He should know.

Aaron Murray thinks a lot of Mark Richt, his head coach.  Here’s his comparison of the program under Richt and under Kirby Smart:

“I think the main difference right now is the mentality that Kirby has brought,” Murray said. “It’s the mentality that Alabama has where they walk into every game and they know they are going to win.

“That’s already a `W’ in the win column in the mental state of the game, where they’re not walking in scared. They’re walking in going: ‘We know we’re better, we know we’re better-coached, we have better talent and there is no way you are going to beat us.’”

When he was at Georgia, Murray said the mentality was most any SEC game would be a tight battle.

“You kind of psych yourself out that it’s going to be close, that it is going to come down to the wire,” Murray said.

That Florida game is going to be an interesting test case, no?

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A day without stat porn is like…

Group portrait —

Georgia and Alabama have the lowest missed tackle rates in the SEC pic.twitter.com/5KnPlY8uiO

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) October 19, 2017

Personal shot —

Georgia safety J.R. Reed, son of former NFL WR Jake Reed, leads the SEC in tackle success rate. pic.twitter.com/RmuKSYSLE9

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) October 19, 2017

As I posted at the beginning of the week, now when these guys miss a tackle, it startles you.

**********************************************************************

UPDATE:  There’s a chaser, too.

No inside linebacker has more solo tackles or more stops without missing a tackle against the run than Georgia's Roquan Smith. pic.twitter.com/gH0eZ0EHXi

— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) October 19, 2017

There will always be a place in the SEC for hate… um, intense dislike.

I confess, the first thing that came to mind when I saw this header was this.

When you’ve lost the bakery department…

Ouch.

“It’s a bad deal, man.”

Florida’s lost a starting defensive lineman for the rest of the season.

Missouri was successful probing Georgia’s defense with the long pass, which seems like something the Gators might want to emulate.  One problem with that, though.

The downfield passing game has been a major weakness for Florida's Feleipe Franks so far this season pic.twitter.com/ZEYDQiSkPs

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) October 19, 2017

I’ll say it again — the way the bye week is starting to play out makes me a little nervous.

“Your food’s coming, baby.”

If you don’t read anything else today, read this ESPN story on Waffle House.  Here’s a little taste (see what I did there?):

“Team sports kind of prepare you for the Waffle House,” said Greg Bright, Waffle House’s Director of People Operations and a former Georgia linebacker who is still second on the Bulldogs’ career tackles list. “It’s kind of scary a little bit, the parallels. On a daily basis, you’re coaching people and developing people.”

As part of his job, Bright helps recruit and retain employees, people such as Flowers and Smith. He isn’t surprised so many families have multiple members working at his restaurants.

“Is it any different from Kirby Smart?” Bright said, using the Georgia coach to explain growing into your parents’ profession. “I grew up playing rec sports against Kirby. His dad was the coach at Bainbridge High School, and Kirby was always around it. Kirby grew up with football all his life, so that’s what he gravitates toward.”

“It sucks watching this team a lot of the time.”

You know what David Wunderlich’s lengthy analysis of this year’s Florida team reminded me of?

The offense is boring and predictable. The defense isn’t as good as it’s been most of the last 30 years. The return game is not producing big plays and the coverage units are bad.

Mark Richt’s last season at Georgia.  Read the whole thing and tell me I’m wrong.

Brian Fremeau’s 2017 Game Splits

What, you ask, are game splits?  Well…

Game Splits are the components of scoring margin in victory or defeat. The non-garbage game results — possessions (Po), points scored (PF), points allowed (PA)  — are used to produce unadjusted game efficiency data. The value contributed by the offense (Off), defense (Def), and special teams (ST) units, plus the value of an extra possession (Ex) if applicable, add up to the non-garbage scoring margin of the game.

The scoring values of starting field position for the given team’s offense (OFP) and its opponent’s offense (DFP) are provided. Net field value (NFV) is the difference in starting field position value plus, if applicable, the value of defensive and special teams touchdowns. Turnover values gained (TO+) and lost (TO-) represent scoring value generated by the given team on interceptions and fumbles. Net turnover value (NTO) is the difference in scoring value gained and lost on turnovers.

Scroll down to Georgia’s, because there’s a lot of illuminating information there.  Here are a few points of interest:

• To what should be no one’s surprise, the defense carried the team through the first part of the season, culminating in the Tennessee shut out.  But over the last two games, the script has been flipped, as the offense has been doing the heavy lifting and the defense has been just a little better than average.  Not so coincidentally, those games have been against teams that throw the ball better than they run it.
• Special teams have been a contributor in almost every game.  What a change from last season.
• If you want a reason for ongoing optimism, Georgia is 7-0 and has dominated most of its opponents despite being subpar in net field position and, outside of the Tennessee game, meh in net turnover value.  Imagine what might happen if those swung positively Georgia’s way.
• Speaking of the Tennessee game, those numbers are crazy good.

The challengers

Weird year in the SEC East, peeps.  Florida and Tennessee are essentially toast (okay, with two conference losses after six games, the Gators still cling to life support before the Cocktail Party).

Meanwhile, meet the contendahs still with dreams, Kentucky and South Carolina.  So you’re saying there’s a chance!

Pay (each other) to play

This article about NCAA economics and the impact of paying student-athletes may be way over your head (hell, it’s way over mine in a lot of spots), but here’s the gist:

Fresh off the presses at Review of Industrial Org, @RodneyFort on Rev Share/Comp Balance & College Sports: https://t.co/yKTOyV5bQA pic.twitter.com/Oe5T6WU0KV

— Andy Schwarz (@andyhre) October 18, 2017

Okay, even gistier:

TLDR: Revenue sharing within a conference improves competitive balance. Amateurism rules do nothing, athlete pay would do nothing.

— Andy Schwarz (@andyhre) October 18, 2017

There’s a certain real world logic to that.  If schools have to pay players, they’ll suddenly discover there are a whole lot of less relevant budget items that can be revised downwards, like waterfalls and $10,000 lockers.  And that’s before you get to bloated administrative staffing.  (Which is really what this whole amateurism fight is about now…)