Today, in football season can’t get here fast enough

This ain’t good news.

Sophomore linebacker Brenton Cox has been dismissed from the Georgia football team, sources confirmed to UGASports Monday.

The dismissal occurred Sunday, those same sources state.

Head coach Kirby Smart has yet to comment on the decision, although when defensive coordinator Dan Lanning was asked about Cox Monday, he deferred the question to the Bulldog head coach.

Although it’s unclear what the dismissal was for, Cox was facing a possible suspension following an April arrest for a misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

I sure hope Johnson and Smith are ready to go for the opener.

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UPDATE:

Brenton Cox, a five-star outside linebacker recruit in Georgia's 2018 class, is in the NCAA transfer portal, a source confirms to The Athletic. https://t.co/fhk0xGJaqJ

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) August 5, 2019

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On some level, football is a simple game.

I asked Dan Lanning his expectations on Jordan Davis: He told me "To whip the man in front of him" https://t.co/NZRWKjxtrN

— Anthony Dasher (@AnthonyDasher1) August 5, 2019

Erk couldn’t have said it better.

A ppd journey through the past

Brian Fremeau has done some very heavy lifting.

Points per drive team history (2007-2018) data is organized in the table below along with the individual season rank for each rating category. Net points scored per drive (NPD) is the difference between points scored per offensive drive (OPD) and points allowed per opponent offensive drive (DPD). Points per drive from long starting field position for the offense (OLD) and opponent offenses (DLD) are calculated on possessions that begin inside the offense’s own 20-yard line. Points per drive from middle starting field position for the offense (OMD) and opponent offenses (DMD) are calculated on possessions that begin from the offense’s own 20-yard line to its own 40-yard line. Points per drive from short starting field position for the offense (OSD) and opponent offenses (DSD) are calculated on possessions that begin less than 60 yards from the end zone.

And here’s what Georgia did over that period of time.

Boy, are there a few takeaways there, or what?

First of all, as bad as Martinez’ final days were, Grantham’s last season was more than a match for them.  Also, note that while the short-field defense in Pruitt’s first season didn’t improve much, the Dawgs improved dramatically when opponents had to drive the field to score.  (In that regard, Smart still has some catching up to do with his predecessor.)

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, note Bobo’s track record in his last three seasons.  In particular, finishing 20th in points per drive in the injury-plagued 2013 season is damned impressive.  Even so, Chaney’s last season was better by a third of a point per drive than Bobo’s 2014 high water mark.  Can Coley keep things going?

Speaking of high water marks, I find it interesting that Georgia’s best overall finish in net points per drive, fourth, has happened three times in the last seven years and in each of those three seasons, the team has been derailed by Alabama in oh, so close finishes.  That makes sense, given that the Tide finished first, second and first in those same seasons.

A most responsible man

A day or two in the life of Zach Smith, responsible human being and (more importantly) apple in the eye of Corch:

On Jan. 23, 2016, Jennifer Bula—who at the time was the administrative service manager for the athletic department—emailed associate athletic director Brian Voltolini. The email raised concerns about Smith’s handling of electronic devices. Bula wrote:

[I]n spring/summer Zach left his iPad on a Net Jets plane. They held on to it for a couple of days thinking he would call and pick it up. When he didn’t they shipped it to me and I told [Voltolini] I had it and for Zach to come over and get it. It was in my office for 4-6 weeks and I finally sent it over to football. It was curious that he didn’t have his iPad for over a month and didn’t seem too concerned (??). I don’t even know if he was aware I had it??

… Fifth, Ohio State’s release contained a printout of an email sent by an anonymous person on Aug. 19, 2018 to attorney David Sarratt, a partner at the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton. Sarratt was one of the attorneys hired by Ohio State to investigate. The person claimed to have been an employee of Sibcy House at Lindner Center of Hope, a mental health and addiction center in Mason, Ohio. The person wrote that Ohio State had directed Smith to seek treatment at the center on account of “multiple substance abuse addictions and/or stimulant overuse or misuse” and also “to determine or rule out if he had a sex addiction.”

The emailer went on to write that Smith prematurely left the program, a point which led the emailer to opine “it didn’t make sense to me why a school like Ohio State would keep him as a coach if he had all of these domestic violence issues, didn’t complete his rehab and the other things he reportedly did in the past several years.”

The article concludes, “… it would suggest that Ohio State was aware of issues with Smith long before he was fired.”  That’s not exactly news.  The problem wasn’t that the school lacked awareness.  It was that Smith’s boss wasn’t going to do anything about it until things became public.

Big shoes to fill

Best channel your inner Larry Munson as you read this:

It won’t get attention, but Georgia is replacing long snapper Nick Moore. Scott Fountain, the special teams coach, was on the upper field with two of the candidates for the job: Mercer graduate transfer Steven Nixon and freshman William Mote from Spain Park in Hoover, Ala. Georgia also lists redshirt freshman Payne Walker and true freshman JC Vega as long snappers.

A graduate transfer and three freshmen — looks like Coach Fountain’s got his hands full.

Style tips from Mike Leach

Mike Leach wears cargos as religiously as Jim Harbaugh wears khakis & you’ll never see the #WSU coach in nylon shorts.

“I don’t understand those. You jog around & your stuff flaps all over the place. I’ve never liked those.”

Interpret “your stuff flaps around” how you’d like. pic.twitter.com/r4TqZFAwtG

— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) August 4, 2019

And, I ask you, who among us hasn’t been there?

That move

How about thirty seconds of D’Andre Swift doing that thing he does?

Player: D’Andre Swift
School: Georgia
5’9” 215lbs
Class of 2017

Swift lives up to his name, point blank. He has to be the shiftiest RB in college football. pic.twitter.com/uiv7SFUpKr

— JT the Bigga-Trigga (@_TheDocumentary) July 31, 2019

As Uncle Verne used to say, plenty of lingerie on the field there.

“Coach Day told me before I came here that it just wouldn’t be handed to me.”

Sure, Justin, sure.

Fields is competing with two other transfer quarterbacks in Kentucky transfer Gunnar Hoak and West Virginia transfer Chris Chugunov. Hoak arrived at OSU this summer after expected backup Matthew Baldwin transferred, himself, to TCU. Chugonov came to OSU in 2018.

“I don’t try to think about it as a battle,” Fields said. “I don’t feel like I have to be better than this guy or this guy. I’m focused on us as a whole offense just trying to get better each and every day.”

The competition is just as fierce as it was in Athens.

“We can’t get anybody to play us.”

Mike Bianchi, playing scheduling broker, claims a breakthrough with UCF’s Danny White and that potential (using the term as broadly as imaginable) series with the Gators.

In an interview with me a few days ago, UCF athletics director Danny White opened the door ever so slightly and seems to have at least gotten the attention of Florida AD Scott Stricklin.

White, a guest on my Open Mike radio show, said, yes, he would consider a two-for-one series with the Gators (two games in Gainesville, one game in Orlando) as long as the one game in Orlando was played at UCF’s Spectrum Stadium and not at Camping World Stadium.

This is certainly a public alteration in White’s stance in that he has previously stated he wouldn’t schedule any “inequitable” two-for-ones against big-time Power 5 opponents.

Sounds like a deal!  Well, not so fast…

However, when I asked White if he would alter his philosophy against playing two-for-ones if the Gators or another big-time program agreed to play to play at Spectrum Stadium, he was skeptical but he certainly left the door open.

“I think that’s speculation that would never happen,” White replied. “They [Gators, etc.] don’t do that. I’m not picking up the phone and calling [powerhouse] programs when I know they don’t do that [with non-Power 5 programs like UCF]. It makes me look stupid. But if that fairy-tale scenario happened maybe we would reconsider our two-for-one stance.”

There is so much plausible deniability packed into that statement, it comes off as little more than a challenge for Scott Stricklin to pick up the phone, with no guarantee that he’ll get anything more than more posturing from White if he does.  Even Bianchi’s not willing to go any further.

I don’t believe this is the “fairy tale” scenario that White believes it to be. In fact, it’s my understanding that Stricklin would at least consider playing a two-for-one with UCF even if the Gators had to play their one roadie at Spectrum Stadium.

Yeah, this is so happening.

“I think I’m a lot better football player than last year.”

Jarrett Guarantano’s gotten a fair amount of preseason pub and I do think some of it’s deserved.  It’s tough being a decent quarterback in a shitty offense.  But part of the reason for UT’s offensive struggles can be explained in a simple stat about Guarantano himself:  Chaney is Guarantano’s fourth offensive coordinator in as many seasons.

He better be one helluva quarterback whisperer.