We’re all sensitive people.

Well, who could have known that Georgia winning back to back nattys would trigger some folks?

Just like no one is comparing the new National Champions to 2020 Alabama. In 10 years people will still be comparing themselves to 2019 LSU, not 2020 BAMA, not 2021 or 2022 Georgia.
2019 LSU set the standard. #GeauxTigers https://t.co/cXPFJDVzfd

— Jazzy-One Kenobi (@JazzOne) January 10, 2023

Yes, Georgia just won back-to-back championships and went a combined 29-1 over the last two seasons.

But you cannot put them on the level of 2019 LSU or 2020 Alabama. Those two teams were two of the greatest teams ever put together. Period.

— Andrew Shaw (@TheShawFather21) January 10, 2023

Well, let’s just think about that a little bit by looking at a couple of stats.  First, net ypp:

• 2022 UGA:  2.29
• 2020 Alabama:  2.76
• 2019 LSU:  2.78

Next, net scoring per game:

• 2022 UGA:  26.8
• 2020 Alabama:  26.8
• 2019 LSU:  27.0

And here’s what Bill Connelly ($$) has to say about the three teams SP+ numbers:

Georgia’s 37.3 overall rating placed them in the 99.6th percentile, which is virtually identical to that of Nick Saban’s best Alabama team, the 2020 rendition that tore through 13 opponents during the pandemic season. In the past 15 years, only last year’s Georgia team can come close to that mark.

SP+ percentile ratings for the past 15 college football national champions:

1. 2020 Alabama (99.6th percentile)
2. 2022 Georgia (99.6)
3. 2021 Georgia (99.5)
4. 2012 Alabama (99.4)
5. 2008 Florida (99.4)
6. 2018 Clemson (99.2)
7. 2019 LSU (99.1)

And,

Maybe the most eye-catching ranking among those 15 is 2019 LSU at No. 7. The Tigers were brimming with NFL-level talent and were so dominant at the end of the season that they are regarded by many as the best team of the CFP era. But although their offense was absurd from start to finish, their defense was terribly mediocre until the stretch run. The end-of-season version of LSU was incredible, but SP+ is a full-season measure and saw more wire-to-wire dominance from a few other recent champs.

Bottom line, Georgia’s got nothing to feel embarrassed about in making the comparison.  More importantly, as Bill puts it,

The most relevant point for today, however, is that this Georgia team was either the best or co-best of the recent champs, and Kirby Smart has now produced a team as good as anything Nick Saban has produced at Alabama. Saban’s title count still makes him the greatest of the era (and maybe of all time), but it’s scary what Georgia might be able to accomplish in the coming seasons if Smart can maintain this sort of ceiling.

Most assuredly something that has never been said about 2020 LSU.

Advertisement

Philosophical

Say what you will about Ed Orgeron, the man is comfortable in his own skin.

Coach O on his time and exit from LSU . He was at the Little Rock Touchdown Club today. pic.twitter.com/n87SmTnXqW

— Steve Sullivan (@sully7777) September 6, 2022

Of course, receiving a $17 million buyout helps.

Today, in doing it for the kids

Pearls of wisdom from Coach O:

“First of all the game is changing. And if you want to have success, you better change,” Orgeron said. “Number one, you’ve got to find a way to compete at the highest level. And now it’s different, it’s a different lay of the land. But, my own personal opinion, they don’t care about it but I will say it anyway: They have to govern it. There’s got to be something, and I think the players would appreciate it.

“The players that get way too much money in the beginning may not be as hungry, and maybe not in the end get all that he needs to get. So, I think the players will learn to appreciate it, that you’ve got to earn things. I’m not against them getting money, but I think there needs to be some kind of governing.”

… Orgeron said that he’s always been in favor of graduate transfers, but expressed hesitation about the effects the transfer portal and immediate eligibility have had on the sport.

“It’s like free agency—it’s moving too fast,” Orgeron said. “For me, I was all for the graduate transfer portal. I think once you’ve graduated, hey, you’ve got a shot, go take another shot. It was good for Joe, thank God we had him for two years. But I think this transferring, hopping from school to school, especially within the conference and within your division is a little tough. You wear one uniform, the next day you’re wearing your rival’s.”

No doubt that sounds more profound in the original Orgeron-ese, but, still, it’s a beautiful encapsulation of the “fine for me, but not for thee” mindset that passes for wisdom among a certain set of college head coaches.  It’s for the best, right?  After all, the players would appreciate it.

“I competed.”

Say what you will about Coach O, but he’s quite the card, as this story demonstrates.

This Adrian Peterson recruiting story from Coach O is some of the wildest stuff I’ve ever heard pic.twitter.com/HEHvTIfYDl

— Chase Snyder (@ChasingSnyder) February 11, 2022

I assume he still wants another crack at coaching, so it would have to wait, but if he ever were to sit down and do a tell-all, I imagine it would be a helluva story.  (Especially the audiobook version.)

How did we get here, anyway?

Keen, piercing analysis from the head coach of the team currently mired in last place in the SEC West:

Orgeron was asked if he meant offensively in reference to needing to put the team in better position:

"We gotta call better plays. We've gotta do better things. It's obvious." #Lsu

— Brody Miller (@BrodyAMiller) November 14, 2021

One day, we’re either going to look back at LSU’s 2019 natty — less than two years ago! — as an utterly inexplicable occurrence, or else athletic directors of major college football powers are going to weaponize Orgeron’s fleeting, improbable success against their head coaches with a “if Coach O could win a national championship, how come you can’t?”.  Or both, maybe.

Is ‘Bama man enough?

Coach O says no.

Alabama knocked off LSU on Saturday in a much closer game than most expected. Afterward, Ed Orgeron didn’t come away thinking that Nick Saban’s club is the powerhouse that it usually is.

The Tigers lost 20–14, which was an improvement from the 55–17 loss in 2020. That last meeting served as a revenge game after the Tigers knocked off the Tide and rolled through the rest of the SEC en route to a national championship in ’19.

“I felt we were a better team than them,” Orgeron, who will not be back with the team in 2022, said. “I don’t know if they played to their peak performance or not, but I felt we matched up pretty good.

“I can’t judge how good they are,” he added. “They aren’t as good as they were in the past. They might be the best team in the country; I don’t know. But they weren’t that night.”

I wonder if anyone will be saying that after the SECCG.  I sure hope so.

You know how to *take* the reservation, you just don’t know how to *hold* the reservation.

It may be time to re-evaluate Coach O’s recruiting prowess.

#LSU has signed 8 5-stars since 2019.

There’s a good chance none of them play vs Alabama…

Maason Smith (“very questionable”)
Derek Stingley (out)
Eli Ricks (out)
Kayshon Boutte (out)
Sage Ryan (out)
John Emery (ineligible)
Arik Gilbert (transfer)
Marcel Brooks (transfer)

— Shea Dixon (@Sheadixon) November 5, 2021

That’s a five-star missing list if I’ve ever seen one.

Yaw yaw yaw yaw yaw yaw naw footbaw

LSU Chizik’s Coach O:

#LSU and Ed Orgeron have reached a separation agreement: He will not return in 2022 but expected to complete this season, sources tell @SINow.

Negotiations began last week before UF win.

It’s unprecedented in the sport – coach & school divorcing 21 months after winning it all.

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 17, 2021

It’s an attractive job, so I’m sure we’ll see all sorts of names circulate for the next few months.  And Orgeron recruits well enough he can find employment somewhere else if he wants.

Signs of normalcy, part two

Trash talking is back, with a vengeance.

Geaux Bruins. pic.twitter.com/xDZNpNN0Dc

— UCLA Football Recruiting (@UCLAFBRecruit) September 5, 2021

That one left a mark.  And deservedly so.

A man with his finger on the pulse of the offense

This is why they pay Coach O the big bucks.

#LSU Coach O has said repeatedly the Tigers "are going back to the 2019 offense".

So what was the 2020 offense?

I asked that question to Orgeron Wednesday. @WAFB pic.twitter.com/iYair17SmX

— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) July 28, 2021

Think I woulda stuck to a simple “yaw, yaw, yaw, yaw, footbaw”, myself.