Georgia’s first nooner of 2018

… is the Mizzou game.

📺 times and networks for games on September 22 have been announced: https://t.co/MBb8gRypUT pic.twitter.com/fryhZurhY9

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) September 10, 2018

My first reaction was a little surprised, but once you see that CBS wanted ‘Bama and Mickey wanted Georgia for sure, I can see how that wound up happening.

Still, whenever I see a morning game scheduled for television — out there, it will be — I’m always reminded of the grizzled ballplayer in Ball Four who, after being told his team was playing an early Game of the Week, complained, “Eleven AM?  I’m not even done throwing up then.”

Advertisement

Darlin’, they’re playing our song.

TFW you’re an LSU blogger getting ready for this week’s game against Auburn.

“We don’t do all that hype material. We go out and play football.”

One thing I agree with Gary Danielson about in that clip I linked to earlier is that South Carolina appeared to be the team that came out Saturday overly amped up.  That, despite Georgia being furnished with a quote or two during the preceding week that could have been milked for fake juice purposes.

“I wanted discipline and composure,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after the game. “Sometimes when you get into all that ‘disrespect,’ you get chippy, make bad decisions. … I don’t like using disrespect as a motivating factor.”

In other words, Smart didn’t ignore it.  He managed it.

I’ve seen some folks compare Saturday’s game to the ass-whuppin’ Alabama laid on Georgia in 2015, but, at least in this regard, Saturday reminded me more of what ‘Bama came in and did to Richt’s 2008 blacked-out team.  Give me a cold-blooded, talented team over a fake-juiced one every time.

Today’s fun factoid

Per Seth Emerson ($$):

Speed plus blocking equals not just explosive plays, but also consistent big plays: Georgia has gained at least 10 yards on 27.5 percent of its plays, which is the 11th-highest rate in the FBS. The national average is 21.2 percent. Last year, Georgia did it 22.4 percent of the time.

Even better, notwithstanding the big chunk plays, chopping five minutes of game clock off the fourth quarter of the opener and having run fewer offensive plays than a hundred (!) other teams, Georgia still ranks a respectable 50th in time of possession.

“If you get to be the coach next year, put him in.”

I’d say grumpy and testy Paul Johnson is the best Paul Johnson, except Paul Johnson is always grumpy and testy.

Of all the teams in the SEC East, South Carolina is certainly one of them.

Gary Danielson’s post-game take on what he saw in Columbia is worth watching simply for the pause he takes when he’s asked that “whither South Carolina?” question.

Youth will be served.

When it comes to playing freshmen, Kirby Smart is coaching without an ounce of fear.

Georgia placed 18 members of its 2018 class on the travel roster for its first SEC road game. That says that the recruits from the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class made up 26 percent of the travel roster for conference play on a team ranked at No. 3 in the country.

What the upset-minded pundits saw as a bug Smart sees as a feature.  Looks like he knows something about what he’s doing, eh?

SEC Power Poll, Week Two

I don’t know if this week’s games proved the conventional wisdom about the second week being the biggest for improvement, but they certainly provided greater insight about the fourteen conference schools.  Or, most of ’em, anyway.

1. Alabama.  Per Bruce Feldman, Tua Tagovailoa on third down has a passer rating of 405.88.  No, that isn’t fair.
2. Georgia.  You know, this team has a chance to be pretty decent once it gets some experience under its belt.
3. Auburn.  I think the Tigers are good, but I’m not sure how good.
4. Mississippi State.  They weren’t pretty throwing the ball against Kansas State, but otherwise, they impressed.
5. LSU.  Joe Burrow has the lowest passer rating among the SEC’s starting quarterbacks.  If that doesn’t improve, I don’t think things end all that well for the Tigers this season.
6. Texas A&M.  This weekend we learned Jimbo is a pretty good quarterbacks coach — and Kevin Sumlin ain’t.
7. Ole Miss.  Alabama comes to Oxford next.  Is it too much to hope the Rebs can drag the Tide down to their level, at least a little?
8. Missouri.  So far, the Tigers continue to resist the SOD Effect and play a little defense.  Ah, that soft early season scheduling magic.
9. Kentucky.  The ‘Cats are shaping up to be this season’s wildest ride.
10. South Carolina.  In the immortal words of Ricky Bobby, if you ain’t first, you’re last.
11. Florida.  The meteor game against Tennessee is shaping up to be one brutal affair.
12. Vanderbilt.  Playing respectably on offense and well on defense through two games, but now comes a trip to South Bend.
13. Tennessee.  The Vols pound a cupcake and feel good about themselves.  Take your victories where you can find ’em, I guess.
14. Arkansas.  It’s not easy to collapse against a team with a John Jancek-coached defense, but the Hogs managed to pull it off.

What we learned on our Saturday

Gamecock fan gets slapped in the face by reality:

Not Ready

Will Muschamp’s Gamecocks are still not ready to compete with the big boys. I know, call me Captain Obvious, but it’s true. Yea, the first half was competitive for the most part. Take away a pick 6 on Carolina’s first drive and it’s 13-10 at worst going into halftime. The second half was a different story as UGA scored 3 TDs on their first 3 second half drives and the Gamecocks responded with, well, two 3 and outs and an interception. Anyway, I’m not here to give y’all a game recap. My point is I think our lack of depth and, overall youth, caught up with us in the second half. Georgia is a legitimate national title contender and has clearly separated itself from the rest of the pack in the SEC East. I was one of the people out there that thought Carolina would compete against UGA. Actually, I picked the Gamecocks to pull the upset on the GABACast. I was wrong. The Gamecocks aren’t ready yet. They don’t have the players depth wise to hold up for 4 quarters against the elite teams around the country.

Ummm… you left out something.

😂 watch JJ take Williams & 8 others for a ride down the field 👏 pic.twitter.com/bnJaeaizpJ

— Bryce Dixon (@dixonbryce) September 9, 2018

Your guys weren’t a physical match, either.  Which is why I’m a bit skeptical that the “A 9 or 10 win season is still on the table” projection plays out, particularly if regression to the mean rears its ugly head this season (the ‘Cocks finished minus-1 in turnover margin Saturday).

Fabris Pool results, Week 2

This is turning out to be the Year of Animal House Monikers.  This week’s winner didn’t need any stinkin’ tiebreaker, either.

STANDINGS for WEEK 2

Rank	Selection Name	Standings Adjustment	W-L	Pts	Tie Breaker Game 27-16
1	Otis Day	Adj	10-0	10	27-20

Otis, my man!  Congrats.

Season standings:

SEASON STANDINGS through Week 2

Rank	You	Selection Name	W-L	Pts
1		StoneColdDawg	16-4	16
1		3rd and Long Sprint Draw	16-4	16
1		Robert Hoover	16-4	16
1		whb209	16-4	16
1		Athens Dog	16-4	16