The jokes, sometimes they write themselves.
Daily Archives: October 26, 2022
TFW it just means more = it just spends more
Oof.
Harsh, but fair.
Filed under It's Just Bidness, SEC Football
“A perfect time for recruiting”
For the people in the Venn diagram who appear in the overlap of “fans who think Kirby should get what he wants” and “Georgia should play night games, PAWWWLLL!”, I have some bad news for you.
From a recruiting perspective, what Smart cares most about, he actually prefers the 3:30 p.m. ET.
“If you had to set a perfect time for recruiting, it would probably be 3:30. It gives you time to visit with them afterwards,” Smart said. “You actually get to see them. The night game, number one it is not great for your team. You are sitting around all day. You get more time with the recruits on the front end but less time on the back end. The 3:30 gives you time on the front end and the back end, but I am not complaining or looking for anything.”
Ah, well. On to the next first world problem…
Filed under Georgia Football
2022 Mumme Poll, Week 8
I’m surprised that we had a rather alarming drop off in participants this week. Only 226 folks cast a ballot, which is down about a quarter from Week 7. Was it something I said? (I keed, I keed.)
Anyway, what also shrunk was the average number of teams appearing on a ballot (7.3), but that’s to be expected as more previously undefeateds took it on the chin.
Here’s our top 22:
There are now only two teams that appeared on at least 90% of all ballots cast, three others that cleared a 75% threshold and two others that cleared half.
Here’s the AP’s top 22 to compare:
Again, the overlap is pretty consistent. The blatant outlier in the Mumme Poll is 3-4 Michigan State, which I chalk up to careless voting. Some of y’all apparently need to check your work more closely if you’re intending to cast a vote for Michigan. (Then again, if you meant to cast a vote for the Spartans, I’d love to read your explanation in the comments.)
We’re still getting ‘er done from a time standpoint.
Let’s see the selection committee match that!
The SEC’s edge in conference affiliation dropped some more, which I assume is largely due to Ole Miss’ loss.
We must have lost some out of state voters, because the share of ballots cast by Georgia folks climbed to 61.7% this week.
And here’s how this week’s bonus question fared:
I’m a little surprised by that, as I thought apathy would take it easily.
Filed under Mumme Poll
That cupboard was bare!
Some interesting po’ mouthing here ($$):
… Smart inherited a deeper roster and more stable program, thanks to Mark Richt winning 50 games the previous five seasons. Napier took over a program with only 39 wins (and two losing seasons) in the five-year runup. Smart was hired to build on Richt’s steady work and get the Bulldogs over the championship hump; Napier is rebooting Florida after a string of coaching hires unraveled.
In Richt’s last five seasons, Georgia played in two SECCGs (2011 and 2012). In Florida’s five seasons before Napier was hired, the Gators played in three SECCGs (2015, 2016 and 2020).
I’m not saying the programs were on equal footing when Smart and Napier were hired, but Florida wasn’t in that much of a mess, either. Remember, when Mullen succeeded McElwain, the Gators immediately won ten games that season.
Filed under Gators, Gators..., Georgia Football
When it comes to the Cocktail Party…
The long-standing deal currently brings each school an average of $2 million extra per year free and clear of the costs it takes to operate such a game. The universities have operated on a series of four-year contracts with Jacksonville that have built-in escalators and have gotten increasingly lucrative with each renewal. They’re scheduled for another re-up in 2023.
Specifically, the programs split the ticket revenue from 84,000 seats. In addition, the Jacksonville contract guarantees each school $1 million in 2021, $1.25 million in 2022 and 2023. Each school receives an additional $60,000 for travel expenses, while Georgia gets an additional $350,000 chartered-jet service.
… and then there’s money.
Athens’ city leaders certainly would agree with that. Game-day weekends are a blast, and they bring in a ton of business.
Williams said hotel occupancy on football weekends increases to more than 99%, compared with 67% the rest of the year, with two-night minimums and a four-times-higher average daily rate (ADR). She said ADRs were four times higher for the Auburn weekend, and she expects they may increase even more for the Tennessee weekend.
You may say better Athens than Jax, and that’s your privilege, except it’s only the latter that’s paying through the nose to the schools to host the game. And those aren’t the only two areas that would/do benefit financially, as Towers notes.
There also is a multimillion-dollar impact on St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island and Brunswick, which comprise the area in coastal Georgia known as the Golden Isles.
One other wrinkle to consider is if the SEC expands to a nine-game conference schedule once Oklahoma and Texas are in the fold. That stands to add an extra SEC home game every other season, regardless of where the WLOCP is played. More ADR, for the win!
Filed under Georgia Football, It's Just Bidness
Let’s hand out more participation trophies!
Check out how Stewart Mandel ($$) moves the goal posts here:
If there is more parity in this sport a decade from now, it will mean the 12-team Playoff worked as intended. The bigger field may not produce different national champions, but it could have a similar effect to March Madness in terms of making the world flatter.
Unlike college football, college basketball is viewed as having more parity than ever…
Pay no attention to the disparity in roster size, people. We’re flattening here!
One of the pitfalls of a four-team CFP is that it narrowed our definition of “success.” If you’re not one of the small handful of programs that are regularly playing for national championships (Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State) then you’re just kind of lumped in with everyone else. Twenty years ago, Utah reaching the Rose Bowl would have been a crowning achievement. Today, it’s, “Yeah, but they didn’t make the Playoff.” If nothing else, a 12-team Playoff will help recalibrate our expectations and allow more than just four or five programs to feel like they’re part of the pinnacle.
This is a pretty amusing take from a guy who likes to publish lists every five years ranking football programs… but I digress. If the definition of “success” is going to be diminished into merely showing up in a playoff field, why stop at 12? There are tons of programs (not to mention head coaches) that would love to be successful.
But look what Mandel’s done here. The CFP is an expansion of the old 2-team BCS, yet he describes it as narrowing what success means. Evidently the key to college football success is brackets, and more of them.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs
Second half challenge
A couple of quick charts from Seth Emerson ($$):
Tennessee is the obvious outlier there, although the Oregon results show this Georgia defense can get up for a top notch offense. Florida looks like a bend but don’t break opponent.
Mississippi State is curious. Check out their road/home offensive splits. There’s a 2.25 gap in ypp and 200+ yards per game difference, which is staggering. Georgia’s defense had best be ready for Clanga!.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Always be… ‘crootin’?
Well, this is one way to spin a 3-4 record:
The stupid things you get to say when you’ve got an $85 million buyout…
Filed under Blowing Smoke, Recruiting
CFP projection time
Jerry Palm’s piece projecting how the selection committee’s first ballot will look is a useful reminder of what the committee uses to evaluate its rankings.
Before we get to the rankings themselves, here’s a refresher listing some of key points the committee members consider when deciding a team’s ranking beyond their on-field record:
- Strength of schedule
- Conference championships (when decided)
- Head-to-head
- Results vs. common opponents
- Results vs. ranked opponents
Thankfully, the committee’s definition of “ranked opponents” is different than what you’re used to seeing. The rankings they use are the prior week’s CFP Rankings. They do not consider where teams are ranked when the games were played either in the CFP, AP Top 25, etc. Using game-time rankings is the most worthless way to determine “ranked opponents;” in fact, the committee specifically forbids the use of any poll that has a preseason starting point. [Emphasis added.]
That puts a pretty serious damper on one of Tennessee’s big talking points (“we’ve beaten four top 25 teams!”). As it stands right now, both Georgia and UT have beaten two currently ranked teams.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs
Get The Picture 
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