And so I must take my leave of you good people…

I am heading out the door this morning for yet another trip to the Cocktail Party, just as I’ve done since 1979.  (First stop is here to pick up to pick up game day grillables, in case you’re wondering.)  And, yes, there will be beer.  But I digress.

I’ll have my trusty laptop with me, so I really won’t be too far away.  There will be a few posts between now and kickoff, so stay tuned.

If you’re heading down to Jax yourself, I’ll be tailgating in Lot X, so feel free to come by and visit.  For those of you at home, you know the drill.  Behave, you scamps.

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Rotating quarterbacks

Seth Emerson has one of those “gee, I should have known that” observations that kind of gets me:

When Fromm takes the field on Saturday in Jacksonville, he will be the fifth different Georgia starting quarterback for this game in as many years. Aaron Murray started four straight, then gave way to Hutson Mason in 2014, followed by the ill-fated Faton Bauta game, Jacob Eason last year, and now Fromm.

Geez.  Think that’s had anything to do with Georgia’s recent troubles in Jax?

It’s time.

Matt Brown neatly sums up what Spurrier hath wrought in this series.

For decades, Georgia mostly owned this rivalry. Before Steve Spurrier took over at Florida in 1990, the Bulldogs had won 15 of the previous 19 games. Since the Spurrier and SEC East eras began, however, Georgia has often struggled, even as a substantial favorite.

In the past 25 years, Georgia has entered the Cocktail Party game ranked in the AP top 10 eight times. It is just 1-7 in those games, with five of those seven losses coming in games in which Florida had a lower ranking or no ranking.

In 1992, Florida and Georgia both finished 6-2 in the SEC, but the Gators played in the inaugural SEC title game because they upset the No. 7 Bulldogs. In 2002, Georgia suffered its only loss of the season to an unranked Florida. In 2003, No. 4 Georgia fell to No. 23 Florida by a field goal. In 2005, undefeated Georgia had its perfect season spoiled by the Gators. In 2014, the beginning of the end of the Mark Richt era effectively came when No. 9 Georgia lost 38-20 to a 3-3 Florida team — sound familiar? — that completed three passes all game.

Sure, there were plenty of seasons sprinkled in there when Florida had clearly the better, more talented teams.  It’s just as clear, though, that Georgia’s been a head case for those 25 years.  Just ask the expert.

On my way to Jacksonville I stopped in Gainesville to visit with @SteveSpurrierUF , the Head Ball Coach. He changed the psychology of the Georgia-Florida game by going 11-1 against the Bulldogs. https://t.co/91VFfRCmAF

— Tony Barnhart (@MrCFB) October 26, 2017

As much as the season’s at stake, then, it’s just as big for the Dawgs to take a step forward and return the balance of the Cocktail Party to a rational setting.

It all adds up to make Saturday’s game one of the biggest in the rivalry in years because, no matter how far behind Florida appears, Georgia can’t help but measure itself based on how it performs against the Gators. Even when it’s having a great season, it often still has a Florida problem. If it wants to flip the balance of power in the SEC East, it has to take care of business against a struggling Florida team and emphasize that the pecking order truly is changing.

If there’s ever been a time to make a statement in the Cocktail Party, this is it.

No shit.  As I posted earlier in the week, that’s really Kirby’s next test.  I hope he passes it with flying colors.

“It certainly helps to be operating at a full load.”

I used to say in the early days of Richt’s tenure that he got the one essential truth about job security at Georgia, which was hiring competent defensive coordinators.  Those head coaches who failed to follow that advice didn’t stay head coaches.

That old saw is true, but I think Richt himself is responsible for generating a second such truth:  it’s the roster management, stupid.

And if there’s one thing I can say about Kirby Smart, in that regard, he is totally on the mother.

Still, the real problem is player compensation.

USA Today has published its coaches’ salaries database update.  The data is a doozy.

In order to get into the top 10 highest paid college football coaches this year, you had to make $5 million.

The list from 15 years ago: pic.twitter.com/f1HG4RzTcO

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 25, 2017

Even more eyeopening, there are twenty-six coaches with buyouts greater than $10 million.  That’s insane.

In my next life, I’d like to come back as a player at the World Series of Poker set up against a table of college athletic directors.  I’d never lose.

A tale of two game preps

So, there’s a big rivalry game being played in a couple of days.  One coach is covering all contingencies by making sure his team is ready to defend a quarterback who might not even take the field.  The other coach evidently spends time this week “managing” a death threat story his own athletic department can’t confirm.

I’m doing my damnedest to tamp down my enthusiasm for Georgia’s chances Saturday, but stuff like this makes me wonder if we’re about to see the inverse of that horrible 2015 game.  Either that, or Jim McElwain is a wizard.

Just another day in Urnge Paradise

Booch wants you to know Tennessee’s got standards, by Gawd, and no pot smokin’ star tailback is gonna know otherwise.

“Obviously, we issued a statement,” Jones said. “But obviously, I’ll just tell you this. We have very high standards and expectations associated with the University of Tennessee. We represent something that is bigger than ourselves. We’ll never compromise our standards. It’s very, very unfortunate. We hope that these individuals will learn from it, but we’re never going to compromise our standards here at Tennessee.”

Jones said the team was “very disappointed” to hear about the suspensions, but said Kelly and Ignont addressed the team Wednesday.

“They also understand the high standards that we have,” Jones said. “As the leader, you can never compromise your values and beliefs. This football program stands for so many things. They understood.”

Obviously, that explains this.

Good to see #Vols’ Rashaan Gaulden won’t be suspended from this week’s game at Kentucky. All he did was tell Bama it was No. 1, IMO.

— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) October 25, 2017

I take it that can only mean flipping the bird meets the program’s high standards.  Obviously.

It never gets old.

The Celebration, that is.

Knowshon Moreno will be inducted into the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame Friday in Jacksonville.

It would only be fitting if nearly the entire 2007 Bulldogs team rushed the podium and danced with him during the ceremony and luncheon at a club inside EverBank Field.

Ten years ago, the running back’s teammates poured off the sideline and into the end zone after Moreno went over the top on the Gators, stretching for a 1-yard touchdown on the game’s first score in what became a 42-30 Bulldogs upset victory that carved its own unique chapter in the rivalry.

“I still get asked about it all the time,” fullback Shaun Chapas, now Georgia’s associate director of facilities, said of the celebration that ensued after the score.

You will be forever, I hope.

The GPOOE™ still remembers.

Quarterback Tim Tebow, on the sideline with his headset, was told recently that he looked stunned.

“I was a little irritated,” he said. “I thought it did not show a lot of class. It was purposefully going out of their way to find a way to get an edge outside of the rules.”

You know about showing a lot of class during a game, Mr. Gator Chomp.

Easily the best part of the story, though, is this:

One Georgia player made it a point to let the officiating crew, headed by referee Penn Wagers, know what he wanted.

“I remember Joe Cox going in front of the referee telling him, ‘Throw the flag! Throw the flag!” Chandler said. “Sure enough all of a sudden you saw about five flags flying in the air.”

A Georgia player had to tell Penn Wagers to throw a penalty flag?  Shit, no wonder the man had a chip on his shoulder about Georgia for the rest of his SEC career.

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UPDATE:  Oops.  Almost forgot this.  (NSFW.)

Musical palate cleanser, it’s worth it for the time I had edition

R.I.P., Fat Man.

Fats Domino, the New Orleans rhythm-and-blues singer whose two-fisted boogie-woogie piano and nonchalant vocals, heard on dozens of hits, made him one of the biggest stars of the early rock ’n’ roll era, died on Tuesday at his home in Harvey, La., across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by the Jefferson Parish coroner’s office.

Mr. Domino had more than three dozen Top 40 pop hits through the 1950s and early ’60s, among them “Blueberry Hill,” “Ain’t It a Shame” (also known as “Ain’t That a Shame,” which is the actual lyric), “I’m Walkin’,”“Blue Monday” and “Walkin’ to New Orleans.” Throughout he displayed both the buoyant spirit of New Orleans, his hometown, and a droll resilience that reached listeners worldwide.

He sold 65 million singles in those years, with 23 gold records, making him second only to Elvis Presley as a commercial force. Presley acknowledged Mr. Domino as a predecessor.

“A lot of people seem to think I started this business,” Presley told Jet magazine in 1957. “But rock ’n’ roll was here a long time before I came along. Nobody can sing that music like colored people. Let’s face it: I can’t sing it like Fats Domino can. I know that.”

Ain’t much more you can add to that.