Clean, new-fashioned hate

Well, now.

Hello from Georgia Tech. pic.twitter.com/M8NMgDZB7d

— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzATL) September 27, 2022

I don’t know if I should feel amused or insulted.

Turned over

Bill Connelly’s advanced box score from Saturday’s game is surprisingly revealing, and mostly in a good way.

First, his overall point about the offense:  “This UGA offense is RUTHLESSLY efficient this year.  Like “first in passing rate success and second in rushing rate success” efficient.  And their tight end is ripping off 75-yard runs.  It took three turnovers (including two out-of-character fumbles) to keep them under 40 points in a 10-possession game.”  If you think that’s a formula that’s likely to be repeated, then, yeah, you probably need to worry about some potential losses on the remaining schedule.  Otherwise, they’re likely to remain friggin’ efficient on that side of the ball.

Except in the red zone? (“The one vulnerability, turnovers aside:  they’re strangely average in the red zone.”)  A quick check at cfbstats.com confirms his take, as Georgia is currently 66th nationally in red zone touchdown percentage.  Dare I wonder if Monken has been biding his time before trotting out some 13-formation looks in the red zone to improve Georgia’s chances down there?

Aside from his comments, some numbers info:

• Georgia averaged 6.7 yards per touch on non-sack running plays.
• Stetson had a 63.4% success rate throwing the ball, and that includes the drops.
• Bennett aside, the stars on offense were the tight ends (duh).  On plays where they were intended to touch the ball, Bowers averaged 17.1 yards per touch and Washington 13.0.  No other Georgia player was in double digits.

Bottom line, this game would have looked very different — or, to put it another way, a lot more similar to the three that proceeded it — had Georgia simply held on to the damned ball.

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Getting the finger

You’ll be pleased to know our long national nightmare is over.

A lawsuit filed by the parents of a former Georgia football offensive lineman against the University of Georgia Athletic Association and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and others has come to an end after more than two and half years of legal maneuvering.

An attorney for the parents of Cade Mays filed with the State Court of Clarke County on Aug. 25 to “dismiss the action with prejudice.”

A dismissal “with prejudice,” often means the case has been settled by the parties.

Kevin and Melinda Mays were seeking damages after the father’s right pinky finger was partially amputated on the hinge of a folding chair in Sanford Stadium’s club level as he attempted to stand up during a recruiting official visit at UGA on Dec. 15, 2017.

In a statement to the Athens Banner-Herald, UGA athletics said: “We are pleased the lawsuit is resolved, and we wish the Mays family the best.”

No word on whether the chair ever faced internal discipline from Coach Smart.

Of all the NCAA presidents in the world…

… Mark Emmert is certainly one of them ($$).

Asked about Emmert’s comments this week, Sankey pointedly demurred.

“Mark is responsible for explaining himself, not me,” Sankey said.

And, no, when you’re going all “new phone, who dis?” on the man, it really doesn’t matter what those comments were.

Damn Yankees

Very funny that ESPN did live Aaron Judge cut-ins during Clemson-Wake Forest (0.05 percent crossover with Yankees fans) but not during Giants-Cowboys (99.9 percent crossover with Yankees fans) https://t.co/GjhilH6RIc

— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) September 27, 2022

Maybe this is Mickey’s clever way of weaning college football fans off their regional passions.

The Heisman talk you may not have been expecting

Forget Stetson Bennett.  The Athletic has Brock Bowers second in its Heisman straw poll ($$).

A fine mess on the Flats

If you’re wondering why Jeff Schultz ($$) would write something like this:  “There will be some thoughts of trying to make a splash hire, which is unlikely — because that would require a lot of money, as well as a coveted candidate wanting the job. (An aside: Deion Sanders likely isn’t happening.)”, you need to read this lengthy epitaph for Geoff Collins and Todd Stansbury.

Honestly, the most sobering thing about the piece is that while it’s about their firings, that’s just a vehicle to explore what a complete shit show the athletic department’s been for a while now.  Consider these points:

• “Of Tech’s 13 full-time head coaches, Collins has become the fifth to be fired and the second (following Bill Lewis in 1994) to lose his job before the end of the season.”
• “Parker Executive Search has been contracted to lead the search for a new AD and coach. Typically, the AD has to be in place for a coach to be hired – it would be unlikely for a coach to take the job without knowing who the AD would be – and time is critical… Tech has an advantage to get its coaching search going in September, but that head start likely won’t be as useful without an AD running it.”
• “The final ledger assigns Collins with four shutout losses, including Tech’s first at home since 1957. In his 38-game tenure, the Jackets lost six games by 40 points or more. The six before that had taken place over a period of 42 seasons.”
• “The department’s fund balance in June 2016, months before Stansbury took office, was $6.6 million. In June 2022, it was in a $12.1 million deficit.”
• “… the department also experienced significant turnover in recent years and has had difficulty filling open positions.”
• “… Even as the budget was tight, [Stansbury] authorized the hire of offensive coordinator Long at twice the salary ($800,000) of his predecessor, Patenaude…”

A Tech staffer called the situation yesterday “surreal”.  Actually, considering the setting, it sounds pretty normal.  What would be surreal would be if they hit it big in hiring Collins’ replacement.

Money down

David Ubben’s dunking of Clay Travis ($$), ladies and gentlemen:

It was a quiet week for TV analysts going out on a limb, but Fox’s Clay Travis, who has the only dedicated gambling segment on “Big Noon Kickoff,” went 1-3 on his picks again and missed badly with his two surest bets of the weekend. His lock of the week was Tennessee minus-11.

… Travis has been a fixture in this space this season mostly because no one else on television covering college football has been more certain and more wrong more often.

LOL.  Shit never gets old.

Jumping for joy

Darnell Washington maybe happier than anyone in the stadium on Bowers’ TD run pic.twitter.com/Z2lzd8J6To

— Brent Rollins (@BrentRollinsPhD) September 27, 2022

Find you someone who enjoys you as much as Darnell Washington enjoys Brock Bowers making his way to the end zone on that 75-yard run.