World, you’ll have to excuse Dawgnation if we’re feeling a little giddy right now.
“Another weapon” may be understating Jim Chaney’s situation somewhat.
Buckle up, peeps. This is getting interesting.
Daily Archives: August 10, 2018
When you’ve got nothing good to say…
… don’t say anything.
Curious to see if somebody asks Greg McGarity the same question.
Filed under Urban Meyer Points and Stares
“We pound on them like they pound on us.”
I tend to roll my eyes a bit at the “iron sharpens iron” happy talk, with one exception.
That’s certainly true when it comes to the daily battles being waged at practice between the Bulldogs’ offensive and defensive lines, two units – at least on paper – that figure to be two of the best in the SEC.
“For us, it’s the same approach as last year,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said. “Whoever’s in front of us we’re going to move them, and when we have to pass protect, it’s the same thing. We’re going to bring that same attitude.”
Ditto for the defensive line.
The Bulldogs are having to replace the likes of nose John Atkins and tackle Trenton Thompson, but this year’s defensive front – led by Jonathan Ledbetter, Tyler Clark and Julian Rochester – could ultimately be one of Georgia’s most talented groups in recent years.
“Jonathan Ledbetter going to make me better every day, Tyler Clark is going to make me better every day, Julian Rochester is going to make me better – every day,” left guard Kendall Baker said. “Those guys are monsters.”
For Rochester, the feeling is mutual.
“I think they’re best,” he said. “They’ve worked really hard and I feel the consistency level is what’s so good. They work hard every single day. We pound on them like they pound on us. Iron sharpens Iron. I feel like the sky’s the limit.”
Man, I think both lines have a chance to be special this year. I’ve felt that way for a while about the o-line — hardly a minority opinion, I know — but I’m feeling better and better about the d-line, too.
Now, if somebody can just make me feel better about replacing Roquan…
Filed under Georgia Football
Okay, a real MPC
Dwight, Steve and Lucinda closed the show with this last night.
Great, great show.
Filed under Uncategorized
Georgia’s football playoff expenses
Marc Weiszer has the numbers here, and they’re fairly pedestrian looking as these things go. So pedestrian, in fact, that I only have two thoughts in response:
- Georgia spent $9,410 at the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House as part of its expenses for the national title game. All at once?
- One trembles a little mulling over what Michael Adams would have spent — and what he would have spent it on — were he still school president last season.
Filed under Georgia Football, It's Just Bidness
Satisfactory explosiveness
Seth Emerson has an interesting quote ($$) from Jim Chaney:
… When the Georgia offensive coordinator was asked about generating more explosive plays, he cited last year’s stats: “Run game is 12 yards or more (to be considered explosive). Pass game is 16 yards or more. We were 1 out of 6.7 plays in explosive last year, if I remember right. That’s not bad. That’s pretty good for me.”
You know me — that’s the kind of thing that gets me digging a little at cfbstats.com. Unfortunately, I can’t quite get the numbers to align with Chaney’s metrics, but, still, here’s my dive:
- Number of plays: 670 rushing; 305 passing; 975 total
- Long scrimmage plays: 218 of 10+ yards; 89 of 20+ yards
- Long rushing plays: 115 of 10+ yards; 47 of 20+ yards
- Long passing plays: 103 of 10+ yards; 42 of 20+ yards
That works out to one of roughly 4.5 plays going for ten or more yards and one of about every 7.5 plays for 20 or more yards.
For shits and giggles, a comparison to last year’s gold standard, Oklahoma, shows the Sooners hitting 10 or more yards once out of about 3.5 plays and one out of about every 8.5 plays going for 20 or more yards.
In other words, Mr. Chaney’s entitled to feel pleased.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Enabling Mark Emmert’s wet dream
As we know, the NCAA doesn’t have subpoena power. With it’s latest announcement, though, it’s determined to cobble together the next best thing. It’s a double-edged sword the organization will be swinging.
First, check the fine print.
As a term of employment, school presidents and athletics staff must commit contractually to full cooperation in the investigations and infractions process. Full cooperation means reporting violations in a timely manner; sharing all knowledge and documents requested in a timely manner; providing access to all electronic devices, social media and other technology; and maintaining confidentiality. The chair of the Division I Committee on Infractions or the Independent College Sports Adjudication Panel can impose immediate penalties when schools or individuals do not cooperate (including loss of revenue or postseason opportunities). These bodies can consider lack of cooperation as admission of a violation.
Those terms will be required in every contract entered into from now on. I will be genuinely curious to see how a “lack of cooperation as admission of a violation” standard plays out. (Just think about where Ole Miss would be right now if that had been the approach from the beginning.)
Second, the NCAA welcomes its new criminal justice system overlords.
People charged with investigating and resolving NCAA cases can accept information established by another administrative body, including a court of law, government agency, accrediting body or a commission authorized by a school. This will save time and resources previously used to confirm information already adjudicated by another group.
Criminalizing the NCAA rule book is now an official feature.
Before you start fist pumping over the possibility that some of your favorite schools are about to enter a serious world of hurt for lyin’ and cheatin’, remember this is Mark Emmert we’re talking about here.
That would be this Mark Emmert.
That’s how you get shoulder shrugs like this one from Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s vice president of of men’s basketball: “We could’ve done a little better job of communicating [Wednesday’s] news with them. I’ll just leave it at that.”
All of that, and players are still gonna get paid under the table.
Yeah, this is gonna be fine.
Filed under The NCAA
Those cupcake games aren’t gonna play themselves.
The SEC, where playing a road game against a non-conference opponent just means more.
Considering that UK and South Carolina have home-and-home series with non-conference rivals, geez, that’s impressive.
Bottom line — they’ll keep doing it as long as they can get away with doing it.
Filed under SEC Football
Now this is optimism.
Kansas State announces a 5-year contract extension for its 78-year old head coach.
That ought to take care of those negative rumors on the recruiting trail for a while.
Filed under Big 12 Football
“Yes, that Derek Dooley.”
Missouri’s new offensive coordinator has Bill Connelly pondering black thoughts.
In theory, Dooley can simply build complexity on top of what Heupel had established, giving Mizzou the capability to hit the brakes (Heupel’s offense was fourth in Adj. Pace last year) and come up with a Plan B for when solid defenses slow down the base attack.
It’s not hard to see the potential downside, though. Going from simple to complex, from “spread” to “pro-style” — though those terms grow more fungible each year — could lead to you misplacing your strengths in the name of fixing weaknesses.
And by god, if Dooley prevents us from seeing another year of Lock-to-Hall deep balls, he should be banished from college football.
New Mizzou motto: if it ain’t broke, let SOD break it.
Filed under SEC Football, Strategery And Mechanics
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