Easily my favorite thing about Dennis Dodd’s “The nation’s top three teams face quarterback conundrums, and there’s no end in sight” thought piece (using the phrase loosely) is this:
The starters at Alabama and Georgia still seem entrenched for now.
Yeah, but there’s no end in sight, or something.
Filed under Alabama, Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles
Wut.
Does that make Gus Malzahn a commie?
Filed under Strategery And Mechanics
In the take this for what it’s worth department, Forbes’ rankings of college football’s most valuable programs has seen Georgia’s stock fall from sixth in 2015 to sixteenth in 2018, behind eight other SEC schools.
The methodology has changed (“This is the first time Forbes has ranked college football teams since 2015, and this year we’ve taken a different approach to the endeavor. Our list of college football’s most valuable teams ranks the nation’s top programs by average annual revenue, rounded to the nearest million.”), so how much of that drop is apples to apples is somewhat hard to determine.
The current numbers are based on a three-year rolling average, in this case from 2014 through 2016. Based on what’s gone down in the last year, it’s safe to presume Greg McGarity’s on that particular mother. I expect a big jump for Georgia when Forbes revisits the list in 2021.
While I’m here, check out the big boys’ overall financial picture:
But when it comes to college football’s elite class, it’s hard to believe any arguments that there isn’t enough money to go around. From 2014 to 2016, the 23 teams at public schools on our list combined to spend an average $239 million per year on salaries and severance for football coaches, but just $90 million per year on student aid for football players. In the 2016-17 fiscal year alone, those teams’ athletic departments spent a combined $800 million on capital expenditures and $250 million on debt service for athletic facilities. That year, those same athletics programs combined to transfer just $65 million back to their universities to support academic programming.
Priorities, bitchez.
Filed under Georgia Football, It's Just Bidness
The first forty-one seconds of this video clip are so déjà vu, they’ll make you quiver a little.
Florida hosts Colorado State this week. Boy, would I love to be a fly on the wall for some of Mike Bobo’s prep sessions.
Filed under Gators, Gators...
I won’t say I got my knickers in a twist over the widespread upset meme that barreled its way through the week before the Georgia-South Carolina game — more puzzled than anything about it, given the apparent talent disparity that seemed obvious to me — but I will say that if you’re a pundit who grabbed on to that and can’t make the effort to acknowledge that you whiffed spectacularly…
The Bulldogs (2-0, 1-0 in the SEC) rocket into the bracket and up to the top spot after the most impressive win thus far this season — total domination on the road at South Carolina, a team many believe was poised to challenge Georgia in the SEC East. The Bulldogs led 14-0 after three minutes, then pushed the lead to 31 points in the third quarter. It was a definitive statement about the pecking order in the SEC East.
… then I don’t have much time for your opinion about Georgia going forward.
Here’s how you do it.
Filed under Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles
You’ll want to read all of Matt Hinton’s UGA-South Carolina postmortem, but for now, I’ll just leave you with his conclusion:
In the meantime, like all great teams, the Bulldogs’ only real concern is between their own ears.
Nice.
Filed under Envy and Jealousy
Looking for that edge, Georgia kicker edition:
Rodrigo Blankenship and the Georgia place-kickers were practicing on a special goal post on which the uprights are five yards apart. When warming up, the SEC’s reigning special teams player of the week often lines up on one sideline or the other and tries to send his kicks directly over the outermost upright.
(h/t Biggen)
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
‘Murica, you’re the reason Hugh Freeze can’t find an employer.
Obviously, the moment for self-reflection hasn’t arrived yet.
Filed under Freeze!
Get somebody to look at you the way Kirby Smart looks at Brian Herrien.
Filed under Name That Caption
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the speed with which the perception of the Georgia-Florida rivalry has been turned on its head. Take Spencer Hall as an example:
Georgia had seven five-star recruits in their 2018 class. SEVEN. It’s not happening against them for a while, and by “it” I mean “competing with them, much less beating them.” They’ve been working smart and hard. Working smart and hard when the competition is working dumb and not-much equals some very, very bad things over time for the competition.
I haven’t heard Gator pity like that in thirty-five or so years. It’s sad enough I almost feel guilty pointing out that Todd Grantham is the defensive coordinator. Almost.
Filed under Gators, Gators..., Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles
Get The Picture 