Behave, you scamps.

Welp, I’m about to head out the door and indulge my inner Champ Bailey for the 38th (!) time, so the header is now officially in effect.

Posting, as usual, will be less frequent, but I know you guys can deal with it.  GATA!

Playing up to their potential

Chart from Seth Emerson ($$):

National Recruiting Rankings This Decade (Via 247Sports Composite)

I get the “but they flopped in Baton Rouge!” rebuttal, alright.  But the simple reality is that Georgia is the more talented team on the field Saturday and has the superior statistical story to tell so far this season.

In other words, I don’t want to hear any excuses about youth, breaks or whatever.  It’s well past the time for this bunch to turn in a full sixty-minute performance.  Let’s get ‘er done, Dawgs.

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Is it really that hard to say, “we screwed up”?

Eh, who am I kidding here?  This is the visionary Larry Scott we’re talking about after Pac-12 athletic directors were forced to step in and clean up the instant replay mess his office created.

“It is clear that a mistake was made and that action needed to be taken, as nothing is more important than the safety of our student-athletes and the integrity of our competition,” Scott said in a statement. “We have been leaders in both of these essential areas. We are determined to learn from this episode and strengthen our officiating processes as a result.”

“… a mistake was made”.  Is there anything more chicken shit than hiding behind the passive tense when you fuck up?

Gosh, I hope this whole unfortunate episode doesn’t come back to bite ol’ Larry in the butt when it comes time for his next review.

Stats every Dawg should know.

Man, the things Kirby’s gotta school the young ‘uns about…

“Coach Smart showed us a statistic in the Monday meeting,” Patrick said. “The past 10 years, whichever team had more rushing yards has won the game. That just explains it all. This game is going to come down to the front seven.”

It turns out that a rushing yardage advantage has decided the victor in the last 12 matchups between the Bulldogs and the Gators.

I’ll give you a better one than that, Natrez.  You know how many times a team in the Cocktail Party has scored more than thirty points and lost?  Once.  (And that was in overtime.)

There is no reason to think this year’s Gator team is built to win a shoot-out, so, just score and score some more, Dawgs.

Battling quotation marks

Tuesday, it was Zach Smith putting guilty in scare quotes.

Yesterday, Courtney Smith’s attorney allowed herself to retort.

In a statement from the counsel for Courtney Smith, attorney Julia Leveridge refutes Zach Smith's assertion yesterday that Domestic Violence Civil Protection "mutual." Leveridge says it is not. Also notes that Zach Smith pled guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) October 24, 2018

Any bets on Zach’s familiarity with the First Rule of Holes?  No doubt Corch wishes he’d forget about it.

Two random Cocktail Party thoughts

Third-and-Grantham amusement aside, I can’t bring myself to get that worked up over the fearsome Florida pass rush, mainly because Grantham had a better defensive line at his disposal last season with Mississippi State and the Dawgs found a way to handle that.

On the other hand, what does cause me some concern is the field position game.  Brian Fremeau’s current starting field position ratings have Florida ranked 14th and Georgia **scrolls down**  ** scrolls down** **scrolls down some more** 89th.  Yecch.

Now, if Georgia manages its fair share of explosive plays, the importance of that differential shrinks.  But if Saturday turns out to be a pure grind-it-out affair, the cumulative effect of that could be problematic.

Then again, the Dawgs’ special teams could show up and make it a moot point.  How ’bout it, fellas?

Big 12 blues

I got news for Bob Bowlsby:  the day the selection committee leaves an undefeated Notre Dame out of the CFP will truly be the day hell freezes over.

Just be honest, Bob, skip the lame straw man argument that nobody’s gonna swallow and lobby for that sweet, sweet eight-team pool so your conference never again has to sweat getting an entry in.

The way I like it is the way it is; I got mine ‘n’ don’t worry ’bout his.

Give credit to Jim Boeheim for saying out loud what amateurism really is all about.

Boeheim today: "I don't think we should ever compensate players…They can keep their meal money… "Everybody says, 'The coach makes this and the players (0).' The player is 17 years old. I've been working my whole life. There's a lot of 17-year-old kids that don't make money.”

— Jake Smith (@iKicked_) October 24, 2018

There’s something inspiring about assholes keeping it real.

Today, in bless their hearts

Speaking of messing up a good thing, it sounds like a bunch of UCF fans are making plans to crash the (Cocktail) party.

UCF fans are planning to bus from nearby Orlando to invade College GameDay, according to a Facebook event that’s making the rounds on social media. It’s being sponsored by UCF alum Chad Barr, the attorney who arranged for the Knights’ “co-champion” banner to be flown in Camping World Stadium during Alabama’s season opener against Louisville.

According to the event page, the invasion is being staged “to show the country what UCF Nation is all about and that we will not be silenced or back down from anyone.”

So, what you’re saying is that you’ve got a bunch of folks who plan on sticking their faces into a alcohol-fueled tailgate of fans of two programs with a lot riding on the game to make an irrelevant point in as irritating a manner as possible?

This isn’t going to end well, I’m afraid.  But, hey, you be you.

“So why mess up a good thing?”

Gawd bless Champ Bailey, who, in response to a question about the Cocktail Party’s neutral-site nature, had this to say:

… I did get to see a point in the mid-nineties, I think they were renovating the stadium in Jacksonville, so we got to see it in Athens one year and in Gainesville one year, so that was kind of unique. I don’t know, it’s just something special playing in a neutral site. Georgia-Florida, neutral site, long border, big rivalry game. Why not play at a neutral site? I love those type of traditions in football. So why mess up a good thing? 

Indeed.

Then again, maybe Champ’s secretly taken up golf.