Dusting off a meme

You gotta love this Gridiron Now post that’s all Danger, Will Robinson! about Georgia’s opener against Appy State for burying the lede in the last paragraph.

The 2007 Appalachian State team that knocked off Michigan went on to win a third consecutive FCS title, helping catapult the program toward FBS status. Since starting the transition to college football’s highest level in 2013, the Mountaineers have yet to ambush another Power Five conference team, losing at Georgia in 2013, in a return to Michigan in 2014, at Clemson in 2015 and to Tennessee and Miami last season.  [Emphasis added.]

Hey, look, Nicholls gave Georgia a game last year, any given Saturday, yada, yada, yada… I get it.  But to pretend that a Sun Belt team that’s yet to beat a P5 program presents an existential crisis because of a ten-year old upset is really straining to make a mountain out of a molehill.  Just ask Georgia’s 2013 team.

38 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles

38 responses to “Dusting off a meme

  1. MGW

    I think that one upset still haunts App State simply because absolutely nobody is going to fail to take them seriously for a long time. They could have gone 0-12 last year and Georgia’s players would still prep like they were about to play Bama.

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  2. Derek

    Maybe they don’t have very good football players, but what about their coaching, play-calling, attention to details and ability to adjust? Isn’t that what really matters anyway? At least that’s what I’m led to believe in the comments around here.

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    • Greg

      This is what it is all about…..he motivates, he cares, he coaches….a “players coach”.

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Luxa8QkvjNs

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      • Uglydawg

        That’s a sad performance. Good for the ref. He might have been outweighed by 200 pounds, but there are times when a man has to say, “enough is enough”.

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      • Russ

        WTH was that? That fat guy needs an attitude adjustment.

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        • Greg

          ‘Last Chance U’….a series on Netflix that is now in the 2nd season. Basically a place where problem division 1 players go for a 2nd chance. Not sure if you remembert Chauncey Rivers, but he is on there this season. If you have Netflix, tune in….captivating.

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      • PTC DAWG

        Coach got what he deserved, IMHO….unless there is a lot more to the story

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      • 69Dawg

        Just finished season 2. UGA should have hired that Academic Advisor for sure. She help hold that team together. The Head Coach, a born and breed Bama fan would have made Bear blush. If you look at it, it will give you a look at the raw under belly of “College Football”. East Mississippi Community College was like a work release program for FCS Power 5 teams. Great show but it will make you want to shower after you watch it. Ashamed to say the only kid that was academically qualified was a kid kicked out of Texas Tech. The SEC ACC guys were marginal.

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  3. D.N. Nation

    That 2013 UGA/Appy game was a real pain in the keister for the first half, if memory serves. But by the 4th quarter Hutson and the backups were in.

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  4. Uglydawg

    I don’t understand how we can always be preaching..”Don’t take cupcakes lightly”, and then pooh-pooh the idea that we shouldn’t. Jax St. beat Ole Miss a few years ago. They took Auburn deep into overtime. Nichols had Georgia on the ropes last year…Ga. Southern (no cupcake, but whatever) almost had us too. Who would be favored in a game between Nichols and App St? Jax St?.. ULM and Aladambammer?
    Nothing to sweat..until we’re all disgusted and biting our fingernails off, throwing stuff around the house, cursing everyone from the college president down to the scout team punter because we’re getting embarrassed in the fourth quarter.
    I’m worried before every game. That’s the way is should be.
    Of course, whether we (fans) are worried or extravagantly confident going into a game doesn’t affect the outcome anyway…does it?
    Keep with this “we can’t loose to App St.” attitude and you risk the wrath of the Skeptic Dawg.
    You’ve been warned.

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    • Derek

      I’m pretty sure we’ll win this one.

      I’m absolutely confident my attitude doesn’t have a damn thing to do with the outcome. Should the players take them or anyone else lightly? No. Is it my job to ensure they don’t? No.

      I will say that the magic of the “process,” which I think we’re trying to replicate at least, is that the team will not be allowed to care about who the opponent is week to week. The idea is to impose your identity on every opponent. If you can’t or won’t or only will if it’s a “big game” someone will be there to take your place.

      However, the Utah and the OK sugar bowls vs. alabama just demonstrate how hard that is to do for any coach. At the end of the day these are 19 year old kids who don’t know shit but think they know everything. Who knows what you’ll get on any given Saturday?

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      • Gaskilldawg

        I can tell you are nt the same guy as JimfromDuluth on the old Dawgvent. He sincerely believed that the team’s attitude was directly the result of the attitude of posters on the “Vent. If you posted a comment about how we would match up against Florida he would reprimand you for not focusing on App State. He would end every post with the declaration “Focus (whomever we played next)!”

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        • Derek

          Hell I’m happy to discuss the best hotel choices in Atlanta when we play for it all at the MB dome in January.

          Ego and the illusion of control are just too strong with people. The primary people who will decide the games this fall are the players. How well they do will be a combo of talent, preparation and focus. Coaches are of somewhat marginal, albeit not inconsequential, value and significance to the outcome of any specific game. Thier contributions will, by and large, be taken care of in recruiting.

          As individual fans, we have zero to do with anything. Occasionally, as a group, we might help a defense out. That’s about it. Only fantasy or superstition could suggest anymore.

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          • Scorpio Jones, III

            Only fantasy or superstition? Hell, D, that’s why we are here talking about what we are talking about. It takes a great fantasist to be a great fan.

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      • dawgired

        “The idea is to impose your identity on every opponent.”

        This!! It should always be ‘business as usual’ and ‘always play your best’ and ‘always execute the play’…no matter who we play. The only difference should be that 3rd string players get more PT against the ‘little’ teams.

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      • Hillbilly Dawg

        Just as a side not; the Bama team that lost to Utah in the Sugar….nearly the whole offensive line was either suspended or injured. Bama lost that game three weeks before kickoff.

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      • Hillbilly Dawg

        Just as a side note; the Bama team that lost to Utah in the Sugar….nearly the whole offensive line was either suspended or injured. Bama lost that game three weeks before kickoff.

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    • The issue isn’t about taking cupcakes lightly. You don’t have to go any farther than last year’s Nicholls debacle for a reminder about that.

      It’s about making Appy State into some sort of perennial giant killer.

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  5. PTC DAWG

    The Sunbelt teams are capable of hanging around, no doubt.

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  6. Timphd

    But, how good is their long snappuh?

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  7. 69Dawg

    Once again I highly recommend Last Chance U. The team has won the Junior College National Championship a bunch. Watch and see what the coaches have to do to motivate the team when they are playing an 0-7 team that has not won a game in 3 years. Watch the players reaction to the coaches. It’s entertaining as hell.

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    • Greg

      Thinks the HC is definitely over the top. Just hope the coach does not strike out or have a heart attack. If I had to guess, I’d say he is a candidate for it….his blood pressure has got to be sky high. Yes, entertaining as hell…..don’t think there is too much acting, REAL.

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  8. My concern is that App State lost almost no one from the team last year that damn near beat UT in Knoxville.( I wish we could do that).same QB,same backfield,almost same O-line…this is a dangerous team that is much better than Nichols State and the process is not going to keep this from being a close game. Close games usually work out for us against inferior opponents but then there is always last years Vandy and GT game ….so Kirby wins or the hot seat meme gets a major league jump start.

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  9. AusDawg85

    We’ll always have ” we got caught looking ahead to Notre Dame” as an excuse.

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  10. Got Cowdog

    I wonder what happens here on GTP if Appy State plays us close, or (dawg forbid) wins?

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  11. Biggus Rickus

    Since their upset of Michigan, they’ve played 8 power conference teams, losing by an average of 45-11. Tennessee last year was their only close game of the bunch, and they followed that up a couple of weeks later with a 45-10 loss to Miami. Sure, Georgia could play terribly and lose, but it’s far more likely that they’ll maybe struggle for a half and then put App State away in the third quarter.

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  12. Will Trane

    Does anyone think we can upset the Gators this year? Or Tennessee?
    Dawgs are no where near those teams re coaches and players or facilities.
    What would help would be to get those two guys in who have yet to show up.
    AD and HC have lost control of the program. This should not be happening.
    Will the Dawgs loser opener because they are looking ahead to South Bend?
    Or will it happen because the OC has no offensive again, and the defensive can not stop the run game again.

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