What is the opposite of a decided schematic advantage?

That would be this.

Butch just admitted that Dormady checked out of a run play on 1st & Goal, and that Gurantano had not practiced under-center snaps.

— Houston Kress (@VolRumorMill) September 18, 2017

That’s some bad shit there, Booch.

I’m beginning to think I’m going to be offended if Georgia loses in Knoxville in a couple of weeks.

The UT game won’t be at night.

Georgia versus Trash Can U makes to the CBS 3:30 time slot.

Zero tolerance from the school of second chances

Well, now.

Auburn quarterback Sean White, who was arrested early Sunday morning for public intoxication, has been dismissed from the team, a source told AL.com.

Is that supposed to send a message to someone?

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UPDATE:  Oops.  Forgot that White was already on his second chance.  Still seems like kind of weak sauce for a dismissal, though.

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UPDATE #2:  This seems a little cold, Gus.

Full statement from Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn on the dismissal of QB Sean White: pic.twitter.com/obW637QNsp

— Matthew Stevens (@matthewcstevens) September 18, 2017

In which I repeat myself

Yeah, I know I posted something about Notre Dame’s running game the other day, but I can’t lay off sharing this kind of information.

Notre Dame in back-to-back weeks went from its worst rushing performance in three seasons to its best in almost five decades.

The Irish’s 515 yards on 51 carries in a 49-20 win at Boston College on Saturday were the most since they amassed 597 yards against Navy in 1969. Their 10.1 yards per attempt broke the modern school record of 10.0 against Great Lakes in 1942.

This happened after they netted 55 yards on 37 carries in a loss to Georgia, their fewest since they managed 41 on 38 attempts in a loss to Arizona State in 2014…

The 515 rushing yards tied for second-most allowed by Boston College. Army ran for 516 against the Eagles in 2012 and for 515 in 1985.

Face it, guys.  Georgia’s defense played its ass off against the run in South Bend.

Pissant pissing match

Somehow, I don’t think this is what the SEC has in mind with its “It just means more” marketing slogan.

Meet the new meme, same as the old meme

As Mark Schlabach puts it, “After only three weeks, there’s a creeping feeling that the SEC is once again following a familiar script: It’s Alabama and then everyone else.”

It’s hard to argue with that.  My only thought is that instead of continuing to blame all the mediocre coaches, why doesn’t somebody start blaming all the mediocre athletic directors who hired the mediocre coaches?

The weirdest stat of the 2017 season

Ralph Webb is currently 36th in the SEC in yards per rushing attempt for all players averaging at least four carries per game.  To put that in perspective, the only players with lower averages are quarterbacks.  This, from someone whom many considered to be the most underrated player in the conference coming into this season.

Making things even worse is that Webb is second in the conference in carries per game.  It’s remarkable that an offense as conservative as Vanderbilt’s is has survived that so far.  It’ll be nothing short of miraculous if the same thing can be said after facing Alabama this week.

One day, we’re gonna need a bigger umbrella.

If you will recall, earlier this year we were treated to the news that Georgia was sitting on a reserve fund of almost $35 million.  Why so much?  Well, chalk it up to you never know:

Another board member complimented UGA’s fiduciary policy, and then Jere Morehead spoke up to make another point.

“We’re depending on our donors to pay for that project, or else our position changes dramatically,” Morehead said. “We need that project to be funded by our donor base so then we can move on to other projects.”

Nesbit said it would be “ill-advised” to go beyond the $10 million set aside for the west end zone project.

Another board member asked what “unforeseen” events would be that would necessitate keeping the funds. Morehead pointed to the SEC revenue, and whether it will be that much 10 years from now.

This, of course, followed on the heels of a series of rationalizations as to why the athletic department needs to maintain such a sizeable reserve — the gist of which boils down to “donors, pay no attention to why we need to raise more money from you” — topped by my favorite McGarity Moment ever:

McGarity pointed to unforeseen expenses that have already occurred: Paying off previous head coach Mark Richt and his staff. That amounted to about $7 million. As for the future, there are still NCAA lawsuits in the system, McGarity pointed out, related to student-athlete pay and concussions. He also pointed to the NCAA in the last couple years allowing schools to pay athletes for cost-of-attendance and for increased meals.

“There are a lot of assumptions that people are making, that this revenue stream is going to be there forever,” McGarity said. “If we end up having to pay student-athletes down the road, where is that money going to come from? … There are a lot of unknowns, and what this allows us to do, and the right way, is to have a buffer there that allows us to cover the unexpected.”

So what’s going on now?  If you predicted the future weather looks even rainier, give your bad self a big cookie.

The athletic association had about $48 million in reserves, money not designated for a particular use, as the fiscal year ended, Nesbit said.  [Emphasis added.]

That’s one helluva bump there.  The underlying math, as you can imagine, is a little bit fuzzy.

Operating expenses were $119.1 million, leaving the association with an “operating income” of $11.4 million, according to financial documents Nesbit shared with the board. As UGA vice president for finance and administration, Nesbit is also the athletic association’s treasurer

Notable expenses included athletic scholarships ($13.2 million), “general and administrative” ($18.4 million), plant operations and maintenance ($10.9 million), women’s basketball ($2.9 million), men’s basketball ($5.6 million) and football ($28.7 million, down from $31.3 million in fiscal year 2016).

The athletic association also had net nonoperating revenues of $18.9 million, including millions donated for projects such as the ongoing $63 million reconstruction of the west end of Sanford Stadium, where UGA’s football team plays its home games, minus deductions such as $4.5 million turned over to the university for discretionary academic-related spending.

The scholarship spending isn’t really an outlay as much as it is a paper transfer from one department to another, but in any event, the real story is that the UGAAA is rolling in money.  It’s McGarity’s job to sell raincoat futures, though, so expect stories of college football’s hypothetical apocalypse to keep flowing.  They’re good for business.  Not to mention they help take donors’ minds off the department’s current mediocrity.

Observations from the 35, Samford edition

Well, looky here:

I can only think of two issues about today’s game.

The first is whether we’ll be treated to Nicholls, The Sequel…

It’s hard to take Samford’s chances seriously today. Add to that what would be an understandable emotional hangover after last week’s thrilling win in South Bend, and it’s not hart to extrapolate another struggle against a lower division squad. I don’t think it’s gonna happen, but I’m not gonna lie and say I won’t be watching carefully to see if this team’s learned how it needs to approach every game.

Second issue: does Georgia finally get off the under-40 points scored schneid?

Check and check.  The team lost its focus mid-second quarter, as we were treated to a Fromm turnover after a Samford scoring drive, with a couple of embarrassing drops by Hardman and Woerner mixed in.  At one point, we were staring at a fourteen-point game, the visitors with the ball deep in Georgia territory late in the first half, followed by them receiving the second-half kickoff.  If visions of Nicholls started dancing in anyone’s head, well, nobody could be blamed for that, right?

However, J.R. Reed, Lorenzo Carter and John Atkins weren’t having any of that.  Carter came up with a crucial sack when Samford scrimmaged from the Georgia 11.  Reed blocked the ensuing field goal attempt to end that particular threat.  Atkins recovered a fumble on Samford’s first possession of the second half.  Two minutes later, instead of being in a squeaker, the Dawgs went back up by 21 points.  From there, the only burning question left on the day was whether they’d clear forty.  That threshold was crossed before the end of the third quarter.

It was a dull, dominating win over an outmatched FCS team.  I enjoyed every minute of its complete predictability.

Bullet points comin’ at ‘ya:

• My favorite play of the game wasn’t particularly meaningful, but I sure loved the block Fromm threw to free Chubb on his first touchdown run.  That followed Fromm dropping a fifty-yard dime to Riley Ridley.  Two-play scoring drives are fun.
• Speaking of Chubb, he had several runs where he turned nothing into something.  Which means the offensive line is still struggling in run-blocking on occasion.  They did wear a lesser opponent down as the game went on, but the middle of the line had a hard time establishing push early.  There really is little excuse for not converting that fourth-and-one on the opening drive.
• D’Andre Swift’s spin move.  Whoa.
• Terry Godwin’s got his groove back.
• When Mecole Hardman finds his consistency, I have the feeling this offense is going to take off.  We know what a threat Godwin is and Ridley’s smooth.  Three big play guys would be great.
• I saw a lot of good downfield blocking from the receivers all game.
• The best of Jim Chaney’s night was getting the right mix of run-pass.  Letting Fromm only throw 13 times while letting the running backs do their thing was exactly the way to go.
• Second best:  no wildcat.
• Third best:  adapting to the reality that runs up the middle were being stuffed early by taking the ball outside.
• On the other hand, the virtual absence of the tight ends from the passing game has moved from benign neglect to something more purposeful.  If there’s a message being sent, I’m not sure what it is, but zero completions and only one or two targets is sending something that way.  Whatever is going on, it’s the opposite of getting them involved.
• This may be the only time I mention Prather Hudson in an Observations post, so I thought I’d better get that out of the way.  Hi, Prather!
• Other than handling the quick slant, the defense played well, which you’d expect when the other team averages a yard per rush (and even that came from the benefit of garbage time at the very end of the game).
• I’m beginning to think that instead of doing a detailed point on Roquan Smith, I just need to invoke his name and leave it at that.
• Tyrique McGhee was picked on, and fairly successfully.  Here’s to hoping Parrish is back soon.
• In the midst of Samford’s first scoring drive, Trent Thompson had two jaw-dropping tackles, the first on a three-yard TFL run, the second when on a passing play he rushed and then turned around to make the tackle of the receiver several yards downfield.  No big man, especially a defensive tackle, should be that quick.  (I checked the broadcast and it really doesn’t do Thompson’s freakiness justice.)
• At some point, the secondary needs to start converting some of those pass breakups into interceptions.
• Samford’s offense, by the way, is well coached and Devlin Hodges does an excellent job running it.  Good arm, very quick release.  He won’t be the worst quarterback Georgia faces this season.
• Seven-for-seven in the touchback department and a 46.5-yard average on punts with negative return yardage are things I’ll take all day long.
• Coaching this week deserves credit for mental preparation more than anything.  It would have been easy to mail this one in, and based on history, that wouldn’t have been surprising.  Instead, they came out ready to grind, survived a momentary blip and finished the drill.

They’re 3-0, with two wins over inferior opposition and a big road win against a ranked opponent.  Now things get serious, as game prep for the SEC begins.

A blackened PSA

You guys know I’m not particularly enthusiastic about blackouts, but when somebody asks you nicely to spread the word about something Dawg-related they’re pushing, well, it’s hard to say no.

With that in mind, there is a move afoot to get the fans to wear black Saturday night at the Mississippi State game.  (I will admit that blackout games look a lot cooler at night, for some reason.)

In any event, you heard it here first.  I’ll wear black if you will, too.