Somebody sounds like he just got a reminder that recruiting in this conference ain’t the same as recruiting in the ACC.
Daily Archives: December 19, 2018
A signing day story that’ll make you smile
Once in a while, it’s nice to see your faith in humanity restored.
Nothing but best wishes for both young men…
Filed under Recruiting
The most amusing recruiting news of the day
The drought is over.
Now there’s an obvious candidate for immediate playing time.
Filed under Georgia Tech Football, Recruiting
Your 12.19.18 Playpen
This is the last Playpen before Christmas, so I thought I’d let you guys tell me what your favorite Christmas songs are.
If you’ve followed the blog for any time, you know what my two favorites are: The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” and Robert Earl Keen’s “Merry Christmas From The Family”.
This one’s my number three:
The Big Man and Darlene Love — how bad could it be?
Anyway, share in the comments.
Filed under GTP Stuff
“… they’re excited and want to get it over with.”
Hey, it’s early signing day! By all accounts, recruits will be flocking to fax machines and other devices to make their choices known today.
Obviously, we’re interested in particular in who may be Athens-bound. Here’s a partial list of some battles Kirby’s fighting today. Here’s another with more of a national perspective (although it’s to Smart’s credit that Georgia pops up a good bit there).
Consider this post the place to keep up and share today’s signing news in the comments. I’ll get the party started with this.
Damned good start. Welcome aboard, Mr. Smith.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
Nice canary you’ve got there, ESPN. Shame if anything were to happen to it.
Minor bowl games. Mickey doesn’t care if anyone actually shows up in person to sit through them; he just wants people watching.
So this probably isn’t good news.
The college football bowl season got off to a slow start in the ratings.
The Fresno State-Arizona State Las Vegas Bowl earned a 2.25 rating and 3.33 million viewers on ABC Saturday afternoon, down 3% in rating and 12% in viewership from last year (Boise State-Oregon: 2.3, 3.80M) and down 5% and 11% respectively from 2016 (SDSU-Houston: 2.4, 3.74M).
The Bulldogs’ win was the least-watched Las Vegas Bowl in four years (2014 Utah-Colorado State: 1.4, 2.12M).
Earlier in the day, the North Carolina A&T-Alcorn State FCS Celebration Bowl had a 1.6 (flat) and 2.35 million (-1%). It was the least-watched edition of the game since it debuted in 2014.
Shifting to cable, the Middle Tennessee-Appalachian State New Orleans Bowl had a 0.8 and 1.37 million on ESPN — down a tick in ratings but up 3% in viewership from both last year (Troy-North Texas: 0.9, 1.33M) and 2016 (Southern Miss-Louisiana Lafayette: 0.9, 1.34M). It was the lowest rated New Orleans Bowl in nine years (2009: 0.7) and the most-watched in three (2015: 1.42M).
The Georgia Southern-Eastern Michigan Camellia Bowl had a 0.6 (-14%) and 986,000 (-17%), marking the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the five-year old game.
Finally, the Utah State-North Texas New Mexico Bowl drew a 0.7 (-9%) and 968,000 (-20%), marking the lowest rated edition of that game since at least 2008 and the least-watched since at least 2005.
There’s a lot of “lowest rated” and “least-watched” in there. Have we finally reached a saturation point with bowl games? Is all the playoff expansion talk having an effect on whether folks care as much about bowls? Hard to say this early on, but if either is true, it would qualify as a self-inflicted wound by the WWL.
At risk of mixing avian metaphors, there’s a definite irony to the possibility that ESPN is killing its golden goose. Sad, too. Between the network and college football executives, we may need to concede that there simply isn’t a single smart person in the room. That doesn’t bode well for the sport we love.
Filed under College Football, ESPN Is The Devil
Who says romance is dead?
It’s all about the focus. And the subscription fee.
Filed under Recruiting
The Herbstreit Doctrine does (another) 180.
I swear, you could get whiplash if you follow Herbie’s rationale for the shape of the CFP format too closely. In just a matter of days he’s gone from being passionate about the mistake the selection committee made in not including Georgia as one of the four best teams in the country to this:
“I think UCF’s success in 2017 and then following it up in 2018 with another incredible run has definitely got people talking and got their attention,” Herbstreit said. “On top of that, having the Pac-12 left out again and having the Big Ten champion left out the last three years (has helped). That’s why you have a lot of people coming together saying, ‘We’ve got to figure this thing out.'”
Yeah, that thing definitely needs figuring out. Especially the part about the Big Ten champ. That’s Herbstreit’s touchstone; I need to remember to tune out the rest of the noise he generates because in the end, it’s not relevant.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, Media Punditry/Foibles
“We all want to play. Sometimes you have to find a new home.”
Life is funny, sometimes. People love comparing Aaron Murray to Jake Fromm (unfortunately, often in a non-complimentary way), but Murray himself sees a natural comparison with Justin Fields and his situation.
“I was in a very heated battle with (Mettenberger),” Murray told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday. “I remember that headed into spring ball, I told my parents ‘Hey this is going to be a battle, and if Mett wins it, good for him. If he does win it, I’m not going to stay. I’m going to go somewhere and find a new home and find a place I can compete and try to earn a starting position.’
“You come in there with a group of guys, guys you committed with, the school, the coaches, but at the end of the day, you do want to play. You don’t want to sit there and ride the pine for three or four years…”
I’m not sure why some of the fan base finds this so hard to accept.
Filed under Georgia Football
Not the greatest start, Les.
Things you didn’t expect to see going into the early signing period…
Even Tech’s doing better than that.
Filed under Recruiting, Wit And Wisdom From The Hat
Get The Picture 