Instead of a musical act this year, we get a mic-ed up Steve Shaw as the head referee wearing a camera for the TV broadcast… um, wait a minute. Wouldn’t that be a reason to stay home and watch the game on TV?
Daily Archives: March 30, 2017
Mid-majors have feelings too, damn it.
Sun Belt Conference commissioner issues a statement to Arkansas about its new gun law. It’s just as significant as Sankey’s was, minus the $40 million a year backing the University of Arkansas gets from the SEC.
Filed under It's Not Easy Being A Mid-Major, Political Wankery
There’s remorse… and then there’s Penn State.
Penn State trustee Albert L. Lord said he is “running out of sympathy” for the “so-called” victims of former Nittany Lions assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, according to an email sent to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
By the way, Lord is an alumni-elected trustee who’s currently seeking re-election. Nice!
Today, in misery loves company
I have to admit I’m getting a certain amount of satisfaction out of the buyer’s remorse I’m seeing in certain quarters after Todd Grantham’s departure from Louisville. I mean, who could have ever guessed this?
University of Louisville senior starting linebacker Stacy Thomas said that the terminology related of new coordinator Peter Sirmon’s defense are such that the Cardinals are getting play calls in faster than the defense did last season.
“The play-calling, the vocabulary is brought down so we can get the plays quicker,” Thomas said after Wednesday’s spring practice. “That’s a good thing from last year about it.
“,,, We had a couple games where they would run hurry-up (offenses) and then we would have trouble getting the call and then echoing it to everybody else, so that was an issue last year. But it doesn’t seem to be an issue right now.”
Well, besides anybody who watched Grantham fail to get an eleventh defender on the field in time to stop a Chubb touchdown run in the Belk Bowl (see the 2:18 mark in the clip below for that), that is.
If the Dawgs don’t run some hurry-up against Mississippi State this year, Jim Chaney will be guilty of some serious coaching malpractice.
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
“I always seem to end up back on offense.”
I hope like hell this coaching staff is too smart to Tripp Mecole Hardman.
Filed under Georgia Football
#UGAFilmReview
You guys probably have as little a desire to revisit Georgia’s 2016 season as I do, but I would still suggest you take a look at this excellent breakdown of film from the opener against North Carolina.
It’s a mix of the good, like the great blocking that set up Herrien’s touchdown run…
… as well as Isaiah McKenzie’s balance and quickness.
And the bad, which is, to no great surprise, an inconsistent offensive line…
… issues setting the perimeter on defense…
… and Lambert’s lack of improvement from 2015.
There’s also Nick Freakin’ Chubb.
In short, it’s what you’d expect from a team with more than a little talent (much of it green, though) and a new coaching staff playing in its first game. Weirdly enough, I came away watching that getting excited about what Georgia is capable of in 2017 if it can polish enough of the rough edges. If this team can play more consistently at the level it’s capable of, there’s a lot it can accomplish. Stay tuned.
Filed under Georgia Football
The power of sports
RedState’s astute analysis aside, it appears that the North Carolina legislature is poised to repeal SB2 HB2 today, just in the nick of time to dodge a six-year NCAA ban on championship events in that state in response to the law.
Without debating the merits of the proposal from either side (and it’s telling to see that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” practicality of the compromise to do away with SB2 HB2 is drawing fire from both the left and the right), one shouldn’t lose sight of the bottom-line message here. When it comes to big-time sports today, in a world in which Nevada throws down three-quarters of a billion dollars in public funds to entice the Raiders to jump ship from Oakland and rock-ribbed conservative Cobb County bent every rule in the book to get the Braves to move north, one shouldn’t bet against the threatened impact of an NCAA boycott.
Before we’re Republicans or Democrats, Bernie Bros or Tea Partiers, we’re sports addicts, and the suppliers of our addiction know we are and act accordingly. You’d think the lesson would have been learned after the NCAA made South Carolina bend over and take down the Confederate flag, but it seems that Southern politicians have short memories, especially when it comes to chasing voters with political posturing that has more symbolic than real effect.
So, congratulations to all you principled pols. You’ve managed to make an organization that has a hard time avoiding tripping all over itself look noble and steadfast. That’s not an easy thing to do. I suspect it’s not the last time, either.
Filed under Political Wankery, The NCAA
Today, in I read it on the Internet, so it must be true
Do you think that as of today, Jacob Eason is the 21st-best quarterback in the country? Athlon does.
As expected with any true freshman quarterback, Eason had his share of ups and downs last fall. However, the five-star recruit showed flashes of his potential by throwing for 2,430 yards and 16 scores. Georgia’s supporting cast is a work in progress around Eason, as the offensive line and receiving corps are two preseason question marks. Eason has all of the arm talent to rank among the best in the SEC. Will he take a step forward in 2017?
It would sure be nice if he does, but who the hell knows for sure right now?
Filed under Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles
Adventures in bravado
Say what you will about Jim Harbaugh, the man is a master at salesmanship. Check out the header to this ESPN puff piece.
Filed under Georgia Football, Heard About Harbaugh?, Recruiting
Get The Picture 