This guy…
His biggest conference win came in a game when Alabama was flagged for 17 penalties… and he wants to pout about officiating? I’m sure that’ll pay off big time for you, Josh.
It’s the SEC, dude. Nobody on the o-line gets called for holding.
Daily Archives: October 29, 2023
Taking it personally
In my preview yesterday, I wrote,
I tend to think the Dawgs show up today. They’ve had two weeks to get ready. They’ve got Bowers’ injury and the pundits’ automatic dismissal to rally around. And it’s Florida, for Crissakes. If Georgia can’t get up for this game… well, I simply can’t imagine Kirby Smart can’t rally the troops to kick some righteous ass.
Mission accomplished.
If you need a reminder of how much this game means to Kirby Smart, well…
In the locker room after the game, he reminded his players how important it was to flip this rivalry. He had a close-up view of the misery during his five years in Athens.
“Coach Smart was just talking about it,” wide receiver Ladd McConkey said. “He told us he was 1-4 in his career, and I’m 3-1 now.”
He didn’t need to reference some of the lopsided losses he witnessed as a player under Goff and Donnan.
Beetween that and the “how can Georgia survive losing Bowers?” talk, it wasn’t hard to light a fire under this bunch.
In case anyone forgot, Georgia showed the nation and the College Football Playoff Committee that will put out its first rankings on Tuesday that it is much more than a one-band.
“We’re still here,” defensive lineman Zion Logue said. “Next man up. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.”
No reason to, Zion. Yesterday’s results spoke loudly enough on their own.
Filed under Georgia Football
2023 Mumme Poll, Week 9 ballot link
To cast your MP ballot this week, click here.
Don’t forget, you have until midnight tomorrow to get your vote in.
Filed under Mumme Poll
Son of Fourth-and-Dumb
No question this was the play of the game:
I have no idea what Billy Napier was thinking, first in terms of going for it on fourth down, early in the game, on your own 35-yard line, and, second, given that Florida only needed a couple of feet for the first down, why you’d opt for a trick play instead of a quarterback sneak (something the Gators relied on later to score a touchdown). But of such things Cocktail Party legends are born.
Fourth and Dumber.
Move over Doug Dickey and make some room for Billy Napier in the Florida-Georgia Hall of Shame
As if impatient Florida Gators fans needed any more reason to criticize their head coach, Napier gave it to them early in Florida’s 43-20 loss to the No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs.
Napier gave us a sequel to one of the most boneheaded plays in Gators history — Fourth and Dumb meet Fourth and Dumber. For the uninformed, the biggest coaching blunder in the history of this storied rivalry came in 1976 when the 10th-ranked Gators were still leading No. 7 Georgia 27-20 after the Dawgs scored a touchdown in the third quarter.
On Florida’s next series, Dickey inexplicably elected to go for it on fourth-and-short from the Gators’ own 29-yard line. Running back Earl Carr was stuffed for no gain, Georgia got the ball with only 29 yards to go to tie the score, scored three plays later and went on to bury the Gators 41-27. A headline in the Florida Times-Union the next day, referred to the play as “Fourth and Dumb.”
Said Carr after the game, “When I was running the play, I was asking myself why in the world we were running this play.”
Fast forward nearly a half-century to Saturday and you wonder if UF running back Trevor Etienne was thinking the same thing early in the second quarter when his unranked, rebuilding Gators were actually in decent position against the Bulldogs.
Georgia was ready for it. Aside from Mondon’s play on Etienne, the defense had both receiving options covered and the play simply had nowhere to go.
Also, don’t forget that play was set up by Smart lobbying the refs about the spot of the ball on the previous play — originally called a first down, the replay official moved it back to fourth and short. (For those of you who rag on Danielson, he was on top of the whole thing and did a great job explaining it.)
Maybe we should call it Fourth-and-Smart. 😉
Filed under Gators, Gators..., Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
Again, with the shock and awe
Yesterday marked the third time a Smart-coached Georgia team launched a blitzkrieg against Florida that overwhelmed the Gators with a bunch of points in a short period of time. It’s getting habit forming,
2017:
2021:
It’s hard to think of anything that could suck the life out of a team more than that does.
Filed under Gators, Gators..., Georgia Football
Envy and jealousy, the best Georgia evaluation edition
David Hale, for the win:
Georgia has developed a reputation for having two speeds: Bored or Death Star. Saturday’s showdown with Florida fell distinctly into the planet-destroying category.
Carson Beck and Ladd McConkey, who somehow aren’t the namesakes of a successful venture capital firm, hooked up six times for 135 yards and a score, and the Bulldogs’ D sacked Florida four times in a 43-20 win.
A quick recap: Georgia beat South Carolina by 10 and Auburn by seven. Both of those teams are awful. Georgia beat ranked Kentucky by 38 and a streaking Florida by 23. Lull the Dawgs to sleep, and you have a chance. Convince Georgia you’re dangerous, and you should probably pack a spare pair of underwear. This leads us to the unmistakable conclusion that the only team that can end this Georgia dynasty is Iowa.
Really, I can’t touch that.
Filed under Envy and Jealousy
For Georgia, (other people’s) doubt is the best of things.
If you’re looking for an antidote to the inevitable round of Dawgrading we’re bound to see and hear on social media and in the national press after yesterday’s blowout win, this Ari Wasserman piece ($$) should suffice.
You may take exception to the notion that Georgia is just going to mow its opponents down for the rest of the year and hoist its third straight College Football Playoff trophy. When you even make that assertion, the predictable responses come:
- “The SEC sucks”
- “They just beat a really bad Florida team. Pump the brakes.”
- “Georgia is down from the past few years.”
- “They are 43rd in strength of schedule.”
- “It’s an odd sentiment when they could have a rematch with an Ohio State team that almost beat them in the Playoff last year.”
All of those are real responses (edited to be concise) from X, formerly Twitter.
But that’s the beauty of what Smart has built at Georgia. Even after losing 25 players to the NFL Draft over the last two years, Georgia is still capable of sucking the soul out of its opponents. Add in the size, speed, tenacity and the “this is personal mentality” that this team still seems to play with, and it’s a very scary combo. That travels to those nice, air-conditioned domes where they play College Football Playoff games.
That’s deadly.
Keep doubting them, people.
Filed under Georgia Football
It’s time to talk about Carson Beck.
https://twitter.com/adamnbeast/status/1718400262644125904?s=43&t=T6Qmp7oLdppiWYQpPAeZZA
Seriously, this dude has been killing it this season. He’s a big reason the Dawgs are 8-0 and number one in the land. So why isn’t the national media paying more attention?
Filed under Georgia Football
Someday, they’ll sit back and laugh about it.
Before the game yesterday, somebody must have showed Kirby Smart Dan Mullen’s Cocktail Party prediction. That led to this classic presser moment after the win:
“He didn’t like to recruit, though…” is the most Spurrier-esque thing Smart has ever uttered. I wonder if the Gators enjoy it as much when they’re on the receiving end.
Filed under Georgia Football
Get The Picture 
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