Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

They’re just not gonna make it easy, are they.

Your last home game day post of 2019

Senior Day is always a bitter sweet time.  Last game in front of the home crowd for some kids who have played their hearts out and the last football trip to Athens of the year.

You’d think Mother Nature would cooperate a little, but no such luck today.

Georgia hasn’t scored over 30 points since the first week of October.  The stats don’t give me any reason to think that streak’s gonna end, and I felt that way before I knew the weather forecast.

The flip side is that Georgia’s defense hasn’t given up more than 20 points in a game all season.  The stats and the weather don’t give me any reason to think that’s changing today, either.

The spread, in my humble opinion, is too high at 14.5.  Look for Dawgs to win by 7-10 points (usual turnover caveat applies, natch).

Let’s hope for no more injuries and for those a bit banged up to heal a bit.

Have at it in the comments and stay dry, wherever you are.

Advertisement

Today’s advanced stats showdown

Courtesy of Josh:

Outside of yards per rush, that is a pretty even face off.

On the other hand, outside of success rate on downs, that looks like a pretty dominant comparison favoring Georgia.

I’m not seeing a lot of points here.

A penny saved is a penny not available to protect a player’s future.

Well, ain’t this a real kick in the pants.

Tua Tagovailoa’s season-ending hip injury may have cost him upwards of $10 million. Why? Unlike other high-profile NFL prospects, the insurance provided to him by the University of Alabama did not include a loss-of-value policy.

That means he will not be able to recoup millions of dollars in potential losses if he falls from the possible No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft to, say, the mid-first round, which some prognosticators are expecting.

Tagovailoa, sources said, decided to only take the coverage that Alabama gave to him. Tua’s coverage entitles him to collect if doctors rule he can never play again, as the school purchased permanent total disability insurance for the QB.

And why doesn’t ‘Bama, with all its soon-to-be pro studs on the roster, fork out for the coverage?

Sources said Alabama has not, in recent memory, agreed to pay for loss of value for any of its players due to the policy’s cost compared to the percentage of players who actually collect.

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne told The Action Network the school currently has 16 football players for which it pays permanent total disability premiums.

The money Alabama spends on those premiums took up 68% of the school’s allocation of its Student Assistance Fund this year. (The NCAA stipulates that the only way schools can pay for insurance premiums for players is through this fund, which is a pool of hundreds of millions of dollars that is split among institutions.)

Schools have to always leave some money available in their fund to pay for approved use of giving student athletes benefits in case of emergencies (death in the family, natural disaster, etc).

“In consultation with industry experts, loss of value has not been shown to consistently benefit student-athletes who file a claim,” Byrne said. “If you have loss of value, you still have the opportunity to have a successful professional career. One of the reasons we go with permanent total disability is to protect the student-athletes should they not be able to play again, in which case they have no ability to make any future earnings through their sport professionally. In the event of injury, we utilize our resources through health care and rehab to help them increase their draft value.”

Very prudent.

The point here isn’t to throw shade at Alabama.  Byrne is doing the best he can under the rules, which are set by every player’s friend, the NCAA.  But this is what you get when a school is loaded with pro prospects; the system simply isn’t set up to accommodate a situation like that, basically because schools in general don’t want the expense.

Which sucks for Tua.  And, yes, the family could have bought coverage on their own, assuming they could afford it.  That’s a pretty steep bill, though, and if they couldn’t swing it, it’s not like they could have asked a friend (or an agent) to front it for them without getting into a different issue with the NCAA.

I will say that this could make for an interesting sales pitch on the recruiting trail, though.

(h/t)

Defensive about the offense

Kirby Smart hears the noise.  He just doesn’t care about the noise.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart appeared on the Paul Finebaum Show Friday, as the show broadcasted live from the Georgia campus in Athens. Finebaum asked Smart about his team’s offensive struggles during the season.

“First off, I don’t think you have to defend your offense in this conference when you’re playing the level of football that we’re capable of playing,” Smart said. “There’s good defenses, I mean, the SEC is a very defensive league. When you look across the board, and I turn on tape and I get to watch it every week, there’s some good defenses out there. There’s some really good defensive backs, and they tend to get their hands all over you. And they let them play in our league, and that’s what you look across the board and see.

“So we’ve had moments (on offense) where we’ve really shined in third down. We’ve had moments we’ve really shined in the red area. We’ve had moments that we’ve been able to run it better than others. We haven’t put that combination together. And that’s what we’re always looking to do, so we’re trying to improve.

“We’ve got two receivers that have been out of action, in action, out of action. We’ve had an offensive line that’s been in and out and a little beat up. But we’re trying to put a complete game together.”

And Jules was trying to be the shepherd, Ringo.  Trying real hard.