A speculative look at Georgia’s 2020 schedule

Dean Legge does that here.  It strikes me as a fairly reasonable exercise.  The biggest question for now appears to be when the South Carolina and Vanderbilt games are scheduled.  A few observations:

• I would assume that South Carolina would scream bloody murder at being forced to play Georgia and Clemson in back-to-back weeks, so here’s my vote for the ‘Dores being the Dawgs’ penultimate opponent.
• They’re going to wind up playing Alabama and Auburn within a three-week period.  In other words, Georgia is being handed the exact situation Auburn demanded be changed for itself.
• Tennessee and Vanderbilt are going to wind up remaining back-to-back games, just in November.
• Legge says that the quid pro quo for playing Auburn on the road in 2012 and 2013 was indeed securing the bye week before Florida… which begs the question of what Florida threw in the pot with the conference when it secured the same privilege.

What are y’all’s thoughts about this?

Advertisement

“All I can tell you is I have trust and faith in the SEC office.”

Unlike some of you here, I’m not a conspiracy theorist when it comes to SEC officiating.

Unless we’re talking about a conspiracy of idiocy.  If that’s the case, I’m all in.

*************************************************************************

UPDATE:  If you’re expecting a brilliant defense, well…

Southeastern Conference referee Anthony Jordan has told the league he didn’t mean to show favoritism toward any particular school when he posed for a picture holding an LSU T-shirt five years ago while traveling abroad.

Although that’s probably good enough for the SEC brass.  On with the show!

Communication breakdown

In retrospect, Coach, maybe texting a German player “I’m your new Hitler” wasn’t the smartest approach to take.

Jason Brown has resigned. https://t.co/Lmsprue9Ah

— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) February 25, 2019

Everything’s changed.

Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

THE @CoachCollins ERA BEGINS NOW! 🐝🏈💪

LET’S GO TO WORK! #TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/hannHcRc8G

— Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) January 7, 2019

It’s kind of cute that they keep trying to claim “We Run This State” for themselves.  Too bad Washaun Ealey and Caleb King didn’t trademark that phrase.

***********************************************************************

UPDATE:  Stingtalk’s reaction to the current QOTD is just what you’d expect.

Show some appreciation, people.

What do you figure the odds are that Greg McGarity reads Bill King’s latest column?

Determining which teams have the best fan bases might seem the subject of a bar room debate, but marketing professor Mike Lewis of Emory’s Goizueta Business School has been tracking fan bases, both pro and college, for years, and publishes annual rankings based on scientific metrics.

… Actually, Georgia’s 2018 ranking of 6th is down a bit from 5 years ago, when the Bulldogs ranked first in the SEC and second nationally, behind only Texas. That drop seemed a little surprising to me, considering Kirby Smart’s program has been considerably improved in on-field results over the past couple of seasons, and Georgia’s fan base has drawn national raves for the way it showed up en masse on the road at places like Notre Dame and the Rose Bowl.

But, Lewis told me, it’s “not really slippage — [the UGA] fan base is still amazingly supportive. It’s because the revenue has not moved up at the same rate as the performance.”

Lewis said that is “probably due to the athletic department not rapidly increasing prices. I’m in Atlanta, so I understand the serious passion of that fan base — I suspect UGA could increase revenues pretty easily.”

So, yes, I guess fans should be grateful the UGA Athletic Association is not charging as much for tickets as Lewis thinks it could.

The next McGarity’s Minutes almost writes itself, doesn’t it?  (Although it’ll probably ignore the second half of King’s piece, which concludes with “… it still wouldn’t be a bad idea for the folks who run UGA athletics to provide a bit more TLC for that fan base — and pay more attention to its concerns — so Bulldog Nation remains as fiercely loyal as it’s been up to now.“)

“He’s going back to the well.”

Alabama had a helluva 2018 season, running the table until being blasted in the national title game.  Since then, Saban’s had significant staff turnover, with seven new assistant coaches on board.

Greg McElroy thinks that’s fine.

“I think in most years I would be concerned, but in this year in a lot of ways it might be addition by subtraction,” McElroy told Sporting News. “Not to discredit the previous coaching staff, but when you have so many new voices there can be some mixed messaging within the coaching staff.

“When you’re new to the staff and you don’t know how the program is run that can lead to some miscommunication,” he said. “That’s kind of what transpired this year, and that showed at the end.”

Alabama won fourteen straight games, including the SECCG and the CFP semifinal game, but somehow there was miscommunication that was a problem.  But now, that’s fixed, according to McElroy.

“He’s going back to the familiar coaches that know him, that know his system. All these guys are veteran coaches. He’s going to go back to something he’s familiar with.”

But I thought Saban was the plug and play head coach, that the Process was so well organized any assistant coach could be slotted into place without a hiccup.  Not to mention that both of his coordinators last season were products of the program, not brand new guys flown in last year.

So, did Saban screw up last season, or is McElroy just BSing here?

“Ohio State’s approach to handling this waiver request should be a model for other schools.”

It looks like we’re back to the original theory of the crime.

… Fields’ situation was something entirely different, as a former baseball player shouted racial slurs about him. It’s a situation Smith, an African-American, related to on a personal level.

“I went through some of those situations,” he said. “I understood exactly, personally, how he felt. I’ve been in numerous situations where I was the only African-American in a group and have had an individual attack me. I sympathized with him. I certainly was personally and professionally supportive of his request.”

The Patterson request took eight weeks before the NCAA made its final decision, mostly because of stringent objection by Ole Miss until, finally, the Rebels relinquished their flat-footed stance. The process for Fields was only five weeks, partly because Georgia originally objected before acquiescing and coming to a cordial resolution.

“The institution that the young person is leaving from, in my view, should not have a say in what that young person does,” Smith said. “That makes no sense. Georgia was awesome, by the way. They were phenomenal. But it could have been a situation where they were vindictive, but they weren’t. I just think we’re in a sad state, the way we’re managing it. I hope there’s a better outcome down the road.”

I’m beginning to think I need to add “Sasser’d” to the Lexicon.

Smith, by the way, now takes the position that every football and basketball player should be granted a one-time right to transfer without restriction.  That strikes me as a sensible approach, which means it’s probably doomed.

When in doubt, panel.

The University of Maryland has instituted the majority of the recommendations from the two investigations that stemmed from the death of Jordan McNair and is creating a panel to monitor their progress, university President Wallace Loh told the Board of Regents on Friday.

If there’s one thing bureaucracy is consistent about, it’s showing faux concern by creating panels and commissions.  Idiots will applaud while nothing changes.

In a year’s time, I expect Loh to create another panel to monitor this panel’s progress.

Musical palate cleanser, catchin’ the next train home edition

John Martyn’s “Man In The Station” is one of those quiet songs you have to strain a little to catch, but it’s beautiful, moving and totally worth the effort.