Georgia’s biggest QBR test of the 2019 season, otherwise known as the G-Day game, is scheduled for April 20th. I believe that comes a week after the Masters, so once again there won’t be an excuse for failing to heed Kirby’s call to be at Sanford Stadium to help recruiting.
No word on condoms or performer contracts, though.
Filed under Georgia Football
Well, almost nobody.
Saban seems to be doing his old defensive coordinator a solid this offseason by showing the world how much doesn’t matter to running a successful program. Also, while I don’t actually know, why do I have the sneaking suspicion that Long’s agent is Jimmy Sexton?
Filed under Nick Saban Rules
Finally, we’ve got a Richt guy on staff. (I keed, I keed.)
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UPDATE: More on Hartley here. I had forgotten about this:
Hartley is best known for helping prepare Georgia’s defense for the 2009 Independence Bowl after Willie Martinez had been dismissed.
Filed under Georgia Football
By far, this weekend’s most intriguing news about the defensive coach hunt came in this tweet.
There is a fair amount to unpack there.
Stay tuned.
Filed under Georgia Football
File this under “Legalized Sports Betting, What Could Go Wrong?”.
Filed under Bet On It
I have to admit that I cringed a little at the news of Clemson’s invite to the White House to honor its national championship, not because of Trump’s politics, but because the timing is… well, not so hot.
President Donald Trump has received criticism for inviting the Clemson football team to the White House in the midst of a partial government shutdown.
Clemson players and coaches are set to visit the White House on Monday, exactly one week after winning the College Football Playoff National Championship and roughly three weeks into the longest government shutdown in history.
The optics of the White House celebration did not sit well with some observers nationally, and even some fans and graduates of Clemson University disagreed with the timing. The trip came together faster than visits from previous college football champions during the Trump administration.
The rushed timing is a tell, methinks. Add to that the strong likelihood that the POTUS is going to use the occasion as a platform to ramble on about himself, and I seriously wonder if the folks who accepted the invite are going to question their decision midway through the ceremony. Being used, even as a national champ, isn’t a good feeling. I honestly hope I’m wrong, but the odds of this turning into something embarrassing are decent.
Ed. note. By the way, I shouldn’t have to add this, but I expect I have to. This isn’t a Playpen post. Don’t treat it as such. Stick to the specific topic at hand. If you can’t do so, don’t expect to be a commenter on the next Playpen post.
Filed under Clemson: Auburn With A Lake, Political Wankery
I had a couple of emails this weekend regarding Jadon Haselwood’s video and his rather scathing comments about Georgia’s staff during the recruiting process. I’m not going to link to the video here, because, let’s not forget, he did commit to Smart at one point, but also because he makes a valid point with this follow up.
Now that may only be an 18-year old’s way (a kid who probably was convinced way before Chaney’s departure that he preferred Oklahoma’s offensive strategy to that of Georgia’s, mind you) of spinning out of criticism received from posting what many perceived as a tacky video. But that doesn’t mean there’s not an element of truth lurking therein.
Even if you take it as valid, though, the good news is that Georgia’s hardly the only school guilty of it.
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UPDATE: One more fair observation about Haselwood’s comment…
Georgia’s plans for Haselwood likely wouldn’t have changed much after Smart’s quick decision to promote Coley just two days after Chaney left.
Like I said, he had likely made his mind up before the Chaney news was public. That doesn’t invalidate his point about loyalty.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
Once again, if you’re feeling a little down about the January Georgia is having, Tuscaloosa is here to bring some measure of comfort.
And that doesn’t count their backup QB who’s in the transfer portal.
Still, I have a feeling Nick Saban’s gonna be okay this year.
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UPDATE: If you’re really needing some cheering up, Stingtalk is here for you, folks.
Filed under Alabama
Bill King bids Jim Chaney a not so fond farewell.
You could make a good case that offensive coordinator Jim Chaney leaving Georgia this past week for Tennessee was a win-win situation.
In what otherwise could be seen as less than a lateral move, Chaney gets considerably more money from a rebuilding UT program than he was going to get from Georgia, which is on the verge of ranking alongside Alabama and Clemson atop college football.
And, without Chaney’s limited upside as a play-caller, Georgia now might actually be able to get over that hump and become the elite program that Bulldog Nation is expecting from Kirby Smart.
While not quite as stark a case of addition by subtraction as when Todd Grantham thankfully departed Athens to coordinate defenses elsewhere, Chaney leaving solves a problem that Smart didn’t appear ready to deal with, despite rumblings out of Athens this past season that there was growing frustration within UGA’s Butts-Mehre athletic complex over the Dawgs’ repeated failures in short-yardage and first-and-goal situations.
Whew. Almost hitting Todd Grantham territory isn’t quite “don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out, Jim”. But it’s close.
There’s plenty more where that came from, but I can’t argue that Bill’s ultimate assessment, Chaney being a good but not elite OC, is unfair to the man. The stats kind of speak to that. Take a look at this points differential comparison between the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
SEC
Team 2017 2018 Change Wins Florida -57 +195 +252 +6 Kentucky -35 +127 +162 +3 Texas A&M +26 +139 +113 +2 Vanderbilt -81 +24 +105 +1 Missouri +74 +145 +71 +1 Alabama +352 +413 +61 +1 Mississippi State +144 +200 +56 -1 Tennessee -111 -62 +49 +1 LSU +108 +138 +30 +1 Ole Miss -21 -27 -6 -1 South Carolina +46 +37 -9 -2 Georgia +285 +261 -24 -2 Auburn +215 +153 -62 -2 Arkansas -89 -157 -68 -2
Now, Fornelli goes on to say, “Georgia’s drop isn’t a major concern. You’d like to see improvement from year to year, but Georgia’s average point differential per game only dropped 0.36 points”, but any way you look at it, Georgia’s offense suffered the largest drop in the division. Sure, some of my hot take goes to bad offenses at places like Florida and Kentucky getting better, but it’s still not a good look.
More relevantly, it’s not a look you want to see turn into a trend. Especially if it means overpaying the guy who’s overseeing the offense.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
It looks like Mike Leach will be teaching a class this spring called “Insurgent Warfare & Football” and all I want to know if it can be audited online.
Filed under Mike Leach. Yar!
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