Heading out for warmer weather now, so you scamps behave.
I do have internet access, so there will be a post or two from Amelia to whet your appetites.
Daily Archives: October 31, 2019
Outside eyes
If you’re wondering how a Gator fan rationally reviews Georgia’s last few games to suggest how Florida could fashion its gameplan Saturday, you might want to take a look at David Wunderlich’s piece on just that.
One quick rebuttal on David’s first point: the Dawgs took away Kmet as a weapon in the second half of the Notre Dame game, and given that Kirby’s already taken notice of Pitts, I would assume Georgia’s defense took some valuable lessons away from the earlier matchup.
Filed under Gators, Gators..., Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
“I feel like it was just one game.”
Let’s face it, the important question about Georgia is whether the South Carolina game was a one-off experience for the offense, or a sign of deeper problems that are likely to rear their head as the Dawgs roll into the toughest part of their regular season schedule.
The team votes for the former, of course.
Senior running back Brian Herrien can provide a boost to Georgia’s offense, but he missed the South Carolina game with back spasms. He said that afternoon was an anomaly.
“I feel like it was just one game,” Herrien said. “We have to execute, of course … Watching that game, sometimes we weren’t focused enough, or sometimes we were complacent about who we were or what we were doing.”
The head coach doesn’t sound like he’s in total agreement, though.
When asked about the offensive woes and offensive coordinator James Coley’s performance, Smart deflects. He cites the lack of explosive plays, turnover margin and other metrics the Bulldogs watch closely.
But even Smart hedges.
Against Kentucky and South Carolina, the Bulldogs’ flaws were exposed. After a collapse against the Gamecocks and an ugly win over the Wildcats, the offense has offered more concern than confidence. Georgia ranks No. 62 nationally in passing offense.
“I think 50% of [the passing woes against Kentucky] would be due to conditions,” Smart said in a teleconference on Oct. 23. “It was the biggest struggle. It was just tough for anybody to palm a ball and throw a ball and effectively catch it.”
Sounds like the makings for a good, simple reader poll, so here goes nothing.
Comments, as always, are welcome.
Filed under Georgia Football
Never underestimate doing it for the kids.
I confess. As much as I ascribe low motives to the NCAA’s stance on amateurism, one particular play didn’t dawn on me until I read this piece ($$) in The Athletic.
On Tuesday, the NCAA’s board of governors voted to direct its three divisions to consider updating their bylaws by January 2021 to allow NCAA athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness rights. The announcement doesn’t immediately grant NCAA athletes the right to profit off of their publicity rights and remain eligible, but opens the door to each division amending its bylaws to grant that right.
The announcements mean the NCAA faces a battle to be the sole entity capable of selling NCAA athletes’ group licensing rights. [Emphasis added.]
Damn, I should have seen that one coming. “Sure, kids, we’ll let you monetize your NIL rights, but only if Mark Emmert calls the shots on the contracts.” Now, there’s a deal. And how would the NCAA do it?
Experts believe the NCAA will wage a legal battle over the right to represent NCAA athletes in group licensing deals.
“The NCAA is reasonably likely to launch a counter campaign against the NFLPA’s licensing efforts and make all types of legal threats against the players, including potentially those that would be unenforceable as a matter of law,” said Baruch College sport law professor Marc Edelman. “The most likely threat would be to deem any college athlete who were to sign an agreement to allocate their group licensing rights ineligible to compete in college sports.”
According to Edelman, such a threat opens the NCAA up to potential antitrust litigation.
Ya’ think?
That counter campaign is gonna be lit.
Filed under Georgia Football, The NCAA
Today, in trust the defense
One thing that’s been touched on this week is that Florida leads the SEC in offensive plays of 60+ yards, with seven. Keep that in mind as you see this series of tweets from David Hale.
Overall, both Georgia and Florida are hitting roughly the same level of explosive plays on offense, but defensively, Georgia is doing a far better job of limiting other teams’ big plays than the Gators are. In fact, check out Hale’s conclusion about Florida:
Don’t turn the ball over, Dawgs, and believe in the magic of Todd Grantham.
Filed under Gators, Gators..., Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
“Most quarterbacks this day and time wouldn’t do that.”
I don’t know if you caught this yesterday, but Auburn’s backup quarterback, Joey Gatewood, bailed and put his name in the transfer portal. Gus is pretty nonchalant about it, or so he claims.
“He’s a fine young man, and I really appreciate everything Joey has done for our program. Everyone in our program will be rooting for him moving forward.”
At least as long as Nix stays healthy, anyway. Maybe the reason Malzahn is so cool about it is because he’s used to it by now.
Gatewood is now the seventh quarterback signee under Malzahn to either transfer, leave the team for other reasons or change position. He joins Sean White (dismissed), Jason Smith (moved to receiver, then to defensive back), Woody Barrett (transferred), John Franklin III (switched positions twice and then transferred), Tyler Queen (transferred) and Malik Willis (transferred). Only three quarterback signees under Malzahn have finished their college careers playing quarterback at Auburn: Nick Marshall (2013-14), Jeremy Johnson (2013-2016) and Jarrett Stidham (2017-18), with two of those being junior college transfers and the other, Johnson, finishing his career as a backup after being benched in 2015.
Man, judging by what Auburn fans have said over the years, there’s a lot of Heisman Trophy-level talent just wasted on the Plains. That’s some quarterback whisperer you’ve got there, Tigers.
Filed under Auburn's Cast of Thousands
Get The Picture 