a nightmare. Could the game be played in those conditions, well yes but should it be played especially when other options are available?
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JC’s right here. It’s not about whether you can play a game in those conditions, or not. Hell, LS&U and Ole Miss used to play games in tropical storms.
As JC points out, law enforcement and other folks will be concerned with a a public safety issue and not a ball game. In addition, lodging and other needs of folks who are fleeing a storm will be tied up by folks attending a sporting event.
I love me some Georgia football, but there are times when a game is just a game.
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We played a famous game in J’ville during a tropical storm and won big. Ask Dooley. Concerning road conditions: Everyone who has lodging can head there early Sat.
Carry extra tent pegs for tailgating. 🙂
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I do not see them playing the game in Columbia on Saturfday. I xcan see Governor Hailey shutting it down.
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Haley has no choice but to say that now. As the weather situation becomes more clear, I could see her changing her position.
I don’t think Carolina has any obligation to re-schedule the game so as to benefit UGA. Of course playing in Atlanta makes sense to some, but they would lose all of the local revenue for the game and would incur the disruption and expense of having to move their team to another city for a game.
Plus, it’s going to be hard for Columbia to host a bunch of evacuees when all of the hotel rooms are already booked for a home game.
As the judge said today, “tough luck.”
BD
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I’m thinking we made reservations.
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Wonder how many people would actually sit for 3-1/2 hours in those conditions?
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The evacuees are already hitting Columbia I don’t see anyone forcing them out of their hotel rooms. Greenville’s hotels sold out this afternoon.
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Let’s leave the doomsday speculation to Towers. Richland and Lexington Counties and Columbia have plenty of manpower without state troopers standing every six feet on the centerline of Bluff Rd. If this hurricane pounds SC this game can still be postponed without panicking today.
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Amen.
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Problem is the postponement scenario – there are no weekends that line up for both teams besides SECCG weekend, which the conference won’t want to schedule a league game overlapping the CG.
I get why SC wants to stick it out, but it would make more sense to move it Upstate to Clemson, Grant Field, Charlotte, or a few other options than ride it out and roll the dice in Columbia.
People don’t understand how relatively close Columbia is to the coast and that for a large majority of evacuees, it’s their closest inland destination. People also forget how horrendous interstate highways are in SC.
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Show up 7:30 pm Saturday ready to play ball….of they aren’t ready f’em…
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And defer the choice to the second half.
Make Orth throw the game-winning hail mary into a 100 mph head wind.
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who says college football is about “what’s good for the kids” and not just a cash grab? Safety of the fans be damned, safety/ability to travel of the visitors be damned, SC jr ain’t giving up a home game and having to refund all that money.
Pat Conroy once described the streets of Charleston being filled with ermine headed, chinless children with sharp features and prone to nosebleeds because of inbreeding among the local aristocrats. Sounds about right to me. Let everyone else eat cake, SC jr is keeping the game at the Cockroach.
If McGarity has a sliver of backbone, he’ll refuse to play any time later than 8pm Saturday in Columbia. It ain’t our fault those dumbasses built a stadium in a hurricane alley.
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We should say we will not play on Sunday or Monday night with a short turnaround for a noon game next Saturday, period.
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And we should say that right f’n NOW….not when it becomes inevitable that the game can’t go on as scheduled on Sat in Columbia and the ONLY option is playing on Sunday or Monday night.
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We are going to get told that lots of teams play on Thursdays after a Saturday game and we will just have to suck it up. The SEC might opt to move the Vandy game to a night affair but if they have to move it to Sunday or Monday, it is going to happen.
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The SEC isn’t going to do anything for us. They already have the TV schedule set for next Saturday.
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mcGarity is ready to do whatever USC, the SEC and the NCAA wants. He’s getting the lambs ready for the slaughter as we speak.
So did USC not want to play the game in Georgia because they lose a home game and revenue?? Serious stupidity if so. Good luck with that revenue during a hurricane.
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Screw the infrastructure. I’m more worried about the field condition and wet track injuries now.
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This is utterly ridiculous. Boom and SCU are clearly trying to build their program on the back of beating UGA and know that Columbia is their only shot. So despite warnings from the freaking governor, they’re going ahead.
I hope we demolish them.
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I don’t know what everyone is worried about. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT14/refresh/AL1416W5_NL+gif/120607W5_NL_sm.gif
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laughing my ass off if you are even remotely serious about believing ANY of that day school water color weather map shows. NOAA has zero friggin clue where this little late summer shower is going to be at by Saturday! Cola gets shit for revenue this weekend, fans get wet with no place to stay, eat or even dry off, and UGA gets someone hurt…and the yardbirds still get curb stomped. Everybody loses this trip campers. Damn the torpedoes and kick the friggin ball deep. I’m drinkin bourbon on the couch. Play it in Clempsum.
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Look no further back than 2004 when Charley was going to Tampa. Then it didn’t and Punta Gorda had exactly 30 minutes to evacuate. NOAA NWS and the hurricane center can’t tell you where, when or with what wind speed any hurricane will go. Look at the “Models” they are all over the place. Guess what happens around the edge of a hurricane? Tornadoes. I wouldn’t go to this game if you paid me. Counting weather delays it will be played Saturday and Sunday. Morehead is a weak little man.
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I’ll believe Nikki’s “no state support” statement when Boom’s trotting across the field to shake Kirby’s hand by his lonesome, without the usual phalanx of state troopers following him around.
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You might see city or county police. But I’ll wager no state trooper. Nikki don’t play that sh!t.
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Good grief, another classic example of a passive and reactionary UGA administration getting played. Put another way, do you really think that the Alabama president, athletic director, and Nick Saban would be sitting around the phone waiting patiently for USCe’s associate executive athletic director to call and pretend that everything is fine…until it inevitably isn’t, at which point the only alternative will be to play on Sun. or Mon?
UGA should lay out several options to the SEC and S. Carolina that allow for the game to be played on Saturday in Athens, in Atlanta, or another alternative location. If USCe refuses and insists that the game can be played in Columbia on Saturday night….and later determines that it can’t (which I predict will happen on Sat at about 9am), then they should forfeit.
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This guy gets it.
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Do you really want Greg to insist on the cheapest option for UGA?
Because that is what we would get.
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Absolutely. Excellent points.
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Since the UGA is no longer vying for the SECCG, I suggest just forfeiting the game if played anyday other than Saturday in Atlanta. Let USCe be proud that they beat Georgia with no players and fan in the stadium, LOL. Better yet Morehead can be QB, ADGM can be DL and the rest of BM crowd be the rest of the Georgia team. All the SEC honchos should be required to attend the game as well by themselves for the official forfeiture ceremony.
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And if it is played in Columbia Saturday night. How many weather/Lightning delays can we count on now?
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Insisting on playing in Columbia is reckless. I get USCe doesn’t want to lose it or move it, but it really shouldn’t be their call in this situation. There’s 180 or so players at risk of injury if nothing else, and it could be really dangerous for fans of both schools. The conference should make this call.
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This. USC cancelled classes and moved the volleyball match against UGA to Athens and postponed the equestrian match, but somehow a football game is safe enough to play? It doesn’t make any sense. It certainly doesn’t appear safe.
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^^This!
My boss’s daughter goes to SC and he told me yesterday he was making travel arrangements to get her back to MD because SC had cancelled classes the rest of the week. My jaw hit the floor when I realized that this debate over the game is still ongoing while the decision on classes has already been made. If something bad happens because they tried the play the game Saturday night, there’s going to be no defense of the decision-making leading up to it.
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Well, just to state the obvious,on the one hand we have an educational institution, and on the other hand we have the business of college football (with an amateur label that helps drive down costs). Different factors to consider here. Big bucks is on the line! Wait, who is talking about kids and education? Thats silly…;)
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How in the hell is SC driving this situation? It is their job to have the game ready to begin Saturday at 7:30, or it was their job to recognize a possible problem and develop a backup plan. Everyone but them saw the problem, and solutions, in plenty of time to develop and communicate a backup for Saturday. Short of meeting the objectives, they should have to forfeit the game. No excuse for not being ready. Life throws you a few curves, you don’t always get your number one wish. Adapt and move forward.
UGA admin and BM are both totally spineless if they roll over on this and play later than Saturday. Looks like SC is spitting in the SEC office’s face and Morehead is cow towing and looking forward to a shit sandwich. Hopefully the storm takes a sharp right tomorrow and saves some incompetent, over their head, jerks from having to explain their actions, or lack thereof.
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Glad I didn’t buy tickets to this one. Good lord, the University sent its students home. If we had an athletics director we could tell the SEC that Stanley is free to go to Columbia in our place but we are not sending our students to Columbia if the weather and public safety conditions present a risk and we are not playing Sunday or Monday.
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Blankenship is excited about the prospect of kicking…downwind.
Little Nicky would just hold the coke bottle and stare the hurricane down.
Kirby will challenge his team to fight the weather. Our OL will continue to respond by hitting air.
Lighting will try to strike Nick Chubb. Chubb will stiff arm and outrun it.
Eason will throw some mad-crazy deep balls curving with the wind that will make Bubba Watson jealous.
SEC refs will refuse to show up. Penn Wagers will fill in.
What’s the name of Mark Richt’s team??
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With any luck, Wagers’ house will be the only one washed away in the entire state pointing out there is justice for bad people. Like the idea of a “Bubba pass” curving around TN defenders next year like a boomer rang right at the final whistle and being caught by Reggie.
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The Tornadoes?
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If shit hits the fan, and the team is put in harms way because things turn out worse than expected, his ass will be in a sling whether he made the decision or not. If it turns fro the worse, I don’t see how Haley doesn’t step in and exercise some common sense that no one else can. I’m sure UGA can work out some sort of revenue sharing after expenses or flip flop home and away. I”m sure it’ll be hard to replace profit, but the PR damage that could be suffered just to preserve revenue could be disastrous. Nevertheless, this could be a non issue, but the fact remains that what exactly will happen is unknown and the risk is evident. They have time to put an alternate plan in place, I just hope they have it lined up and ready to execute on and aren’t just sitting around waiting to see. I don’t care if it comes to Athens (looks like we’re going to get our fair share of rain on Saturday) or Atlanta, but they better pull the trigger on that by today.. and unless there is a drastic change in forecast, they’re stupid if they don’t move or postpone.
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Finally, heyberto mentions the problem; the team. Their safety is the top worry and I’m not too sure about worrying about that with this weather.
Has anyone posting here been in many hurricane fringes? It’s like on-off showers most of the time and the wind speeds are gusts, not steady breezes. We have seen them for years in south Ga and you get wind of football game play importance in (it seems) one out of ten cases. Many people here have been at the same distances for weather like that projected in Columbia for many hurricanes and it turns out to be a laugher. Tropical storms, with their rain amounts, are more worrisome and we have played in them.
The angst is racheting up too early. There are no winners here no matter what happens, so chill and wait to see how much danger will ensue. The decision for venue is in their hands and, if it was in ours, how would you react to So Carolinians yammering insults our way? You can’t make someone give a decision that will please anyone in this situation, but we don’t have to make it worse. Chill. Use a covered UGA mug to drink your diluted whiskey instead of worrying about the rain diluting it.
I have gas-operated torches and rubber pitchforks for rental before gametime, so make up your minds soon because these things rent fast in these panic situations.
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Team first, keeping lit later.
Stop being reasonable Huevos. You talked to the Bitchez lately?
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“When lightning is within an 8 mile radius of the stadium, all play is suspended and the delay lasts for 30 minutes past the last 8 mile strike. So if you wait 29 minutes with no strikes and one occurs within an 8 mile area; the 30min rule starts over.”
We could be in for a long night.
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Are you contemplating lightning with this kind of fringe weather? It usually is a slight breeze with a few intermittent showers, not thunderstorms. Yep, tornadoes occur , but usually nearer to the center of a hurricane. Doesn’t mean that it won’t happen, but T-storms happen all the time when there aren’t hurricanes. It’s called weather.
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Don’t underestimate the Orthquake, the Sandstorm, and the BOOM!
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Great headline. So true.
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Some have mentioned the fact that the storm might not have much actual physical impact on Columbia. Other’s have retorted that it’s not about the weather conditions, it’s about the fact that state police/emergency resources will be tied up addressing the highly possible disaster along the SC coast, and the roads/hotels in and around Columbia are going to be a hive of evacuees from the storm. And all that is true.
In addition to all that, I’d like to add that it’s extremely tone deaf to insist on playing a dumb football game the precise time a CAT2 hurricane is predicted to be slamming Charleston — which is a heck of a nice town with nice people. My cousin Laura and her family live there and have evacuated to Greenville, SC.
But she’s a Clemson fan, so I don’t think USC cares what she thinks. =P
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Good point, tone deafness on the part of University of SC for what is clearly a self-centered decision seems pretty callous when juxtaposed against the human suffering just miles away. So does tying up much needed hotel rooms. Not a good image, hard to understand how this isn’t understood. Ray Nagin is on line 2.
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And the SEC and UGA administration is giving those selfish cocks a free hand. Both of these are as guilty and clownish as USCe.
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You all sound like a bunch of scared children. 2″ of rain and 30 mph gusts are nothing to be worried about. The storm track keeps moving offshore. Other police departments and emergency personnel have already stepped up so there is no problem there. If you don’t feel like its safe to drive or stay in Columbia then you are all adults and can make your own decision.
I see everyone laying the groundwork for another Kirby Smart excuse. It is obvious Muschamp was the better hire. Smart is going to destroy your program like Dooley did to Tenn. It was stupid to fire Richt and everyone is starting to figure it out. All the pressure is on UGA this weekend…
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Dude. Dude. Duuuude.
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I can talk trash game week, right? The pressure is definitely on Smart and UGA this week. Don’t lose to Muschamp….
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Trash talk is fine.
Complete detachment from reality, not so much.
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I know you think Muschamp is a bad hire and you have already written an article on the SC run defense but there are definite signs of improvement. The SC D has been much better this year and held every opponent under their yearly scoring average (so I hear). The Texas AM offense is every bit as good as the Ole Miss offense and SC held them to 24 points (How many did Ole Miss put up?). Considering the offense averages 14 points a game and almost every possession is a 3 and out the D is doing a great job.
UGA is going to have a tough day offensively with or without the weather. If your defensive genius allows more than 14 points to the SC offense then you may lose this game.
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It’s not so much that I think he’s a bad hire as I think he’s a proven commodity.
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Bless his heart. He really BELIEVES all that. I am still a Kirby agnostic, but Boom? If he couldn’t recruit an offense at Florida, where is he going to find good players for SC jr?
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A lot of coaches fail at their first head coaching job….
As long as he improves the D (which he has) and improves recruiting (currently a top 10 class) then there is not much to complain about. The offense is full of freshmen so it expect it to continue to improve.
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That’s all nice, but wasn’t Muschamp’s first year at UF his best?
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Wikipedia says he finished with 11 wins his second year so I guess that was his best year. SC is a totally different situation. As long as we continue to play good defense and upgrade recruiting then everything else will work itself out.
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yeah, I’d say it’s a totally different situation for sure. One with a lot less talent to draw from. The path to upgraded recruiting is somewhat easier at SC jr because your recruiting is pretty weak to start with, but upgrading isn’t the same thing as having a roster full of guys who can win an SEC title. Boom started with the latter, and ended up with….not much. Maybe he can do a decent job there, but if you featherheads think he’s a young Saban, well, good luck with that.
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Disney Cock.
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Well, he will benefit from lower expectations
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81 Dog, look in the mirror. Us featherheads think we have the next Saban? Isn’t UGA the school that has finished top 10 recruiting every year for the last decade? Now you are losing because you don’t have the talent? When is UGA going to have a roster full of guys who can win the SEC?
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we will have guys who can win the SEC in Athens a lot sooner than you will in Columbiadishu, that’s for damn sure.
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I think UGA would have performed a bit better if Ole Miss sat their top 2 WRs as TAMU did vs. y’all.
But kudos on that 14 points/game offense, Kurt Roper really figured it out after his time at Florida, right?
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You mean the retread coach that couldn’t win at one of the bluest of blue blood programs that has every conceivable advantage that South Carolina could only dream of is obviously the better hire than a guy that’s only coached 5 games? Man – delusion must run in the water over in South Carolina or something.
Long range, Kirby could absolutely be a bad hire but I don’t see any way in hell you could justify that he’s an obviously worse hire right now than Muschamp especially given Muschamp’s multi-year track record of butt at a far superior program to the one he’s currently employed at.
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Haven’t heard from you in a while. Obviously, you haven’t gotten any smarter. Have a good day.
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Forget Boom. My real question is what you think about McElwain? Will you go back to the well for UF’s sloppy seconds a third time?
Have you finished choking down that fiftyburger from last year?
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Yea, we got blown out last year. I watched the Ole Miss game so I guess you know how it feels.
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Yeah, but you’re not an Ole Miss fan genius.
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Dude, Kirby was your first choice after we made Spurrier take his ball and go home. You didn’t “get” Boom, you “got stuck” with him.
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I think Herman was the first choice. Never wanted Smart, just baiting UGA into making a bad decision…
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Sure. South Carolina has a long, glorious history of being a few moves ahead of everyone else.
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Like Herman would leave Houston for the wasteland known as Columbia and get schooled by Clemsux and the of the SEC every year.
Have fun with Boom and no offense
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schooled by Clemsux and the SEC
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Herman was your first choice? Why? Is Belichik too old for you guys?
Gisele Bundschen was my first choice, btw. I came a lot closer with her than you goofs ever would have come with Herman.
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This whole thread is priceless..has me laughing my ass off.
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sides needs to change his moniker to “Disneycock”.
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Holtz to Spurrier to Boom. If you don’t want to be thought of as second tier, then maybe you should stop being a retread shop.
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I’m genuinely intrigued by this, Sides. Can you point to any evidence this was the case?
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I have no inside info, still just talking trash. I do think Herman was number one priority and was likely offered the job. After that it was all just rumors in the media. He was probably on a list with a bunch of other coaches and possibly interviewed. Tanner is pretty deliberate so I doubt he was on the verge of being hired when UGa swooped in.
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Damn, man… thought I was gonna get some real poop from you here. 😉
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Sorry. I’m just your everyday, average internet troll. Keep up the good work.
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oh you got the “poop” all right 🙂
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Dan Wolken seems to disagree with ya there, bud.
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I’ll just leave you with a classic Spurrier quote:
“Smart people don’t believe everything they read, and they don’t believe hearsay.”
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I got a better one: “Lotta people are scoring 50 on us these days”.
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Keep telling yourself South Carolina didn’t absolutely want Kirby Smart and that wasn’t one of the reasons McGarity was forced to pull the trigger on Richt to ensure Smart didn’t go to South Carolina and that Muschamp wasn’t a fourth or fifth option at best if that helps you sleep at night.
The decision to move quickly once it appeared Smart was getting heavily courted by South Carolina may turn out to be a dumb decision for Georgia when we have the benefit of hindsight, but it definitely happened no matter how much you want to pretend it didn’t.
Muschamp also may very well turn out to be a good hire and figure things out this time around that he didn’t when he was at Florida. I may also win the lottery tomorrow. It’s brutally intellectually dishonest to pretend that it wasn’t a bad hire at the time given his pretty awful record at a place that is much easier to win at than Columbia.
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I don’t really care if we wanted him or not. I think everyone at SC is happy and impressed with Muschamp. Can UGA say the same about Smart?
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As only one voice, I’ll say I’m happy and impressed with Kirby Smart.
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But in mostly seriousness: why?
“Improved defense” you say? Well, when a Brian Schottenheimer offense drops 50+ and an NCAA passing record on you, it’s pretty much impossible to be worse.
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