The genius can’t fail the defense.

Only the defense can fail the genius.

People always question the challenge of preparing a defense when it practices against your style of offense. I’m not sure it’s really dramatically different than teams with tempo or spread style offenses, but do you see it as something unique you have to deal with when trying to get the defense straightened out?

Johnson: I think that’s just a crock. It’s excuses. Playing against our offense is not a whole lot different than playing against the spread with the zone-reads and all that stuff. You play it the same way. If you look, I think the offense should help the defense. That’s one of the things I was impressed with Nate, when I talked to him about it; he embraces it because it helps play the run, it helps make you tough, and all you have to look — a team like Army, those teams are top five, top 10 in the country in defense. So it hasn’t hurt them. When I was at Georgia Southern, we were perennially in the top 10 in defense. If anything, you play less snaps. We probably played less possessions and less snaps than anybody in the country except Army a year ago. A normal game for us is 10 to 12 possessions. For everybody else, it’s 17 to 18, so you’re essentially playing a quarter less every game.

He’s making it easy on ’em.  Sooner or later, he’s bound to find a defensive coordinator who can appreciate his generosity, no?

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Death penalty for players?

I get that rules are rules and this is a rule:

Fulton’s suspension is based off of an alleged tampering violation that occurred following the 2016 season.

The NCAA rulebook states, “A student-athlete who is involved in a case of clearly observed tampering with an NCAA drug-test sample, as documented per NCAA drug-testing protocol by a drug-testing crew member, shall be charged with the loss of a minimum of two seasons of competition in all sports and shall remain ineligible for all regular-season and postseason competition during the time period ending two calendar years (730 days) from the date of the tampering.”

… but does anyone find the NCAA’s priorities here a little out of whack?  Two years for pee-tampering, nothing for assault?

(1) Clemson 28, (1) Georgia 27

I’m sure ESPN desperately hopes there’s an audience for this garbage.

Maybe they can petition the South Carolina legislature to issue “Clemson, National Champions” license plates to honor the big win.  Hey, it worked for UCF!

Not that anyone cares…

An alert reader sent this bit of news on to me:

Graduation rates for black athletes in football and men’s basketball at Power 5 conference schools are increasing on average, but 40 percent of schools showed declines in such rates during the past two years, according to a new report on racial inequality in college sports.

The report, released Sunday by the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center, shows Power 5 graduation rates for black football and men’s basketball players have increased by an average of 2.5 percent since 2016. Thirty-six schools in Power 5 conferences had increases — by an average of 6.5 percent — led by Kansas State (18 percent), Louisville (18 percent) and Vanderbilt (17 percent). But 40 percent of Power 5 schools have had a decrease in graduation rates among black football and men’s basketball players, with the biggest drops in the past two years occurring at Georgia (15 percent), LSU (11 percent) and Ohio State (11 percent).  [Emphasis added.]

Another point of Bulldog pride.  Note that it’s concentrated.

Several schools among the lowest graduation rates for black football and basketball players — Ohio State, California, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina — have graduation rates for all athletes that are 25 to 35 percentage points higher.

The study runs through the ’16-’17 academic year, so I’m guessing that doesn’t include the recent crop of early departures from the football team for this year’s NFL draft.  In any event, it’s good to see how the Georgia Way adapts with the times.  Perhaps the next issue of McGarity’s Minutes can spend some time on the subject.

If they’re not getting paid, at least student-athletes receive a valuable education as compensation for their athletic contributions to UGA.