Yeah, I know there were plenty of bizarre officiating decisions yesterday in Athens, but for my money, this was the day’s biggest headscratcher. It’s from the Iron Bowl.
On the field ruling was that the returner touched the ball and, thus, it was called a fumble. Unbelievably, the ruling on the field was upheld by the replay official.
I don’t know how Sankey is copacetic about this, but apparently he is. Woo, boy.
Filed under SEC Football
This ($$) is such a great quote:
“Sometimes we get punched in the mouth. But one thing about this team, we always throw a punch back,” center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger said. “That’s definitely something I want to say I’m confident and proud of the way this team has reacted. Definitely not last year in the sense of last year was just blowing people out. But I think there’s truly a beauty in finding different ways to win a game.”
He’s right, you know. It hasn’t always been pretty, but in the end, they’ve prevailed all the way to a 12-0 regular season. No, they haven’t dominated the way Georgia did in ’21, but if I’m honest, there hasn’t been a moment this season when I’ve felt they had a legitimate chance of losing a game. And that’s after an offseason that saw a ton of talent depart, yet Kirby Smart felt confident enough in his recruiting to stand pat and not take anyone out of the transfer portal, a decision that’s been borne out.
It’s a team that’s young on defense (younger after the Nolan Smith injury), short on deep threats in the receiving corps and fronted by a former walk-on quarterback who’s been disrespected most of the season. Yet here they are, in the same position as last year’s generational bunch was.
“You can say, ‘oh, they’ve gotten so good at this,’ and then next week it’s not there,” Smart said. “It’s a model of consistency and making sure you’re good in every area you can be good in. There’s no area that we can’t improve on. Let’s be honest, we’ve got a lot of areas we need to improve.”
And, make no mistake about it, they will need to improve, because the level of opposition is about to take a step up. It’s one thing to take Georgia Tech’s best shot; it’s another to run the SECCG/CFP gamut they’re about to face. They know it, too.
… Still, Bennett was told the narrative on his team is either they play down to some opponents or they’re a team that turns it on when they need to, and either way it could catch up to them. He didn’t disagree.
“When you look at our games it’s kind of warranted, somewhat,” Bennett said. “The games that it is warranted are probably talked about a little more than the ones that aren’t. But that is the goal, to not have that happen. And from here on out we can’t, because otherwise we’ll lose.”
The good thing — maybe the best thing — is that it won’t be their first rodeo. There’s a certain beauty in that, too.
Filed under Georgia Football
Well, shit. I almost made through the season without having to change my ballot.
This week’s link is here.
Filed under Mumme Poll
Say what you will about Nicole Auerbach ($$), you’ve got to appreciate somebody who’s got South Carolina in her top ten this morning… and doesn’t have Tennessee there.
Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren called No. 3 Michigan’s 45-23 victory over No. 2 Ohio State an “instant classic” and made the case after the game that “without a doubt” the Big Ten should end up with two teams in the College Football Playoff.
“One hundred percent,” Warren told ESPN on Saturday. “Clearly, Michigan and Ohio State are two of the best four teams in the country, and I think today proved it. Great football game. Epic football game. Without a doubt, I think they are clearly two of the best football teams in the country.”
Yes, there’s nothing like having a conference commissioner water down a signature win by one of its programs in search of what’s really important, a coveted second berth in the CFP.
On the bright side, once they go to the 12-team version, Ryan Day’s gutless coaching ($$)…
It’s not often in a game like this, one that ends in a lopsided 45-23 score, that you can identify exactly where things were lost. But in Michigan’s beatdown of Ohio State on Saturday in Ohio Stadium, it’s as clear as Ryan Day.
Down by four points with less than seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Ohio State faced a fourth-and-5 from the Michigan 43. Quarterback C.J. Stroud — who could all but taste the Heisman Trophy coming into this game — pleaded for his coach to go for it. The entire football world saw Stroud begging for his coach to put the ball in his hands.
Nope. Seemingly without second thought, Day sent on his punt team and took his star quarterback — sure to be a top-five pick in the 2023 NFL Draft — off the field.
That’s it right there. That’s where the tension built on the sideline that you could feel through the television.
… will be totally irrelevant. Hell, he’ll probably get a contract extension for making the playoffs. Cool, cool, cool.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, Big Ten Football
It took a while, but…
Did the West come down to the East’s level, or did the East finally up its game? I kind of think it’s more the former than the latter. (Which makes me wonder if ‘Bama is really all that this season, but I suppose that’s a subject for a different post.)
Filed under SEC Football
Shot.
Chaser.
If I’m a lucky blogger, Vol fans will continue to show their collective asses all through the next offseason.
A little judicious goal post maneuvering from Dabo Swinney:
Sounds like a man who’s ready for a 12-team playoff.
Filed under Clemson: Auburn With A Lake
Résumé polishing ain’t what it used to be.
Filed under Auburn's Cast of Thousands
Yeah, this one stood the test of time:
Although, I suspect we really would have enjoyed a rematch.
Filed under Georgia Football, Pac-12 Football
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