Mike Bianchi finds religion.

That was then.

I tried to warn you doggone Dawgs after last year’s game, but you wouldn’t listen.

You only laughed at me and sent me nasty tweets and emails, saying I was a partisan, provincial Gator hack and a blind, biased Dan Mullen flack.

Before the most monumental Georgia-Florida game in years, let us take a moment to revisit what I wrote after Mullen’s Gators were manhandled 36-17 by coach Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs in Mullen’s inaugural Cocktail Party last year.

“Enjoy this, Georgia,” I wrote. “Savor this second consecutive victory over the Florida Gators. Relish your clear superiority over your rivals during Saturday’s 36-17 victory in the World’s Largest Outdoor Talent Discrepancy Party. Every Dog has its day. But your Dog days aren’t going to last as long as you once thought. In less than a season, new Gator coach Dan Mullen has at least put some chomp back in this rivalry after taking over a doomed, done-for, dysfunctional program that completely quit on former coach Jim McElwain during last year’s 42-7 loss to the Bulldogs.

“Cherish the 19-point victory, Georgia. Embrace it. Appreciate it. With Dan the Man in charge, you’re not going to be Dogging the Gators like this for very much longer.”

I hate to say I told you so, but here we are just one year later and Mullen already has his No. 6-ranked Gators rated higher and performing better than Smart’s No. 8-ranked Bulldogs. If the Gators win Saturday — and I acknowledge that’s a big, big if — Mullen will have proven in just two years at UF that he is a better coach than Smart.

This is now.

… It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that you can count the number of great college football coaches on one hand: Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Ryan Day, Lincoln Riley and Kirby Smart. And guess what? Those coaches aren’t coming to UF.

… Mullen was such a bad recruiter when he was Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator at UF that Meyer wouldn’t even send him out on the road to recruit. Unfortunately for UF, Mullen’s recruiting skills didn’t improve much as the head coach, which is why the Gators’ are currently recruiting at UCF’s level.

There is more to being a head coach than drawing up a game plan, putting on the headsets and calling plays. The head coach is the driving influence for every element of the organization. Being an $8 million-a-year college head coach is a multi-faceted job that requires not just being a play-caller but a program-builder.

Welcome to the party, pal.

My Week 12 Mumme Poll ballot

Between its dominant win over a decent SMU team and Oregon’s drubbing at the hands of Utah, Cincinnati had a very good Saturday.  That means my ballot deciding process got considerably shorter.  Less than five minutes?  Hell, more like less than one minute:

• Cincinnati
• Ohio State
• Alabama
• Georgia

I am leaving the door open to consider Oklahoma State, if the Cowboys run the table.  And, of course if Michigan pulls off the upset Saturday…

Bo knows.

Mr. Nix goes full blown Alabama/SEC refs conspiracy theory:

Auburn QB Bo Nix threw some shade at SEC officiating in Alabama games on today's show.

See the full interview here: https://t.co/W7pUFq8vxC

Bo Nix's weekly appearance is presented by @CraneWorks1987. pic.twitter.com/9rlYdTFnVD

— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) November 22, 2021

“Just few of those obviously controversial calls that were in that game raises some questions for sure—I guess, unless you’re an Alabama fan,” Nix said. “But that’s just part of the game. We’ve discussed it over and over and over. That’s not gonna change, no matter what happens.”

… Nix said that the questionable officiating is something that’s “always” gone on in Alabama games. The Tide has won nine of the past 13 matchups in the rivalry.

“I think you can watch the game, and anybody unbiased would think that something is different,” Nix said. “But it is what it is. It’s kind of how it’s always been, but that’s part of the game. And they have good players, you can’t take that away from them.”

That should make for some good discussion fodder on Finebaum.

Another business decision

Sadly, I suspect Mike Gundy is correct about this.

Ahead of the 116th edition of Bedlam, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy not only suggested that Saturday’s meeting between the seventh-ranked Cowboys and No. 10 Oklahoma could be the last in Stillwater for quite a while, but revealed pessimism about the rivalry continuing on at all after the Sooners leave for the SEC.

“I don’t think it’s a realistic thing that it’s going to happen based on the business side of Power 5 conference football, the Big 12 or the SEC,” Gundy said Monday. “That’s just my opinion on it. I could be wrong. I’m not getting that from anybody.”

Gundy cited finances, the future of a 12-team Big 12 and nonconference schedules planned years in advance among the reasons he doubts the football rivalry that dates back to 1904 will go on with OU no longer in-conference.

“I don’t think it will (continue),” Gundy said.

It’s another decision in a long line of decisions made by the people running the sport to reject the regional passions that have driven college football’s popularity in favor of a more national focus manufactured by conference realignment and postseason expansion.

It pains me to say this, but there is one way I can see to maintain the rivalry, and that would be for the SEC not to go to a nine-game conference schedule.  Bedlam could then join the other existing non-conference rivalry games that Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina already play.  But I don’t think that would be as good for business.

“It was modest of him to say.”

Mike Leach responds to Junior’s praise of him on ESPN GameDay.

Yeah, Thursday’s gonna be fun.

Stingtalk, I don’t even know you any more.

Speaking of hate, what the hell, guys?  No smack, no contrived stats to make your team’s chances look better than they are, no mockery of Kirby’s haircut?

I mean, this is friggin’ pathetic.

At least you’ll always have Dragon*Con.  Judging from the looks of that comment thread, you’ll need it.

Why hate matters

Shot.

It was an honest mistake. Channing Tindall simply misunderstood the question.

The senior linebacker was asked how he felt about playing “this rivalry game in Atlanta,” and Tindall honestly thought the reporter was asking him about No. 1 Georgia’s Dec. 4 matchup against No. 2 Alabama in the SEC Championship game the weekend after next.

“Well, Alabama, 0-and-2 record right now. Trying to change that,” Tindall said before a group of reporters attending UGA’s media day on Monday. “We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do. Right now we’re focused on Georgia Tech. We’ve got to take it one step at a time. When that time comes, I’ll speak more on it.”

Tindall was embarrassed when corrected by his inquisitor.

“No, I mean Tech, this rivalry this week,” the reporter emphasized.

“Oh, I thought you were talking about Alabama,” Tindall said with a grin.

Chaser.

As Tindall’s slip-up would indicate and he would later admit, the Bulldogs can’t help but have Alabama on their minds.

“I always do have it in the back of my head,” Tindall acknowledged. “That’s why when he was talking about the rivalry earlier, I went straight to thinking he was talking about Bama. But, yeah, I try to tone it out because whenever we do that, we’re not focused. We know we have to take it one game at a time. You can’t be focused on other teams when you have more games to play. You do that and it can overwhelm your head and it kind of goes all over the place.

“So, right now, we’re just worried about Georgia Tech, and we’re going to leave it at that.”

It’s only natural that they would have Alabama on their mind.  But hate brings focus to the task at hand.  And that’s running this state.  Again.

If the Jackets were smart, they’d spend the pregame asking our guys how they think they’ll do in the SECCG.  My bet is they aren’t.  Any smack talk will do in a pinch.  Hate = focus.