Holy shit.
Fromm has missed on one pass of under ten yards all season. One. As in fewer than two. How is that even possible?
I mean, even if every pass is perfectly on the mark, don’t you figure his receivers would drop some, just because?
Don’t know about you, but I’m flat out gobsmacked.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Listen, when it comes to sarcastic takes on Mark Emmert’s organization, I like to think I’m good at it, but I have to tip my cap to Stewart Mandel and his tour de force on the subject today ($$). A sample:
In an interview with CBS Sports on Tuesday, Mark Emmert called the bill “the single biggest issue” in his near-decade on the job. And it’s easy to see why. Other than his association twice being ruled in violation of federal antitrust law, a football coach at a Pennsylvania university sexually abusing children for decades, a team doctor at a Michigan university sexually abusing female athletes for decades and the FBI conducting an undercover sting against corrupt college basketball coaches, Emmert’s tenure has been fairly uneventful.
I know there’s a certain shooting-fish-in-a-barrel element to this, but still, I can’t help wallowing in it. Well played, Stewart.
Filed under Envy and Jealousy
If you’re fretting even a little over how the Notre Dame game went down, maybe this is why.
Filed under Georgia Football
Georgia fans: Man, those dumb plays last year when our players casually dropped the ball before crossing the goal line…
Patrick Garbin: You want dumb? Hold my beer.
I was at that game and still remember that all my friend could say for the next minute was “we just lost this game… we just lost this game… we just lost this game…”.
Filed under General Idiocy, Georgia Football
By most accounts, Josh Brooks is a good guy doing a good job, but this comes off sounding pretty lame:
In order to accommodate the extra number of fans, UGA used 500 seats in the West End Zone student section to accommodate Notre Dame visitors sitting in the designated visitors’ section. In addition, UGA installed temporary aluminum bleachers in the West End Plaza underneath the scoreboard behind student sections 139-143 to accommodate the overflow from the West End Zone student section.
In an interview on Sept. 24, Deputy Athletic Director for Operations Josh Brooks addressed issues raised by students. In reference to staff members sending students to section 600, Brooks said that was a “huge miscommunication” and students would normally never be placed there.
“I’d like it to be known that we care and we listen,” Brooks said. “We failed, we had people who didn’t get the experience they wanted, but I do want people to know we genuinely care about their experience.”
For one, Brooks claimed his folks were ready to handle the added demands the Notre Dame game presented.
In an email ahead of the game, Brooks had said stadium staff were “prepared for all scenarios.”
“We are bringing in additional staffing to assist with security, ingress, keeping campus clean, etc.,” Brooks said.
For another, other than a meaningless apology, exactly how can you show you care about something like this experience?
By the instruction of stadium staff, Jae Choi, senior biological science major, said she and her friends were directed to sit in section 306 but were later removed by people who had paper tickets in that section. They were then told to relocate to section 600, a predominantly Notre Dame fan area. Choi claims the fans verbally attacked her and her friends and told the students “show us your tickets or leave now.”
“We were sick of all the harassment and being tossed here and there, we couldn’t even stand to watch the game. We ended up being forced to leave [by the police],” Choi said.
As the group of seniors left the stadium, Choi said they saw multiple students tearfully arguing with staff members. This prompted Choi’s friend to “burst out bawling,” after wishing to be a part of “one last, huge game” his senior year.
Tickets are sold. Seats are taken. Kids are graduating. There won’t be another oversold game like last Saturday night in the foreseeable future. So it’s essentially impossible to take concrete action to make up for the bad taste Choi and her group have in their mouths. Nor will there be a future setting in which Brooks can demonstrate that B-M has learned its lesson.
Again, a textbook case on how not to build future good will — and it comes from one of the better folks in the department. I’ve stopped being amazed at how bad these people are at doing the whole fan friendly thing. The difference between me and McGarity is that he never was amazed about it in the first place.
Filed under Georgia Football
Honestly, I never thought I’d see the day when an SEC head coach would be quoted saying, “This is Nashville. No stadium should run out of beer.”
What a time to be alive, eh?
Filed under I'll Drink To That, SEC Football
Mark Emmert may claim his members feel threatened by California’s Fair Pay to Play Act, but it’s his members that are doing the threatening right now.
Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith, who is co-chairing the working group, told USA TODAY Sports this week that if Newsom signs the bill, the uncertainty surrounding a potential difference between California law and NCAA rules would prompt him – for now — not to schedule games against California schools for dates after Jan. 1, 2023, because he does not see how they could remain NCAA members unless differences between the law and the NCAA’s rules can be resolved…
“If the California law goes into effect in ’23,” Smith said Tuesday, “and let’s say the NCAA legislation, how ever it emerges, doesn’t quite meet what California wants it to be and they continue to hold that law, who’s going to play (California schools)? We’re certainly not. They won’t be members of the NCAA. I think that’s going to be the problem.”
Smith said that if Newsom signs the bill, schools in California are “going to have a model where they can almost pay for play – not quite – but I think they’re going to be challenged to maintain their membership in the association because, as an association, we have the authority as a group to make our own rules and regulations, and they will be outside those rules and regulations. So, I’m not quite sure how they will stay in the association.”
This is straight out of the Jim Delany “if it becomes lawful to pay players, the Big Ten will go D-III, sumbitches” playbook. Last time I checked, the COA stipend passed and Big Jim’s conference is still cashing those checks. (So did Big Jim himself, for that matter. But I digress.)
The idea that the NCAA is going to walk away from the fifth-largest economy in the world — and that’s assuming no other legislature follows California’s lead here, which is something I wouldn’t bet on — is as silly as Delany’s threat was. Mainly, because as Smith himself clearly indicates, his bunch has no idea right now how to counter what’s coming.
“My guess is our membership would say yes because one of our principles is fair play, and even in the working group that I’m on, we’re focused on trying to make sure we deal with this in a fair-play way – as best as we can have a level playing field. We know it’s unlevel in a lot of ways, but this could make it unbelievably unlevel.
“So, my position would be, yes, and actually I would really be interested in how the Pac-12 (Conference) will handle those schools who are not in California that are members of the Pac-12. And how those schools will compete against those schools in California who have an unfair advantage because they’ll be able to offer student-athletes benefits that the other schools will not be able to offer. So, yeah, my position would be we walk. … [Emphasis added.]
“What’s fortunate is we have till 2023, and I’m hopeful that once our working group completes its work and the association goes through next year, we can get to a point where we mitigate this. But if it stands as it is, and other states create similar legislation, then we’ve got a big issue. We really do.”
The amusing part here is that Smith concedes (1) the playing field in college athletics isn’t fair already and (2) the players are being denied tangible benefits currently and that granting those would result in an unfair advantage to California schools, which means he winds up in the exact same place California’s governor does when he says, “… it perpetuates a cycle of inequality and a lack of equity”. The first, do no harm solution is pretty obvious here, but these guys claim they’re stubborn enough to resist taking that approach.
They’re going to wind up getting everything they deserve when the dust settles.
Filed under Political Wankery, The NCAA
Through 4 games, UGA has passed on 1st down 50 times (88 all of last season) with an 82% completion rate. (Burrow leads SEC at 83%) Fromm is on target on 92% of 1stdown passes! UGA still in bottom half of attempts on 1st down, but 2nd in YPA and the only team not to allow a sack on 1st Down.
In addition to passing more on 1st Down, UGA has a higher success rate on 1st down passes than 1st down runs.
1st Down Success measured where play gains 50% yards to go. Dawgs have a success rate of 57% on first down rushes – which is pretty damn good. But on the 50 passes on 1st downs, UGA has a success rate of 72%!!!
If you’re looking for areas where Coley has varied from Chaney, first down passing is one such place. Per cfbstats.com, here’s what Fromm has done passing on first down so far this season: 31-38 (81.6%), 420 yds, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 191.80 passer rating. Last season, those numbers for him looked like this: 78-119 (67.3%), 1049 yds, 9 TDs, 2 INTs, 161.20 passer rating.
Overall, Georgia is throwing the ball on 38.5% of its first down opportunities through its first four games of 2019, compared with 32.8% last season. So, Coley has made an effort for Fromm to throw more early, perhaps to take some pressure off from opponents loading the box to stop the run, and been rewarded with a next level effort from Fromm.
If you’re wondering why Coley isn’t even more committed to the pass in that situation, consider that Georgia is rushing for 7.34 yards per carry on first down this season. When your average rush is setting you up for second and two or three, it’s kind of hard to brush that aside.
But, yeah, when the average yards per pass attempt on first down is over eleven, I’d probably throw the ball more there, if I had my druthers. Either way, it’s a good problem for Coley to have.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
I know that you will be totally shocked, shocked to discover that, once again, the world has failed to appreciate Larry Scott’s financial acumen.
The Pac-12 has decided against selling ownership in its media rights to a private equity firm, commissioner Larry Scott told the Hotline, but it still could take on a strategic partner.
Scott said the presidents and chancellors have ruled out an arrangement with a “pure financial institution” that would receive minority ownership in a media rights holding company and, in return, provide each campus with tens of millions in up-front cash.
However, the Pac-12 continues to examine partnerships with media or tech companies that could involve selling ownership for cash but would better position the conference for media rights negotiations in 2023-24.
“We’ve narrowed the field,’’ Scott said. “(The CEOs) were not interested in doing something with a pure financial institution, even though we had a lot of interesting offers at the kind of valuations we were hoping for and really great terms.
“They don’t want to do something with a private equity or financial firm.”
This, of course, begs the question of why Scott was hot in pursuit of a deal his school presidents didn’t want, but, hell, doesn’t everyone need a hobby?
This is so going to wind up with the Pac-12 cutting the same kind of deal in five years that every other P5 conference has now. That would be funny, except it means Scott will have given away millions by selling his bosses on how much better his business plan would turn out. Give the man credit, though. He’s getting paid like it did turn out better.
Filed under It's Just Bidness, Pac-12 Football
I haven’t attended a game in Knoxville this century, so I’m passing this request on to the group for assistance:
I’m hoping you can offer some advice on parking at UT.
I’m planning to go up next weekend, and I haven’t been up there for a game since the mid 2000s. I had a parking pass through UT that day so this wasn’t an issue then.
Assuming you’ve been, any suggestions on where to park? I’m planning to come up 75 from Atlanta.
Those of you who can, help a reader out in the comments.
Filed under GTP Stuff
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