I guess I should look back at all of the great things about 2010, but honestly, this year was pretty enh.
Yes, I did start writing TheFletch as well as writing for http://chuckoliver.net. I also created the Score 44. That is good. I also did the basketball pxp for GPB.org as well as the color commentary for the football games, along with being a senior writer for GPB's Prep World with Steve and Fletch. Ahhh, we cannot forget Sports Central XL and my debut on GPB-TV for the Class A State Championship game.
Otherwise though, 2010 was pretty dull. Georgia football sucked which killed my entire sports year. I look forward to college football all year and Georgia had to go and crap in the punch bowl.
At least Georgia basketball was respectable...sort of. You could tell that Mark Fox is a keeper and will get things turned around (which he has thus far in the 2010-11 season). Two victories over Georgia Tech in basketball in 2010 is really something. Go Hoop Dawgs.
The Hawks really blew a chance to really gear up for the 2012 free agency class. oh well. Way to resign Joe Johnson or the Tin-man as he is now called for not having any heart. Pretty bad when the Hawks were outdone by the Knicks...who then signed Ray Felton, WHO THE HAWKS COULD HAVE USED! COME ON! Think about it: you let Johnson go and his $15M+ comes off the books (instead you resign him to over 20M per) and then Jamal Crawford's salary comes off after this year. Load up and take a run at Chris Paul. Or not...
The Thrashers tried to make a run. Then they traded away the most talented Thrasher ever to don a Blueland Blue sweater.
The Falcons are in line to win the No.1 seed for the NFC playoffs. Too bad ESPN still has a hard-on for the Saints. What was up with that opening montage? Why are we STILL talking about Katrina? Aaron Brooks was the QB back then! Hopefully the Falcons get to take out the Saints and the Eggles back-to-back in the playoffs and ESPN will be FORCED to show some love.
Paul Johnson....is a genius. (Smirk)
Paul Hewitt....has a good agent. (Smirk)
Hopefully David Perno can get the Diamond Dawgs back in the postseason in 2011.
Movies were pretty good this year. Robin Hood. Inception. The Town. The Fighter.
Music was great too. Thank goodness Eminem seems like he is back.
And we discovered Tosh.O. Nice. More Movies/music/TV coming soon with the Fletcher Globes.
And we had our first Hall of Fame class here at SBF. Kudos to Giada, bacon, The OC, Joel McHale, Pauly D, and Labor Day.
Hopefully though 2011 is just a better year all around. Have a safe New Year's Eve everybody and talk to you next year.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Catch AJ while you can Dawg fans
Georgia fans will likely be watching AJ Green suit up for the final time Friday afternoon as Georgia faces UCF in the Liberty Bowl. Though Green shot down a recent report my boy Zach Klein of WSB (he sourced two people close to the wide receiver admitting that he will leave), it would be possibly the dumbest decision in draft history to pass up a top-five spot in the draft to stay in college one more year. You do that and you are risking injury or becoming the next Matt Leinart, aka seeing your stock drop and the money fly out the door. Sadly for DawgNation, he may choose to look at recent Georgia history to see what happened to Quentin Moses and Ben Watson, who both returned and both saw top-15 draft slots melt away. So Georgia fans, tune in or head over to Memphis to catch the best receiver in college football don the Red & Black once more.
Did you catch that last sentence? YEAH, I said THE BEST RECEIVER in college football. With all due respect to the voters of the All-America team, you guys are dopes. Do you even watch college football? Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon put up at least 100 yards and a score each game and Alshon Jeffery led South Carolina to the SEC East title, but neither of those two has what AJ Green has. Blackmon’s abilities come closest to Green’s, but at the end of the day, playing wide receiver in a wide open Oklahoma State offense going up against soft Big XII defenses isn’t as impressive as what Green did this year in Athens. And Titus Young (Boise State), Julio Jones (Alabama) and Ryan Broyles (Oklahoma), you guys are nice little stories but you know you’d be a complementary receiver if Green was a Bronco, Tide or Sooner, respectively.
Did you see Green’s falling one-handed catch in his first game back against Colorado? Did you see how he sliced up Tennessee and then hauled in that amazing score against Florida? Do you remember big he played (nine catches, 164 yards, and two scores) against Auburn? The catches this guy made were catches that some receivers in the NFL would only dare dream of making. Blackmon is a nice receiver, same with Jeffery, but I don’t think you’ll find many receivers in the NFL scared of those two taking their jobs like they likely are with Green. Green played eight games this year, hauled in nine scores and went for 771 yards on 49 catches…while being double and triple-teamed.
Georgia fans, tune in Friday to see the best receiver in college football suit up in the silver britches one last time. Anyone that says Green isn’t simply hasn’t been watching the man play the games. He was the best player on the field in nearly every game he played this year (Auburn game was the lone exception and he still gave Newton a run for his money) and could be the best overall player in the upcoming draft class.
For more Georgia coverage, head to http://chuckoliver.net
Did you catch that last sentence? YEAH, I said THE BEST RECEIVER in college football. With all due respect to the voters of the All-America team, you guys are dopes. Do you even watch college football? Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon put up at least 100 yards and a score each game and Alshon Jeffery led South Carolina to the SEC East title, but neither of those two has what AJ Green has. Blackmon’s abilities come closest to Green’s, but at the end of the day, playing wide receiver in a wide open Oklahoma State offense going up against soft Big XII defenses isn’t as impressive as what Green did this year in Athens. And Titus Young (Boise State), Julio Jones (Alabama) and Ryan Broyles (Oklahoma), you guys are nice little stories but you know you’d be a complementary receiver if Green was a Bronco, Tide or Sooner, respectively.
Did you see Green’s falling one-handed catch in his first game back against Colorado? Did you see how he sliced up Tennessee and then hauled in that amazing score against Florida? Do you remember big he played (nine catches, 164 yards, and two scores) against Auburn? The catches this guy made were catches that some receivers in the NFL would only dare dream of making. Blackmon is a nice receiver, same with Jeffery, but I don’t think you’ll find many receivers in the NFL scared of those two taking their jobs like they likely are with Green. Green played eight games this year, hauled in nine scores and went for 771 yards on 49 catches…while being double and triple-teamed.
Georgia fans, tune in Friday to see the best receiver in college football suit up in the silver britches one last time. Anyone that says Green isn’t simply hasn’t been watching the man play the games. He was the best player on the field in nearly every game he played this year (Auburn game was the lone exception and he still gave Newton a run for his money) and could be the best overall player in the upcoming draft class.
For more Georgia coverage, head to http://chuckoliver.net
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The first class of the SBF Hall of Fame
The votes have been counted and taken into consideration and SportsbyFletch is PROUD to offer A big time congratulations to the inaugural SBF Hall of Fame Class. Thanks to everyone that voted. Here are the members of the first class of HoFers. To those that didn't make, don't worry, you can possibly be up for candidacy next year.
The OC. I loved this show (still do and watch the Chrismukkah episodes every year post-Thanksgiving) and so did pretty much EVERYONE I know. It had great writing (well, great if you were a 14-year-old girl, which I sort of am when it comes to television), hot chicks, funny dudes and Autumn Reeser. The first seven episodes were dynamite and while I wanted to murder Oliver, wasn't that kind of the point? Kudos to Josh Schwartz (a candidate that didn't make it, but might just get in next year) for coming up with a show that was appointment television for its run. Tell me you didn't cry when Ryan's mom left in episode three and Kirstin said, "Ryan's going to live with us now." Tell me you didn't get teary in the season one finale. You didn't get goosebumps at the end of the season two premiere? You didn't imitate Marissa when she would say "Hey! or DJ!"? You didn't LOVE the Rainy Day episode or the Marissa/Alex makeout scene? You weren't cheering for Volcheck to kill Marissa in Season Three? I know I was! And when Autumn Reeser made the final season watchable, WOW. She was good. The entire show was a supernova: so hot yet over so quickly. I just wish the show had been able to run its course in the final year. Oh well, but CONGRATS THE OC, you are the first ever member of the SBF Hall of Fame. (Well, second, in a way as Aaron Sorkin received the SBF Lifetime Achievement award at the last Fletcher Globes, which sort of comes with a spot in here.)
Bacon. It is pretty clear here. Bacon was on EVERYONE's ballot. It goes amazingly well with EVERYTHING. You can eat it by itself, on a sandwich, as a condiment, as a topping, WHATEVER. I have NEVER added bacon to something and then regretted it. I can pretty much say that bacon-wrapped ANYTHING is better than that same food sans bacon. If the question is "You know what would make this better?" The answer is ALWAYS Bacon! Vegans, you guys are dopes because you'll never have bacon. Actually, fine with me; more BACON for me.
Labor Day Weekend. While the official end of summer is sad, you get to spend one final day in the pool and OH YEAH, COLLEGE FOOTBALL BEGINS! A day off work to lay by the pool and recover from drinking for two straight days while watching college football? WOW. Oh yeah. Even better: you know that Labor Day means that the weather will be getting a little brisk before too long. I LOVE Labor Day. Usually Georgia wins that first game too. Maybe not in 2011 though.....
DJ Pauly D. A bit of an upset, but the people seemed to want DJ Pauly D in the Hall of Fame and why should I argue. With all due respect Situation, Pauly D was the only reason to watch Season Two of The Jersey Shore and whether The Cabs were Heah, or it was T-Shirt Time or Alligators were going to eat him, YEAH, Pauly D was My Dude. That Blowout hairdo and the first pump....pretty hard to beat the always-likeable Pauly D. In now way AT ALL a douche and a true friend to both Sitch and Vinny. I probably wouldn't mind hanging around Pauly D, simply because he seems like an alright guy and not a douche like Situation or a meathead like Ronnie or a puss like Vinny. Pauly D is the best parts of all of those other Jersey Boys.
Joel McHale. His biting humor and use of the skinny tie has been an inspiration to me, though I am sick of people saying that I stole his sense of humor. Sorry, I've been rocking that since before McHale was on The Soup. (I did steal his skinny tie though...). I also think he is quite funny on topics other than The Hills and the Kardashians though. I saw his standup and his family stuff was better than his On-Camera stuff. Watch out though Joel, Daniel Tosh is coming up in a hurry.
And the final member of the inaugural class was a write-in: Giada De Laurentiis. The chick can cook and has a nice rack to show off in the process. She was my unofficial first wife (though I think my current wife is much hotter and funnier) though it is probably good we got a pretend divorce for our pretend marriage, otherwise I'd weigh 900 lbs and would have to be moved with a crane. She also introduced several words into our vocabulary that still drives Roomie crazy. Rustic = lazy! But let's be honest: was I really watching Giada cook? No. Really just watching her lean over to peel those carrots. Thanks to Roomie for writing in Giada!
Congrats again to the inductees and thanks to everyone who voted.
The OC. I loved this show (still do and watch the Chrismukkah episodes every year post-Thanksgiving) and so did pretty much EVERYONE I know. It had great writing (well, great if you were a 14-year-old girl, which I sort of am when it comes to television), hot chicks, funny dudes and Autumn Reeser. The first seven episodes were dynamite and while I wanted to murder Oliver, wasn't that kind of the point? Kudos to Josh Schwartz (a candidate that didn't make it, but might just get in next year) for coming up with a show that was appointment television for its run. Tell me you didn't cry when Ryan's mom left in episode three and Kirstin said, "Ryan's going to live with us now." Tell me you didn't get teary in the season one finale. You didn't get goosebumps at the end of the season two premiere? You didn't imitate Marissa when she would say "Hey! or DJ!"? You didn't LOVE the Rainy Day episode or the Marissa/Alex makeout scene? You weren't cheering for Volcheck to kill Marissa in Season Three? I know I was! And when Autumn Reeser made the final season watchable, WOW. She was good. The entire show was a supernova: so hot yet over so quickly. I just wish the show had been able to run its course in the final year. Oh well, but CONGRATS THE OC, you are the first ever member of the SBF Hall of Fame. (Well, second, in a way as Aaron Sorkin received the SBF Lifetime Achievement award at the last Fletcher Globes, which sort of comes with a spot in here.)
Bacon. It is pretty clear here. Bacon was on EVERYONE's ballot. It goes amazingly well with EVERYTHING. You can eat it by itself, on a sandwich, as a condiment, as a topping, WHATEVER. I have NEVER added bacon to something and then regretted it. I can pretty much say that bacon-wrapped ANYTHING is better than that same food sans bacon. If the question is "You know what would make this better?" The answer is ALWAYS Bacon! Vegans, you guys are dopes because you'll never have bacon. Actually, fine with me; more BACON for me.
Labor Day Weekend. While the official end of summer is sad, you get to spend one final day in the pool and OH YEAH, COLLEGE FOOTBALL BEGINS! A day off work to lay by the pool and recover from drinking for two straight days while watching college football? WOW. Oh yeah. Even better: you know that Labor Day means that the weather will be getting a little brisk before too long. I LOVE Labor Day. Usually Georgia wins that first game too. Maybe not in 2011 though.....
DJ Pauly D. A bit of an upset, but the people seemed to want DJ Pauly D in the Hall of Fame and why should I argue. With all due respect Situation, Pauly D was the only reason to watch Season Two of The Jersey Shore and whether The Cabs were Heah, or it was T-Shirt Time or Alligators were going to eat him, YEAH, Pauly D was My Dude. That Blowout hairdo and the first pump....pretty hard to beat the always-likeable Pauly D. In now way AT ALL a douche and a true friend to both Sitch and Vinny. I probably wouldn't mind hanging around Pauly D, simply because he seems like an alright guy and not a douche like Situation or a meathead like Ronnie or a puss like Vinny. Pauly D is the best parts of all of those other Jersey Boys.
Joel McHale. His biting humor and use of the skinny tie has been an inspiration to me, though I am sick of people saying that I stole his sense of humor. Sorry, I've been rocking that since before McHale was on The Soup. (I did steal his skinny tie though...). I also think he is quite funny on topics other than The Hills and the Kardashians though. I saw his standup and his family stuff was better than his On-Camera stuff. Watch out though Joel, Daniel Tosh is coming up in a hurry.
And the final member of the inaugural class was a write-in: Giada De Laurentiis. The chick can cook and has a nice rack to show off in the process. She was my unofficial first wife (though I think my current wife is much hotter and funnier) though it is probably good we got a pretend divorce for our pretend marriage, otherwise I'd weigh 900 lbs and would have to be moved with a crane. She also introduced several words into our vocabulary that still drives Roomie crazy. Rustic = lazy! But let's be honest: was I really watching Giada cook? No. Really just watching her lean over to peel those carrots. Thanks to Roomie for writing in Giada!
Congrats again to the inductees and thanks to everyone who voted.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
You don't want to end up like Tech, Dawgs!
Certainly Georgia fans across the state and country reveled when the Air Force/Georgia Tech Independence Bowl score went final at 14-7 in favor of the Falcons. Hopefully though the Georgia football players were paying attention to what the loss meant for Georgia Tech: a sub-.500 season. Georgia enters the Liberty Bowl against UCF at 6-6, just as Georgia Tech did; however while Paul Johnson can likely survive the school’s first losing record since 1996, a losing season for Bulldog coach Mark Richt would just turn the heat up even more entering a crucial 2011 season.
Mark Richt figures to be on the hotseat after two straight disappointing seasons following a 10-3 year in 2008 that started with a No. 1 preseason ranking. If Richt and the Dawgs drop the bowl game to a team that, despite winning its conference title, should not be able to hang on the field with Georgia, the Richt detractors will have even more ammo, and the new AD might have some as well to get a new coach in following the 2011 season.
Georgia has gotten spoiled under Richt during his time in Athens. He started out so hot, winning the Sugar Bowl in his second season and claiming two SEC titles in his first five years that he possibly raised his own bar too high. Georgia fans are not used to the losing under Richt and a sub-.500 season would not sit well with a fanbase that is hoping that Richt doesn’t become the new Tommy Bowden. For years the Clemson coach underachieved only to save his job at the very end of the year with a bit of a run, then following the run by snagging one heck of a recruiting class. Richt could be treading very close to that line as he is trying to lead Georgia to its sixth win out of the team’s final eight games while hauling in one heck of a recruiting class. Though at this point, I’d rather have a winning record than not.
At the end of the day, Georgia should be taking the Liberty Bowl seriously as the team’s 2011 momentum could be sent off-track before it even starts with a loss to UCF. The SEC East looks winnable, especially with Aaron Murray. It would be a shame if Georgia had to spend all off-season hearing about a sub-.500 season like its in-state rival will do. A win Friday is one thing that might make life a bit easier for Mark Richt and could help him get off of the hotseat by this time next season.
Mark Richt figures to be on the hotseat after two straight disappointing seasons following a 10-3 year in 2008 that started with a No. 1 preseason ranking. If Richt and the Dawgs drop the bowl game to a team that, despite winning its conference title, should not be able to hang on the field with Georgia, the Richt detractors will have even more ammo, and the new AD might have some as well to get a new coach in following the 2011 season.
Georgia has gotten spoiled under Richt during his time in Athens. He started out so hot, winning the Sugar Bowl in his second season and claiming two SEC titles in his first five years that he possibly raised his own bar too high. Georgia fans are not used to the losing under Richt and a sub-.500 season would not sit well with a fanbase that is hoping that Richt doesn’t become the new Tommy Bowden. For years the Clemson coach underachieved only to save his job at the very end of the year with a bit of a run, then following the run by snagging one heck of a recruiting class. Richt could be treading very close to that line as he is trying to lead Georgia to its sixth win out of the team’s final eight games while hauling in one heck of a recruiting class. Though at this point, I’d rather have a winning record than not.
At the end of the day, Georgia should be taking the Liberty Bowl seriously as the team’s 2011 momentum could be sent off-track before it even starts with a loss to UCF. The SEC East looks winnable, especially with Aaron Murray. It would be a shame if Georgia had to spend all off-season hearing about a sub-.500 season like its in-state rival will do. A win Friday is one thing that might make life a bit easier for Mark Richt and could help him get off of the hotseat by this time next season.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Mark Richt should be shopping for Mark Fox
With Christmas just days away, perhaps Mark Richt should head out to the Mall of Georgia or the University of Georgia bookstore and invest in a gift for Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox. Why get a present for the basketball coach, you might ask? Well perhaps because he is taking some attention away from Richt and the Dawgs’ appearance in another lower-tier bowl game. The basketball team could make the NCAA tournament this season, and in addition to quelling some alumni displeasure in the athletic department’s lack of overall success in recent year, that could help Richt land a few recruits on National Signing Day.
If Georgia is in the running for a top-flight talent and is up against Alabama or Auburn, perhaps the edge might go to Georgia due to the success of the basketball team. Some of the best recruiting classes Richt hauled in came in his time that coincided with Jim Harrick’s final two years on campus.
Plus you cannot discount that the athletes on campus have the pride of wanting to better their fellow students’ teams. The football team doesn’t want to hear that the basketball team is doing better than them; the basketball team meanwhile wants to break out of the shadow of the football team. The ongoing competition is good for both programs and the friendly rivalries have helped Florida and Texas in recent years.
Finally, though he may not want to admit it, Richt has gotten at least one player this season due strictly to the basketball program. Nick Marshall of Wilcox County is a standout quarterback and cornerback but also stars on his high school team’s basketball squad. The shooting guard will walk-on the basketball team in Athens while playing football on scholarship. Marhsall could have committed to a number of other schools to play both sports but decided to go to Georgia to engage in the double-dip. Walter Hill was another player several years back that came to Georgia to play both because of the basketball program. And early on in Richt’s tenure, Fred Gibson moonlighted as a basketball player after catching footballs in record numbers.
Richt might be the basketball team’s biggest fan this season as a way of saying thank you as some of the intense spotlight moves off of him for a few months. He might need to be careful at the end of the day though. The Georgia basketball program seems to be on the way up and could be there for a while. Some in the Bulldog Nation might soon start to gripe and wonder why the football team cannot join in the “program climb.” Richt should be happy that there is a distraction now and hope he can regain top status in Athens soon.
If Georgia is in the running for a top-flight talent and is up against Alabama or Auburn, perhaps the edge might go to Georgia due to the success of the basketball team. Some of the best recruiting classes Richt hauled in came in his time that coincided with Jim Harrick’s final two years on campus.
Plus you cannot discount that the athletes on campus have the pride of wanting to better their fellow students’ teams. The football team doesn’t want to hear that the basketball team is doing better than them; the basketball team meanwhile wants to break out of the shadow of the football team. The ongoing competition is good for both programs and the friendly rivalries have helped Florida and Texas in recent years.
Finally, though he may not want to admit it, Richt has gotten at least one player this season due strictly to the basketball program. Nick Marshall of Wilcox County is a standout quarterback and cornerback but also stars on his high school team’s basketball squad. The shooting guard will walk-on the basketball team in Athens while playing football on scholarship. Marhsall could have committed to a number of other schools to play both sports but decided to go to Georgia to engage in the double-dip. Walter Hill was another player several years back that came to Georgia to play both because of the basketball program. And early on in Richt’s tenure, Fred Gibson moonlighted as a basketball player after catching footballs in record numbers.
Richt might be the basketball team’s biggest fan this season as a way of saying thank you as some of the intense spotlight moves off of him for a few months. He might need to be careful at the end of the day though. The Georgia basketball program seems to be on the way up and could be there for a while. Some in the Bulldog Nation might soon start to gripe and wonder why the football team cannot join in the “program climb.” Richt should be happy that there is a distraction now and hope he can regain top status in Athens soon.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Big B's ten prospects that improved their stock in the playoffs
This list will debut tonight on Score Atlanta's The Official Visit. Tune in for Scott and Josh tonight on 790 The Zone, 7-9 pm
10. Kyle Vorster – RB, Walton
9. Josh Clemmons – RB Whitewater
8. Kyle Karempelis – RB, Wesleyan
7. Marcus Caffey – RB, Grady
6. Dustin Christian – RB, Calhoun
5. Kane Whitehurst – WR, Chattahoochee
4. Demarco Robinson – WR, M.L. King
3. Ralph David Abernathy – RB, Westminster
2. Taylor Heinicke – QB Collins Hill
1. Timmy Byerly – QB, Chattahoochee
10. Kyle Vorster – RB, Walton
9. Josh Clemmons – RB Whitewater
8. Kyle Karempelis – RB, Wesleyan
7. Marcus Caffey – RB, Grady
6. Dustin Christian – RB, Calhoun
5. Kane Whitehurst – WR, Chattahoochee
4. Demarco Robinson – WR, M.L. King
3. Ralph David Abernathy – RB, Westminster
2. Taylor Heinicke – QB Collins Hill
1. Timmy Byerly – QB, Chattahoochee
Mark Richt's Christmas wishlist
For more Georgia news and notes, visit www.chuckoliver.net
The University of Georgia head football coach Mark Richt recently sat on Santa’s lap and I was lucky enough to hear what he asked for from the Jolly Ole Elf when he visits Athens in just a few days. Most of the list had to do with potential recruits, so Richt should be happy that I am not an NCAA rules enforcer.
A big space eater to anchor defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s 3-4 defense. Richt wished in particular for junior college transfer-to-be John Jenkins. The MGCC lineman is 6’3, 340 and could plug right in the way Terrence Cody did for Alabama. The Dawgs already have Spalding’s Chris Mayes, but Jenkins could make an impact from day one.
A game-changing running back to help out Aaron Murray the way Marcus Lattimore did for South Carolina this season. Richt wished in particular for Isaiah Crowell of Carver-Columbus. Crowell has been the best running back in the state of Georgia for the last two seasons and could be the best back in the country. He has the exact blend of speed, size and burst that you want, and Crowell showed up huge with eyes on him his season, standing out when Nick Saban or Richt was in attendance at his games.
A defensive end/linebacker to potentially offset the loss of Justin Houston. Richt wished in particular for Thomas County-Central DE Ray Drew. If Houston were to skip his senior season for NFL riches, Drew wouldn’t necessarily play that rush-outside linebacker that Houston was, but Drew is just as explosive and could provide enough of a threat from the D-end spot that Jarvis Jones and some of the other returning LBs could step into Houston’s spot.
A deep threat that will ease a tad of the sting of losing perhaps the most talented receiver in Georgia history. Richt wished in particular that Charone Peake would decommit from Clemson and give the Bulldogs another look or that Valdosta’s Malcolm Mitchell AND Grady’s Damian Swann would both pledge to Georgia. If Peake, a South Carolina prospect like AJ Green, does decide to give Georgia another look, especially with the breakout of Aaron Murray, expect Richt and company not to finish in second place like it they did the last time Peake committed. If Peake does stay a Tiger however, Richt should like his chances of finding a breakout star at wideout between Swann and Mitchell, who both could also star as defensive backs.
Urban Meyer to step down and for the Florida Gators to hire an unproven head coach. Oh, it looks like Christmas came early.
The University of Georgia head football coach Mark Richt recently sat on Santa’s lap and I was lucky enough to hear what he asked for from the Jolly Ole Elf when he visits Athens in just a few days. Most of the list had to do with potential recruits, so Richt should be happy that I am not an NCAA rules enforcer.
A big space eater to anchor defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s 3-4 defense. Richt wished in particular for junior college transfer-to-be John Jenkins. The MGCC lineman is 6’3, 340 and could plug right in the way Terrence Cody did for Alabama. The Dawgs already have Spalding’s Chris Mayes, but Jenkins could make an impact from day one.
A game-changing running back to help out Aaron Murray the way Marcus Lattimore did for South Carolina this season. Richt wished in particular for Isaiah Crowell of Carver-Columbus. Crowell has been the best running back in the state of Georgia for the last two seasons and could be the best back in the country. He has the exact blend of speed, size and burst that you want, and Crowell showed up huge with eyes on him his season, standing out when Nick Saban or Richt was in attendance at his games.
A defensive end/linebacker to potentially offset the loss of Justin Houston. Richt wished in particular for Thomas County-Central DE Ray Drew. If Houston were to skip his senior season for NFL riches, Drew wouldn’t necessarily play that rush-outside linebacker that Houston was, but Drew is just as explosive and could provide enough of a threat from the D-end spot that Jarvis Jones and some of the other returning LBs could step into Houston’s spot.
A deep threat that will ease a tad of the sting of losing perhaps the most talented receiver in Georgia history. Richt wished in particular that Charone Peake would decommit from Clemson and give the Bulldogs another look or that Valdosta’s Malcolm Mitchell AND Grady’s Damian Swann would both pledge to Georgia. If Peake, a South Carolina prospect like AJ Green, does decide to give Georgia another look, especially with the breakout of Aaron Murray, expect Richt and company not to finish in second place like it they did the last time Peake committed. If Peake does stay a Tiger however, Richt should like his chances of finding a breakout star at wideout between Swann and Mitchell, who both could also star as defensive backs.
Urban Meyer to step down and for the Florida Gators to hire an unproven head coach. Oh, it looks like Christmas came early.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Bowlicious Picks
Sooo Sad. The final Picks blog of the year. Oh well. Keep that chinnychinchin up. The Bowls start TOMORROW! huh?
Maybe next year Georgia will be good and playing in a bowl game that doesn't want me to stick a yule log into my eye. With no further ado..........
New Mexico Bowl: BYU v UTEP. The New Mexico Bowl? Maybe if they instead held this in Cabo and called it the Old Mexico Bowl, people might actually WANT to go. BYU
Humanitarian Bowl: Northern Illinois v Fresno State. Played on the blue turf. It is my hope that the bands for these two schools "accidentally" spill a bunch of green paint on the turf. But that likely won't happen. Instead NIU will win.
New Orleans Bowl: Ohio v Troy. A trucking company sponsors this bowl. I just wish that trucking company would come to Atlanta and pick up all of the dregs of Nawlins that came over after Katrina and take them back to their city. Troy.
Beef O'Brady Bowl: Southern Miss v Louisville. I've never eaten at a Beef O'Bradys, but if they can only afford a bowl in Tampa, I don't think I'm missing much. Louisville.
Las Vegas: 19 Utah v 10 Boise State. How ironical is it that Boise State loses to Nevada and then has to go BACK to the state for its bowl game. SUCK IT Broncos! After you lose here, get ready to lose to Georgia in the Dome next year! Wait, BSU will beat Utah. OK, so get ready to lose to Georgia ANYWAY next year!
Poinsettia Bowl: Navy v San Diego State. SDSU becomes bowl eligible for the first time in ages...and they travel about 15 minutes for their bowl game. BUT, the game is played in San Diego aka a Whale's Vajayjay, so I wouldn't be complaining. Navy wins
Hawaii Bowl: 24 Hawaii v Tulsa. Nothing says Christmas Eve QUITE like the Hawaii playing in the Hawaii bowl. remember when Colt Brennan and company got their poop pushed in by Georgia much to the chagrin of FOX in the 2007-08 Sugar Bowl? I do. I would ask Colt Brennan but....(what, too soon?) FINE. Hawaii wins.
Lil Caesars Bowl: FIU v Toledo. I love Little Caesars. Period. I will watch this bowl WITH Crazy Bread and a $5 pepperoni pizza. I LOVE Lil Caesars. And in this game...Toledo. Hopefully they give the winners a trophy with Crazy Bread in it.
Independence Bowl: Air Force v GT. I remember when the Yellow Jackets were mocking the Dawg fans for going to the Independence Bowl. Suck it. Tech does win this one though.
Champs Sports Bowl: 22 West Va v NC State. So we get to see a neutered Bill Stewart on the sidelines. WOW. That will be neat. And Noel Devine, who has to be 36 by now will run all over NC State. Sorry Pack, but I'm going with the Neers.
Insight Bowl: 12 Mizzou v Iowa. I want to take Iowa but I simply cannot. I'm going with Mizzou in the Insight Bowl. Sorry I couldn't give you anymore of the bowl's namesake for this matchup. RIMSHOT!
Military Bowl: Maryland v ECU. This is one of two Military/Armed Forces bowls. I appreciate what the military is doing for our country, but maybe college football doesn't. You honor our troops with THIS crappy matchup? Maryland and ECU? Come on. These guys are fighting for us. You give them the Pirates and the Terps? Child Please. Terps win.
Texas Bowl: Illinois v Baylor. I drove through Waco recently. It was kinda cool but nothing was on fire. A bit disappointing. I am still taking Baylor though for this one.
Alamo Bowl: 14 Okie State v Arizona. The Cowboys lost their OC, but that's OK because they still have Mike Gundy, who is a man and I believe 43 at this point. Sorry Mike Stoops but I cannot see you ending your recent skid. Okie State wins the Pierce Bowl (my in-laws' alma mater vs where they currently reside).
Armed Forces Bowl. Army v SMU. This matchup doesn't honor our troops much more than the Maryland game. That 30-30 documentary was pretty good though. SMU.
Pinstripe Bowl: K-State v Syracuse. REALLY? we REALLY needed to have a bowl at Yankees stadium? This was necessary? Come on. K-State wins just to spit on New Yorkers everywhere.
Music City Bowl: UNC v Tennessee. So UNC has about six more players that will miss the bowl game. Come on Butch. Get a grip on your program. Tennessee wins this one because its coach will have the team playing like the Germans in 1940, not in 1945.
Holiday Bowl: 18 Nebraska v Washington. These two have already played once this season. Why will this game be ANY different. Nebraska rolls.
Meineke Car Care bowl: SoFla v Klimpsen. Dabo is my favorite ACC coach but he could be coaching against his replacement with Skip Holtz. Think about it: Ties to the state, traditional name, solid play-caller. Hmmmm. Dabo might need to win this to keep his job. And the Tigers just have soo much more talent. At least they should...
Sun Bowl: Notre Dame v Miami. Crappy overrated team v team without its next head coach. Ummm, I'm going with Rudy's alma mater. Miami is in disarray. ND isn't good, but they at least have their regular coach.
Liberty Bowl: Georgia v UCF. The last time these two got together, a missed extra point let Georgia escape with a 24-23 win. I should have known right then, my freshman year at Georgia, that I'd be in for a lifetime of heartbreak. Georgia wins. And PS, for more coverage of Georgia, head to www.chuckoliver.net. Also, I want it on the record: I want Richt to win and win big. i want him as Georgia's coach. I want HIM to be the one that turns it around again. i want him, not muschamp, mullen, etc., to be the coach for a long and successful time. We'll see.
Chick-fil-A Bowl: 23 FSU v 20 South Carolina. What a letdown for both of these teams. Both played in their respective conference championship games. FSU is probably a little happier to be here though. I've got to go with SoCar though as Ponder is likely out for the Noles. Though they'll have a shot because Garcia is IN for the Gamecocks. Lattimore is too much though.
Ticketcity Bowl: Texas Tech v Northwestern. Sorry to my pxp partner but I've got to go with Tubs here. They can pass and he'll outcoach Fitz just because Tubs is an SEC-level coach and NU cannot beat the SEC.
Capital One: 16 Bama v 9 Michigan State. Hey Sparty, you are probably boasting that Tri-Big 10 champions card but if you had just taken care of business v Iowa....and if you couldn't beat Iowa, how will you beat Bama? You think your coach had a heart attack against ND. Wait until Ingram runs all over them....
Outback Bowl: Florida v Penn State. Urban's last dance...maybe. Apparently he'll stick around Gainesville with an office on campus and help Muschamp with recruiting. I am sure Will is going to LOVE that. PS, Brantley's last go as Florida's QB? Probably with Driskel coming in. Do we REALLY think that the Student Body's new alma mater can win this? I would LOVE to pick Paul State U, but Florida wins. Sorry Body
Gator Bowl: 21 Miss State v Michigan. Two words: Denard Robinson. Michigan wins. And we may have to replace Greg Shiano with Dan Mullen, in terms of turning down a plum to stay at your hellhole.
Rose: 5 Wisco v 3 TCU. Really? Andy Dalton and the Horney Frogs against a team that put up 80+ a few weeks back? Wisco will run and pass and run and run and run all over the horney toads.
Fiesta: UConn v 7 Oklahoma. The Huskies aren't even ranked. Repeat: UConn isn't even ranked. Why is a team in a BCS bowl NOT RANKED? I think Sparty just slit his wrists. Sooners BOOM UConn by 90 as Bob tries to earn back the Big Game title.
Orange Bowl: 4 Stanford v 13 VaTech. This one is sponsored by Discover Card. Does ANY store take the Discover card? Will Discover try and pay the schools with a Discover card, only to have both Stanford and VaTech say, umm, we do Visa, Amex and Mastercard, you know, REAL credit cards. Can you provide some OTHER form of REAL payment? Confederate currency perhaps? Stanford wins and then Jim Harbaugh goes immediately to the 49ers.
Sugar Bowl: 6 Ohio State v 8 Arkansas. Oh, because Ohio State has SUCH success against the SEC in BCS bowl games.....Arkansas wins this one and Mallet goes off to the Redskins.
godaddy.com bowl: MTSU v Miami (OH). Didn't miami (oh) just lose its coach to Pitt? For that reason, I'll take MTSU. PS, maybe Godaddy.com should try and gets some attractive spokeswomen? Danica and Jillian are NOT lookers. Quit trying to tell me they are!
Cotton Bowl: 11 LSU v 17 Texas A&M. I read that Pat Forde of ESPN.com is actually picking TAMU. I watched Georgia lay waste to the Aggies last year. And beating Texas doesn't mean you are good. I'm going with LSU. They have better players, better coaches, better everything.
Compass Bowl: Pitt v Kentucky. Put on your Hartline was popped for DUI so he won't play. Doesn't matter. Kentucky still has Randall Cobb. That is enough. Bye Bye Wanny.
Fight Hunger Bowl: 15 Nevada v BC. Nevada, you beat Boise State but could ONLY manage the Fight Hunger Bowl? I will root for you anyways. Nevada.
BCS Title game: 2 Oregon v 1 Auburn. I thought Karma would rear its ugly head against Bama but karma is certainly going to come into play after that Heisman speech. What was that? Cam Newton was HORRIBLE in that speech. Couldn't someone have helped him with that? Ducks win, which is fine because imagine the Auburn fans in four years when the NCAA takes away this season. They'd be talking about it forever, just like they do with 2004. This way, the NCAA won't have to worry about it.
That's it. Have a great bowl-watching season.
Maybe next year Georgia will be good and playing in a bowl game that doesn't want me to stick a yule log into my eye. With no further ado..........
New Mexico Bowl: BYU v UTEP. The New Mexico Bowl? Maybe if they instead held this in Cabo and called it the Old Mexico Bowl, people might actually WANT to go. BYU
Humanitarian Bowl: Northern Illinois v Fresno State. Played on the blue turf. It is my hope that the bands for these two schools "accidentally" spill a bunch of green paint on the turf. But that likely won't happen. Instead NIU will win.
New Orleans Bowl: Ohio v Troy. A trucking company sponsors this bowl. I just wish that trucking company would come to Atlanta and pick up all of the dregs of Nawlins that came over after Katrina and take them back to their city. Troy.
Beef O'Brady Bowl: Southern Miss v Louisville. I've never eaten at a Beef O'Bradys, but if they can only afford a bowl in Tampa, I don't think I'm missing much. Louisville.
Las Vegas: 19 Utah v 10 Boise State. How ironical is it that Boise State loses to Nevada and then has to go BACK to the state for its bowl game. SUCK IT Broncos! After you lose here, get ready to lose to Georgia in the Dome next year! Wait, BSU will beat Utah. OK, so get ready to lose to Georgia ANYWAY next year!
Poinsettia Bowl: Navy v San Diego State. SDSU becomes bowl eligible for the first time in ages...and they travel about 15 minutes for their bowl game. BUT, the game is played in San Diego aka a Whale's Vajayjay, so I wouldn't be complaining. Navy wins
Hawaii Bowl: 24 Hawaii v Tulsa. Nothing says Christmas Eve QUITE like the Hawaii playing in the Hawaii bowl. remember when Colt Brennan and company got their poop pushed in by Georgia much to the chagrin of FOX in the 2007-08 Sugar Bowl? I do. I would ask Colt Brennan but....(what, too soon?) FINE. Hawaii wins.
Lil Caesars Bowl: FIU v Toledo. I love Little Caesars. Period. I will watch this bowl WITH Crazy Bread and a $5 pepperoni pizza. I LOVE Lil Caesars. And in this game...Toledo. Hopefully they give the winners a trophy with Crazy Bread in it.
Independence Bowl: Air Force v GT. I remember when the Yellow Jackets were mocking the Dawg fans for going to the Independence Bowl. Suck it. Tech does win this one though.
Champs Sports Bowl: 22 West Va v NC State. So we get to see a neutered Bill Stewart on the sidelines. WOW. That will be neat. And Noel Devine, who has to be 36 by now will run all over NC State. Sorry Pack, but I'm going with the Neers.
Insight Bowl: 12 Mizzou v Iowa. I want to take Iowa but I simply cannot. I'm going with Mizzou in the Insight Bowl. Sorry I couldn't give you anymore of the bowl's namesake for this matchup. RIMSHOT!
Military Bowl: Maryland v ECU. This is one of two Military/Armed Forces bowls. I appreciate what the military is doing for our country, but maybe college football doesn't. You honor our troops with THIS crappy matchup? Maryland and ECU? Come on. These guys are fighting for us. You give them the Pirates and the Terps? Child Please. Terps win.
Texas Bowl: Illinois v Baylor. I drove through Waco recently. It was kinda cool but nothing was on fire. A bit disappointing. I am still taking Baylor though for this one.
Alamo Bowl: 14 Okie State v Arizona. The Cowboys lost their OC, but that's OK because they still have Mike Gundy, who is a man and I believe 43 at this point. Sorry Mike Stoops but I cannot see you ending your recent skid. Okie State wins the Pierce Bowl (my in-laws' alma mater vs where they currently reside).
Armed Forces Bowl. Army v SMU. This matchup doesn't honor our troops much more than the Maryland game. That 30-30 documentary was pretty good though. SMU.
Pinstripe Bowl: K-State v Syracuse. REALLY? we REALLY needed to have a bowl at Yankees stadium? This was necessary? Come on. K-State wins just to spit on New Yorkers everywhere.
Music City Bowl: UNC v Tennessee. So UNC has about six more players that will miss the bowl game. Come on Butch. Get a grip on your program. Tennessee wins this one because its coach will have the team playing like the Germans in 1940, not in 1945.
Holiday Bowl: 18 Nebraska v Washington. These two have already played once this season. Why will this game be ANY different. Nebraska rolls.
Meineke Car Care bowl: SoFla v Klimpsen. Dabo is my favorite ACC coach but he could be coaching against his replacement with Skip Holtz. Think about it: Ties to the state, traditional name, solid play-caller. Hmmmm. Dabo might need to win this to keep his job. And the Tigers just have soo much more talent. At least they should...
Sun Bowl: Notre Dame v Miami. Crappy overrated team v team without its next head coach. Ummm, I'm going with Rudy's alma mater. Miami is in disarray. ND isn't good, but they at least have their regular coach.
Liberty Bowl: Georgia v UCF. The last time these two got together, a missed extra point let Georgia escape with a 24-23 win. I should have known right then, my freshman year at Georgia, that I'd be in for a lifetime of heartbreak. Georgia wins. And PS, for more coverage of Georgia, head to www.chuckoliver.net. Also, I want it on the record: I want Richt to win and win big. i want him as Georgia's coach. I want HIM to be the one that turns it around again. i want him, not muschamp, mullen, etc., to be the coach for a long and successful time. We'll see.
Chick-fil-A Bowl: 23 FSU v 20 South Carolina. What a letdown for both of these teams. Both played in their respective conference championship games. FSU is probably a little happier to be here though. I've got to go with SoCar though as Ponder is likely out for the Noles. Though they'll have a shot because Garcia is IN for the Gamecocks. Lattimore is too much though.
Ticketcity Bowl: Texas Tech v Northwestern. Sorry to my pxp partner but I've got to go with Tubs here. They can pass and he'll outcoach Fitz just because Tubs is an SEC-level coach and NU cannot beat the SEC.
Capital One: 16 Bama v 9 Michigan State. Hey Sparty, you are probably boasting that Tri-Big 10 champions card but if you had just taken care of business v Iowa....and if you couldn't beat Iowa, how will you beat Bama? You think your coach had a heart attack against ND. Wait until Ingram runs all over them....
Outback Bowl: Florida v Penn State. Urban's last dance...maybe. Apparently he'll stick around Gainesville with an office on campus and help Muschamp with recruiting. I am sure Will is going to LOVE that. PS, Brantley's last go as Florida's QB? Probably with Driskel coming in. Do we REALLY think that the Student Body's new alma mater can win this? I would LOVE to pick Paul State U, but Florida wins. Sorry Body
Gator Bowl: 21 Miss State v Michigan. Two words: Denard Robinson. Michigan wins. And we may have to replace Greg Shiano with Dan Mullen, in terms of turning down a plum to stay at your hellhole.
Rose: 5 Wisco v 3 TCU. Really? Andy Dalton and the Horney Frogs against a team that put up 80+ a few weeks back? Wisco will run and pass and run and run and run all over the horney toads.
Fiesta: UConn v 7 Oklahoma. The Huskies aren't even ranked. Repeat: UConn isn't even ranked. Why is a team in a BCS bowl NOT RANKED? I think Sparty just slit his wrists. Sooners BOOM UConn by 90 as Bob tries to earn back the Big Game title.
Orange Bowl: 4 Stanford v 13 VaTech. This one is sponsored by Discover Card. Does ANY store take the Discover card? Will Discover try and pay the schools with a Discover card, only to have both Stanford and VaTech say, umm, we do Visa, Amex and Mastercard, you know, REAL credit cards. Can you provide some OTHER form of REAL payment? Confederate currency perhaps? Stanford wins and then Jim Harbaugh goes immediately to the 49ers.
Sugar Bowl: 6 Ohio State v 8 Arkansas. Oh, because Ohio State has SUCH success against the SEC in BCS bowl games.....Arkansas wins this one and Mallet goes off to the Redskins.
godaddy.com bowl: MTSU v Miami (OH). Didn't miami (oh) just lose its coach to Pitt? For that reason, I'll take MTSU. PS, maybe Godaddy.com should try and gets some attractive spokeswomen? Danica and Jillian are NOT lookers. Quit trying to tell me they are!
Cotton Bowl: 11 LSU v 17 Texas A&M. I read that Pat Forde of ESPN.com is actually picking TAMU. I watched Georgia lay waste to the Aggies last year. And beating Texas doesn't mean you are good. I'm going with LSU. They have better players, better coaches, better everything.
Compass Bowl: Pitt v Kentucky. Put on your Hartline was popped for DUI so he won't play. Doesn't matter. Kentucky still has Randall Cobb. That is enough. Bye Bye Wanny.
Fight Hunger Bowl: 15 Nevada v BC. Nevada, you beat Boise State but could ONLY manage the Fight Hunger Bowl? I will root for you anyways. Nevada.
BCS Title game: 2 Oregon v 1 Auburn. I thought Karma would rear its ugly head against Bama but karma is certainly going to come into play after that Heisman speech. What was that? Cam Newton was HORRIBLE in that speech. Couldn't someone have helped him with that? Ducks win, which is fine because imagine the Auburn fans in four years when the NCAA takes away this season. They'd be talking about it forever, just like they do with 2004. This way, the NCAA won't have to worry about it.
That's it. Have a great bowl-watching season.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
If you missed Sports Central XL last night...
Wednesday’s GPB Sports Central XL was perhaps the biggest and best show of the entire year as four championship coaches appeared just days after winning a GHSA football state championship to discuss the games and their teams. Buford’s Jess Simpson talked about how the feeling of winning a state title never gets old as he has now won four straight Class AA crowns. Sandy Creek’s Chip Walker admitted that he hasn’t brought up the fact that he now has two state titles to his father’s one, and he also discussed how he will motivate his team next year, which will lose a majority of the players that won the last two crowns. Terry Crowder of Chattahoochee gave much of the credit to his players and doted on quarterback Timmy Byerly. Finally Mark Crews was able to share his excitement with his former boss Dave Hunter, who was a panelist along with Tommy Palmer.
The co-hosts Fletcher Proctor, Mark Harmon and Alex Ewalt were also joined by GHSA Executive Director Dr. Ralph Swearngin, who revealed some of the attendance numbers from the championship weekend at the Georgia Dome. Dr. Swearngin also strongly defended the Dome as the site for the championships, despite a recent survey done by a local newspaper that showed that some coaches would prefer the title games be moved back to the school campuses.
Finally Scott Janovitz of GPB and 790 The Zone joined the program to discuss recruiting. If you missed the show, be sure and check out the replay On-Demand anytime on www.gpb.org/sports/xl.
The co-hosts Fletcher Proctor, Mark Harmon and Alex Ewalt were also joined by GHSA Executive Director Dr. Ralph Swearngin, who revealed some of the attendance numbers from the championship weekend at the Georgia Dome. Dr. Swearngin also strongly defended the Dome as the site for the championships, despite a recent survey done by a local newspaper that showed that some coaches would prefer the title games be moved back to the school campuses.
Finally Scott Janovitz of GPB and 790 The Zone joined the program to discuss recruiting. If you missed the show, be sure and check out the replay On-Demand anytime on www.gpb.org/sports/xl.
Last TheFletch for 2010
Be sure to pick up a copy of Score Atlanta (The Final edition of 2010) tomorrow. Also a quick programming note: GPB Sports Central XL, SA's The Official Visit and ScoreAtlanta Scoreboard will be on hiatus until after the New Year!
Skip Bayless is a professional rabble-rouser that is paid by ESPN to come up with the most absurd opinions possible in the desperate hope that it will draw attention to a show that about .004% of sports fans across America even think about watching. Recently on this show Bayless chose to ignore the fact that the Falcons sport the best record in the National Football League by saying that Atlanta’s NFL franchise was merely the tenth-best team this season. His logic: the Falcons did not sport a “signature” victory on the 2010 resume. WOW. I guess Bayless, along with Wilbon and several other NFL experts are still refusing to give the Falcons credit for beating the Green Bay Packers or the Baltimore Ravens or even the Cleveland Browns ON THE ROAD (ask New Orleans and New England about the Browns). Then, OH YEAH, there was that whole “win at New Orleans” thing a few weeks back too. That certainly wasn’t signature enough though I guess.
I realize that Bayless and ESPN are looking for ratings and his saying outlandish things like a team with a 10-2 (at the time) record is only the tenth-best team in the League, is a statement sure to get everybody from 790 The Zone to Score Atlanta to the AJC talking, but at some point, don’t you just come off like an idiot for making too crazy of a statement? I believe you do. Then again, if he says No. 5 or No. 6, I guess that could get swept under the rug and it wouldn’t stand out. He and his show needs all of the attention he can get. Therefore the crazy proclamation of No. 10.
Chris Domino brought up the statement to Falcons coach Mike Smith recently and Coach Smith was smart enough not to take the bait. He didn’t defend Bayless but just generalized by saying that the two teams that make Dallas should get respect and the world will see how good those two teams are when they play in the big game. Domino pressed Smith again, but Smith wouldn’t lower himself to Bayless’s level and kudos to him. Smith knows that if he keeps winning, no one will be able to say anything bad about his team.
Sadly two members of the Falcons did take the bait as Brent Grimes and Roddy White both tweeted about Bayless. This led to a Twitter war between the three parties. Despite a replay on the field, Bayless still tried to tell Grimes that he didn’t make an interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers then he acted like a two-year-old in several responses to Roddy White. I wish that Grimes and White had done what Smith did and just ignore this dope Bayless and let him go back to shouting at whoever is unlucky enough to sit across from him on First and Ten or First Take or Cold Pizza or whatever the show is called these days. In fact the best way to shut him up would be for Grimes and White to both make outstanding plays to win a Super Bowl Trophy and just let Bayless stew over it. Perhaps even appear on his show a few days afterwards and bring the tape with you.
Speaking of two-year-olds needing to get their way, the University of Florida Gators attempted to hijack the Heisman ceremony last Saturday by deciding to announce former Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp as its new head football coach hours before former Gator Cam Newton claimed the prize. I don’t know why Florida couldn’t let Newton have his day in the clouded sun by waiting until Sunday morning to announce the hire; the extra 12 hours wouldn’t have affected recruiting so the school shouldn’t try and use that excuse. The announcement of the hire came just days after Urban Meyer announced his retirement…in the same cycle as the college football awards. It just seems weird that these announcements typically happen when Florida is out of the spotlight and Meyer or Foley feel the need for the program to be recognized. I guess they were spoiled by CBS and ESPN fawning all over them when Tebow was there and the Gators were winning BCS titles. As the Greek poet Hesiod once said, “Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.” Florida cannot quite grasp that.
Back to the Heisman ceremony, where Auburn Quarterback and Atlanta-native Cam Newton claimed the Great Stiff-arm. Boy that speech was bad. He stumbled and muttered and rambled any sympathy I might have still been harboring for him right away, and it paled in comparison to last year’s winning speech from Mark Ingram. Newton KNEW he was going to win; he couldn’t have had someone help him write it? What was with the “my folks do so much behind the scenes,” line? We KNOW they do after reading the papers over the last month. 790 The Zone’s David Pollack defending the stammering, saying that when he did the awards circuit in 2004, he was just as nervous, but sorry David. You had competition that year and winning was a bit more unexpected than it was for Newton. He had it in the bag. He should have been coached up by somebody at Auburn. They don’t have a speech class he could have sat in on last week?
Finally, the GHSA football state championships were a success last weekend at the Georgia Dome. The five games were seen on GPB-TV as well as gpb.org/sports. The webcasts also featured an interactive chat, just as the Friday night broadcasts had leading up to the championships. At one point on the interactive chat Saturday night, a new web site traffic record was reached for most visitors at one time. Georgia Public Broadcasting was able to follow up its game broadcasts by snagging four of the championship coaches and GHSA Executive Director Dr. Ralph Swearngin for this past Wednesday’s Sports Central XL. If you missed the show, check it out on-demand on the gpb.org/sports site or follow the link on www.gaprepnews.com.
Can You Believe He Said That
All I can tell you is that we thought long and hard about what not to do. We thought harder about what to do.” That was Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany after he announced that the two divisions in the new-look Big Ten will be called The Leaders and The Legends. Huh? What? I guess North/South and East/West was taken, so you decided to listen to a drunken fan at an Iowa/Minnesota tailgate party? Dude, we’ve got so many legends. And what about our leaders?! Leaders and Legends, eh? OK. Whatever. When discussing Delany and his brain trust, I’ll go with Dumb and Dumber.
Skip Bayless is a professional rabble-rouser that is paid by ESPN to come up with the most absurd opinions possible in the desperate hope that it will draw attention to a show that about .004% of sports fans across America even think about watching. Recently on this show Bayless chose to ignore the fact that the Falcons sport the best record in the National Football League by saying that Atlanta’s NFL franchise was merely the tenth-best team this season. His logic: the Falcons did not sport a “signature” victory on the 2010 resume. WOW. I guess Bayless, along with Wilbon and several other NFL experts are still refusing to give the Falcons credit for beating the Green Bay Packers or the Baltimore Ravens or even the Cleveland Browns ON THE ROAD (ask New Orleans and New England about the Browns). Then, OH YEAH, there was that whole “win at New Orleans” thing a few weeks back too. That certainly wasn’t signature enough though I guess.
I realize that Bayless and ESPN are looking for ratings and his saying outlandish things like a team with a 10-2 (at the time) record is only the tenth-best team in the League, is a statement sure to get everybody from 790 The Zone to Score Atlanta to the AJC talking, but at some point, don’t you just come off like an idiot for making too crazy of a statement? I believe you do. Then again, if he says No. 5 or No. 6, I guess that could get swept under the rug and it wouldn’t stand out. He and his show needs all of the attention he can get. Therefore the crazy proclamation of No. 10.
Chris Domino brought up the statement to Falcons coach Mike Smith recently and Coach Smith was smart enough not to take the bait. He didn’t defend Bayless but just generalized by saying that the two teams that make Dallas should get respect and the world will see how good those two teams are when they play in the big game. Domino pressed Smith again, but Smith wouldn’t lower himself to Bayless’s level and kudos to him. Smith knows that if he keeps winning, no one will be able to say anything bad about his team.
Sadly two members of the Falcons did take the bait as Brent Grimes and Roddy White both tweeted about Bayless. This led to a Twitter war between the three parties. Despite a replay on the field, Bayless still tried to tell Grimes that he didn’t make an interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers then he acted like a two-year-old in several responses to Roddy White. I wish that Grimes and White had done what Smith did and just ignore this dope Bayless and let him go back to shouting at whoever is unlucky enough to sit across from him on First and Ten or First Take or Cold Pizza or whatever the show is called these days. In fact the best way to shut him up would be for Grimes and White to both make outstanding plays to win a Super Bowl Trophy and just let Bayless stew over it. Perhaps even appear on his show a few days afterwards and bring the tape with you.
Speaking of two-year-olds needing to get their way, the University of Florida Gators attempted to hijack the Heisman ceremony last Saturday by deciding to announce former Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp as its new head football coach hours before former Gator Cam Newton claimed the prize. I don’t know why Florida couldn’t let Newton have his day in the clouded sun by waiting until Sunday morning to announce the hire; the extra 12 hours wouldn’t have affected recruiting so the school shouldn’t try and use that excuse. The announcement of the hire came just days after Urban Meyer announced his retirement…in the same cycle as the college football awards. It just seems weird that these announcements typically happen when Florida is out of the spotlight and Meyer or Foley feel the need for the program to be recognized. I guess they were spoiled by CBS and ESPN fawning all over them when Tebow was there and the Gators were winning BCS titles. As the Greek poet Hesiod once said, “Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.” Florida cannot quite grasp that.
Back to the Heisman ceremony, where Auburn Quarterback and Atlanta-native Cam Newton claimed the Great Stiff-arm. Boy that speech was bad. He stumbled and muttered and rambled any sympathy I might have still been harboring for him right away, and it paled in comparison to last year’s winning speech from Mark Ingram. Newton KNEW he was going to win; he couldn’t have had someone help him write it? What was with the “my folks do so much behind the scenes,” line? We KNOW they do after reading the papers over the last month. 790 The Zone’s David Pollack defending the stammering, saying that when he did the awards circuit in 2004, he was just as nervous, but sorry David. You had competition that year and winning was a bit more unexpected than it was for Newton. He had it in the bag. He should have been coached up by somebody at Auburn. They don’t have a speech class he could have sat in on last week?
Finally, the GHSA football state championships were a success last weekend at the Georgia Dome. The five games were seen on GPB-TV as well as gpb.org/sports. The webcasts also featured an interactive chat, just as the Friday night broadcasts had leading up to the championships. At one point on the interactive chat Saturday night, a new web site traffic record was reached for most visitors at one time. Georgia Public Broadcasting was able to follow up its game broadcasts by snagging four of the championship coaches and GHSA Executive Director Dr. Ralph Swearngin for this past Wednesday’s Sports Central XL. If you missed the show, check it out on-demand on the gpb.org/sports site or follow the link on www.gaprepnews.com.
Can You Believe He Said That
All I can tell you is that we thought long and hard about what not to do. We thought harder about what to do.” That was Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany after he announced that the two divisions in the new-look Big Ten will be called The Leaders and The Legends. Huh? What? I guess North/South and East/West was taken, so you decided to listen to a drunken fan at an Iowa/Minnesota tailgate party? Dude, we’ve got so many legends. And what about our leaders?! Leaders and Legends, eh? OK. Whatever. When discussing Delany and his brain trust, I’ll go with Dumb and Dumber.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
What more do you WANT from Timmy Byerly?
There isn’t much more Chattahoochee quarterback Timmy Byerly could have done this season to help his recruiting. Byerly led his team to a 15-0 record and a state championship while running for over 1500 yards with 21 touchdowns and passing for nearly 2700 yards and 30 scores. Byerly also converted nearly every third and short that needed picking up throughout the playoffs in a manner that reminded many, including his coach of Tim Tebow. “Tim Tebow is some one I look up to. My coach says I remind him of (Tebow) by the way I carry myself.”
Unlike Tebow however, Byerly isn’t 6’4, 245 with offers from every SEC and ACC school in his possession. Byerly stands just 6’1, 215 and has offers from just the Air Force Academy and Furman so far. Byerly joined Score Atlanta’s The Official Visit Monday night and talked about his recruitment with Scott Janovitz and Fletcher Proctor. When asked if size is the reason for his having not received more offers, Byerly surmises that to be accurate. “It’s just me not being big enough and a lot of schools have (recruits) commit early.” Byerly said he that went to multiple camps this past summer and felt he was on the verge of getting at least one offer. “I was No. 2 on a lot of lists and some schools may take a second quarterback.”
One of those schools could in fact be Wake Forest. “They have been in touch,” Byerly said of the Demon Deacons. Georgetown has also shown some interest, but he is also still waiting by his phone for two other schools that showed early interest. “I really hope Georgia Tech would come back with an offer,” Byerly said of the hometown Yellow Jackets. Mississippi State and Dan Mullen, who recruited Tim Tebow for Florida, also may be interested, said the signal-caller that has been called Tebow-lite by Chattahoochee head coach Terry Crowder.
If those schools showing interest were to come through with an offer, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech would immediately move to the top, though location and distance isn’t much of a factor for Byerly. Former Chattahoochee quarterback Brendan Cross is currently at Wake and that could factor into Byerly’s decision. “I learned most of being a quarterback by playing behind Cross.”
Byerly currently holds offers from the Air Force Academy and Furman. The latter could hold an edge as Byerly’s father attended Furman, and Byerly said that his father told him he’d love to see him in the purple and white. Byerly’s mother meanwhile likes the Air Force Academy because then she would have two sons at two different Academies, as Byerly’s brother attends West Point. Byerly noted in the interview that he respects the commitment that going to an Academy would require and that hasn’t affected his decision.
Byerly’s ability to run the ball as well as throw it has opened up options for the slightly undersized signal-caller. “I really enjoy running the ball and passing. There is no right or wrong offense for me.” Based on stats alone and just watching Byerly play should be enough for plenty of offers to come pouring in, but in the game of college recruiting, sadly size comes into play more often than not. “You don’t have to be a 6’6 pocket passer (to be successful),” says Byerly. “You just have to be a tough quarterback.” Byerly is well-rounded enough that he should get a shot somewhere and he will certainly be a difference-maker wherever that is. “Whether I play of not, I just want to be a part of the team.” If he keeps tossing up a 30:2 touchdown to interception ratio with 21 rushing scores at the next level, he’ll certainly make those that didn’t offer him regret it.
Unlike Tebow however, Byerly isn’t 6’4, 245 with offers from every SEC and ACC school in his possession. Byerly stands just 6’1, 215 and has offers from just the Air Force Academy and Furman so far. Byerly joined Score Atlanta’s The Official Visit Monday night and talked about his recruitment with Scott Janovitz and Fletcher Proctor. When asked if size is the reason for his having not received more offers, Byerly surmises that to be accurate. “It’s just me not being big enough and a lot of schools have (recruits) commit early.” Byerly said he that went to multiple camps this past summer and felt he was on the verge of getting at least one offer. “I was No. 2 on a lot of lists and some schools may take a second quarterback.”
One of those schools could in fact be Wake Forest. “They have been in touch,” Byerly said of the Demon Deacons. Georgetown has also shown some interest, but he is also still waiting by his phone for two other schools that showed early interest. “I really hope Georgia Tech would come back with an offer,” Byerly said of the hometown Yellow Jackets. Mississippi State and Dan Mullen, who recruited Tim Tebow for Florida, also may be interested, said the signal-caller that has been called Tebow-lite by Chattahoochee head coach Terry Crowder.
If those schools showing interest were to come through with an offer, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech would immediately move to the top, though location and distance isn’t much of a factor for Byerly. Former Chattahoochee quarterback Brendan Cross is currently at Wake and that could factor into Byerly’s decision. “I learned most of being a quarterback by playing behind Cross.”
Byerly currently holds offers from the Air Force Academy and Furman. The latter could hold an edge as Byerly’s father attended Furman, and Byerly said that his father told him he’d love to see him in the purple and white. Byerly’s mother meanwhile likes the Air Force Academy because then she would have two sons at two different Academies, as Byerly’s brother attends West Point. Byerly noted in the interview that he respects the commitment that going to an Academy would require and that hasn’t affected his decision.
Byerly’s ability to run the ball as well as throw it has opened up options for the slightly undersized signal-caller. “I really enjoy running the ball and passing. There is no right or wrong offense for me.” Based on stats alone and just watching Byerly play should be enough for plenty of offers to come pouring in, but in the game of college recruiting, sadly size comes into play more often than not. “You don’t have to be a 6’6 pocket passer (to be successful),” says Byerly. “You just have to be a tough quarterback.” Byerly is well-rounded enough that he should get a shot somewhere and he will certainly be a difference-maker wherever that is. “Whether I play of not, I just want to be a part of the team.” If he keeps tossing up a 30:2 touchdown to interception ratio with 21 rushing scores at the next level, he’ll certainly make those that didn’t offer him regret it.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sometimes you just have to step on their throat
I'm just saying.
Last week when Urban Meyer announced his second retirement from the Florida Gators, I must say that I took it with a grain of salt. My reaction was a smirk and a “Didn’t he do this last year?” I was given the rest of the salt shaker though Saturday when Florida announced the hiring of former Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp as the new Gator head coach. My reaction this time was a full, broad smile.
Florida decided after Urban Meyer left that it would name Will Muschamp the new coach and while the Florida AD spun that Muschamp was the only candidate interviewed, you have to scratch your head as to why the Gators wouldn’t hire a proven head coach. The last time the Gators went for a coordinator with no head coaching experience was the Ron Zook experiment, and we know how that turned out. Muschamp’s resume is impressive: walk-on at Georgia, defensive coordinated a BCS national championship LSU squad in 2003, assisted in the NFL before returning to the SEC at Auburn and then served as Coach-in-waiting at Texas.
However he has not been a head man at any level, and despite his enthusiasm and his recruiting abilities, I am not ready to give him the SEC East crown just yet. Muschamp is going to experience what every new coach experiences as he moves from the coordinator’s headset to the head coach’s headset. The Gators will likely lose a game or two extra as Muschamp gets used to being in charge of the entire team instead of just one unit. And whoever the new Gator boss brings in as his coordinator, be it Major Applewhite from Texas or Dana Holgorsen from Oklahoma State, he will inherit a unit that went through offensive sludge at times last year and will likely do the same this year as it switches from Meyer’s spread to the new guy’s scheme.
Mark Richt and Georgia must take advantage of that. Sorry, but you are a new coach with one of the brightest spotlights in college football on you as you learn on the job. Thank Urban Meyer for the opportunity then curse the expectations he left behind. Richt lost to South Carolina and Auburn his first year in games he shouldn’t have lost, but it was chalked up to growing pains. Richt needs to make sure he steps on Muschamp’s throat if the situation arises at The Cocktail Party. Spurrier certainly did back in 2001.
And we’ll get to see how Muschamp does following one of the most successful runs in college football history: two BCS titles in six seasons in Gainesville. Meyer is a tough act to follow; possibly too tough for Dan Mullen and Chris Petersen.
Richt also needs to clean up this year on the recruiting trail in all of the battles he was waging head-to-head against Meyer. Two names come to mind from the Peach State in Ray Drew and Malcolm Mitchell. Drew is a defensive lineman that seemed shaken after Meyer resigned. In a recent interview, Drew made it seem like Florida was an afterthought, trailing both Georgia and LSU, but he was quite vocal about his surprise with Meyer’s departure. Mitchell meanwhile seemed like a perfect multi-faceted fit for Meyer’s Gators, but now, Mitchell might just decide to partner up with teammate Jay Rome to take their talents to Athens. As sterling as Muschamp’s reputation is, he has always been the set-up man to Mack Brown and Nick Saban, two of the best closers in the recruiting business. Now Muschamp himself will be the trump card and it might be interesting to see him flying with no safety net.
The bottom line for Mark Richt and Georgia is that Florida really seems like it is teetering with the hiring of a coach with no head coaching experience. And PS, the team is also coming off of a 7-5 regular season. Yesh. That is downright Zookian. With all due respect to defending East champ South Carolina and rebuilding Tennessee, Georgia and Florida ARE the SEC East. Richt needs to strike while the iron is hot: beat Muschamp in recruiting (which he might just do with the Georgia Dream Team); beat Muschamp in Jacksonville; take advantage of Muschamp learning against a brutal 2011 schedule which could net Florida an extra two losses. If Richt does that, then the Dawgs could be headed to Atlanta in early December. If Richt cannot take advantage of Muschamp as he grows into his new role, then Muschamp may be going up against a new coach at his alma mater in 2012.
Last week when Urban Meyer announced his second retirement from the Florida Gators, I must say that I took it with a grain of salt. My reaction was a smirk and a “Didn’t he do this last year?” I was given the rest of the salt shaker though Saturday when Florida announced the hiring of former Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp as the new Gator head coach. My reaction this time was a full, broad smile.
Florida decided after Urban Meyer left that it would name Will Muschamp the new coach and while the Florida AD spun that Muschamp was the only candidate interviewed, you have to scratch your head as to why the Gators wouldn’t hire a proven head coach. The last time the Gators went for a coordinator with no head coaching experience was the Ron Zook experiment, and we know how that turned out. Muschamp’s resume is impressive: walk-on at Georgia, defensive coordinated a BCS national championship LSU squad in 2003, assisted in the NFL before returning to the SEC at Auburn and then served as Coach-in-waiting at Texas.
However he has not been a head man at any level, and despite his enthusiasm and his recruiting abilities, I am not ready to give him the SEC East crown just yet. Muschamp is going to experience what every new coach experiences as he moves from the coordinator’s headset to the head coach’s headset. The Gators will likely lose a game or two extra as Muschamp gets used to being in charge of the entire team instead of just one unit. And whoever the new Gator boss brings in as his coordinator, be it Major Applewhite from Texas or Dana Holgorsen from Oklahoma State, he will inherit a unit that went through offensive sludge at times last year and will likely do the same this year as it switches from Meyer’s spread to the new guy’s scheme.
Mark Richt and Georgia must take advantage of that. Sorry, but you are a new coach with one of the brightest spotlights in college football on you as you learn on the job. Thank Urban Meyer for the opportunity then curse the expectations he left behind. Richt lost to South Carolina and Auburn his first year in games he shouldn’t have lost, but it was chalked up to growing pains. Richt needs to make sure he steps on Muschamp’s throat if the situation arises at The Cocktail Party. Spurrier certainly did back in 2001.
And we’ll get to see how Muschamp does following one of the most successful runs in college football history: two BCS titles in six seasons in Gainesville. Meyer is a tough act to follow; possibly too tough for Dan Mullen and Chris Petersen.
Richt also needs to clean up this year on the recruiting trail in all of the battles he was waging head-to-head against Meyer. Two names come to mind from the Peach State in Ray Drew and Malcolm Mitchell. Drew is a defensive lineman that seemed shaken after Meyer resigned. In a recent interview, Drew made it seem like Florida was an afterthought, trailing both Georgia and LSU, but he was quite vocal about his surprise with Meyer’s departure. Mitchell meanwhile seemed like a perfect multi-faceted fit for Meyer’s Gators, but now, Mitchell might just decide to partner up with teammate Jay Rome to take their talents to Athens. As sterling as Muschamp’s reputation is, he has always been the set-up man to Mack Brown and Nick Saban, two of the best closers in the recruiting business. Now Muschamp himself will be the trump card and it might be interesting to see him flying with no safety net.
The bottom line for Mark Richt and Georgia is that Florida really seems like it is teetering with the hiring of a coach with no head coaching experience. And PS, the team is also coming off of a 7-5 regular season. Yesh. That is downright Zookian. With all due respect to defending East champ South Carolina and rebuilding Tennessee, Georgia and Florida ARE the SEC East. Richt needs to strike while the iron is hot: beat Muschamp in recruiting (which he might just do with the Georgia Dream Team); beat Muschamp in Jacksonville; take advantage of Muschamp learning against a brutal 2011 schedule which could net Florida an extra two losses. If Richt does that, then the Dawgs could be headed to Atlanta in early December. If Richt cannot take advantage of Muschamp as he grows into his new role, then Muschamp may be going up against a new coach at his alma mater in 2012.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
There goes Florida again....LOOK AT ME!
I guess Florida cannot let ANYONE else have the spotlight. Nope. It always has to be about Florida. Well I guess they got spoiled when Tebow was there and EVERYONE was heaping praise on them from ESPN to CBS to ABC...When the spotlight gets taken away, they come up with something to get the headlines back.
Sad really.
No REAL Gators were up for any awards last week during the College Awards show, so Urban chooses THAT day to resign...again (remember with everyone talking about Bama and Texas last year, is when he quit for the first time.)
Then on the night that the Heisman is to be announced and a former Gator's day in the sun would start, they announce Will Muschamp as their new head coach.
Guys, it is OK for one of the other 119 schools to get the headlines. Just saying.
PS, as a Georgia fan, I LOVE the Muschamp hire. Sorry that I am about to bash the former Dawg, but are you kidding me? I think Mark Richt and the 2006 Georgia team just scored AGAIN against Muschamp's Auburn defense! I never understood why he was coach-in-waiting at Texas because I thought he was a bit overrated as a DC at Auburn. ( I realize he was DC for LSU and Saban in 2003, but how much of that was Muschamp and how much was Saban? I feel like I'm having the Kirby Smart discussion again)
Then he gets the Texas job with c-i-w status. Really? Clearly Mack Brown would be coaching for a few more seasons to get Muschamp ready, seeing as he has never been a HC before, right?
Now Florida hires him because he was the "only interview." (Perhaps Petrino, who chose to STAY AT ARKIE over coming to Florida and Dan Mullen and Petersen TURNED YOUR INTERVIEW REQUEST DOWN?!) As a Georgia fan, I am thrilled that a NEW coach with ZERO head coaching experience will be roaming the Gator sidelines. This was huge and Georgia dodged a bullet. Florida fans (and I've spoken to a couple) can try and talk themselves into this because "he's a great recruiter!" but I say SO WAS ZOOK.
Prediction: Muschamp isn't ready for primetime, like Zook and in four years, the Gators are going through this process again. Also, Georgia beats florida in 2011. CMR JUST SCORED AGAIN against that Auburn squad!
Sad really.
No REAL Gators were up for any awards last week during the College Awards show, so Urban chooses THAT day to resign...again (remember with everyone talking about Bama and Texas last year, is when he quit for the first time.)
Then on the night that the Heisman is to be announced and a former Gator's day in the sun would start, they announce Will Muschamp as their new head coach.
Guys, it is OK for one of the other 119 schools to get the headlines. Just saying.
PS, as a Georgia fan, I LOVE the Muschamp hire. Sorry that I am about to bash the former Dawg, but are you kidding me? I think Mark Richt and the 2006 Georgia team just scored AGAIN against Muschamp's Auburn defense! I never understood why he was coach-in-waiting at Texas because I thought he was a bit overrated as a DC at Auburn. ( I realize he was DC for LSU and Saban in 2003, but how much of that was Muschamp and how much was Saban? I feel like I'm having the Kirby Smart discussion again)
Then he gets the Texas job with c-i-w status. Really? Clearly Mack Brown would be coaching for a few more seasons to get Muschamp ready, seeing as he has never been a HC before, right?
Now Florida hires him because he was the "only interview." (Perhaps Petrino, who chose to STAY AT ARKIE over coming to Florida and Dan Mullen and Petersen TURNED YOUR INTERVIEW REQUEST DOWN?!) As a Georgia fan, I am thrilled that a NEW coach with ZERO head coaching experience will be roaming the Gator sidelines. This was huge and Georgia dodged a bullet. Florida fans (and I've spoken to a couple) can try and talk themselves into this because "he's a great recruiter!" but I say SO WAS ZOOK.
Prediction: Muschamp isn't ready for primetime, like Zook and in four years, the Gators are going through this process again. Also, Georgia beats florida in 2011. CMR JUST SCORED AGAIN against that Auburn squad!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Buford makes it four straight titles with OT win
Note: to watch a replay of the game, head to www.gaprepnews.com and follow the link
It may have been by four more points than last year, but the 2010 Class AA championship game between Calhoun and Buford had a bit more drama than the 2009 match-up between Calhoun and Buford and certainly more fireworks than the 2008 match-up...between Calhoun and Buford. These two squads have met for the last three Class AA state titles and just like the last two years, the Buford Wolves came out on top, this time 31-24 in overtime. The win marked the fourth straight state title for Buford and sixth of the last nine years.
Buford looked like they might run away early and hide after Seon Jones scored from four yards out on the Wolves’ first possession. Ryan Dillard then scooped a Dustin Christian fumble and darted all the way in for the score, making it 14-0 Wolves. With Buford up by two scores and driving, Calhoun’s defense rose up and stopped the Wolves, allowing Christian to atone for the fumble with a four-yard touchdown to cut it to 14-7. Buford added a field goal before halftime and snuffed out another last ditch drive by Calhoun to take the 17-7 lead into halftime.
Coming out of halftime, Calhoun was forced to punt, then gave Buford great field position with a penalty. The Wolves took advantage and put a touchdown on the board on a long pass play from Alex Ross, who was nearly perfect on the night, to Kurt Freitag, to extend the lead to 24-7. Dustin Christian would score his second touchdown on the game on the next drive after starting on a short field to bring the Yellow Jackets to within ten at 24-14 and the Calhoun defense would stand tall several more times, forcing several punts.
In the fourth quarter, Calhoun quarterback Landon Curtis hit Chase Rierson for a score to bring the Yellow Jackets to within three points, setting up an Adam Griffith 45-yard game-tying field goal with ten seconds left to force overtime.
Buford would get the ball first and would be aided by a penalty, setting up a Dominique Swope score for the 31-24 lead. On fourth down, Curtis flipped the ball incomplete and Buford became the first school since West Rome in the mid-80s to claim four straight state titles.
The scary part about the entire game was the feeling that this might just be the best chance to knock off Buford as most of their team in the trenches and on the defensive side of the ball is made up of juniors. Perhaps 2011 might just be the year that Buford leaves West Rome and the rest of Georgia behind in the record books.
It may have been by four more points than last year, but the 2010 Class AA championship game between Calhoun and Buford had a bit more drama than the 2009 match-up between Calhoun and Buford and certainly more fireworks than the 2008 match-up...between Calhoun and Buford. These two squads have met for the last three Class AA state titles and just like the last two years, the Buford Wolves came out on top, this time 31-24 in overtime. The win marked the fourth straight state title for Buford and sixth of the last nine years.
Buford looked like they might run away early and hide after Seon Jones scored from four yards out on the Wolves’ first possession. Ryan Dillard then scooped a Dustin Christian fumble and darted all the way in for the score, making it 14-0 Wolves. With Buford up by two scores and driving, Calhoun’s defense rose up and stopped the Wolves, allowing Christian to atone for the fumble with a four-yard touchdown to cut it to 14-7. Buford added a field goal before halftime and snuffed out another last ditch drive by Calhoun to take the 17-7 lead into halftime.
Coming out of halftime, Calhoun was forced to punt, then gave Buford great field position with a penalty. The Wolves took advantage and put a touchdown on the board on a long pass play from Alex Ross, who was nearly perfect on the night, to Kurt Freitag, to extend the lead to 24-7. Dustin Christian would score his second touchdown on the game on the next drive after starting on a short field to bring the Yellow Jackets to within ten at 24-14 and the Calhoun defense would stand tall several more times, forcing several punts.
In the fourth quarter, Calhoun quarterback Landon Curtis hit Chase Rierson for a score to bring the Yellow Jackets to within three points, setting up an Adam Griffith 45-yard game-tying field goal with ten seconds left to force overtime.
Buford would get the ball first and would be aided by a penalty, setting up a Dominique Swope score for the 31-24 lead. On fourth down, Curtis flipped the ball incomplete and Buford became the first school since West Rome in the mid-80s to claim four straight state titles.
The scary part about the entire game was the feeling that this might just be the best chance to knock off Buford as most of their team in the trenches and on the defensive side of the ball is made up of juniors. Perhaps 2011 might just be the year that Buford leaves West Rome and the rest of Georgia behind in the record books.
TheFletch on a Friday.
Be sure to tune in tonight and tomorrow to GPB-TV for the GHSA football state championships, especially Saturday at 1pm for the Class A game, featuring me!
Hypocrisy, my name is ESPN. Falcons fans across the city and the state surely must be pulling their hair out after listening to the World Wide Leader’s NFL experts slam the Falcons’ accomplishments but excuse-make for other teams with a lesser record than Atlanta. Just a few weeks after the Atlanta Falcons came back to conk out the Baltimore Ravens on national television and then best the Packers with a late field goal on the way to a 10-2 record, ESPN’s Marcellus Wiley gave the New Orleans Saints a free pass “get out of jail” card. Michael Wilbon railed on the Falcons the day after the team caught a break or two against the Ravens and then made their own breaks against Green Bay and Tampa Bay, but Wiley was praising the Saints for pulling the same tricks against an AWFUL Cowboys squad on Thanksgiving and then surviving against an even worse Cincinnati team. Quote Wiley on Sunday’s ESPN Radio coverage: “In the NFL, it comes down to wins and losses.” Well if it does, then give the Falcons the respect and due the team deserves for running off a better record than New Orleans, including a victory over the Saints IN the Super Dome.
Wiley continued, “Good things and good breaks happen to good teams. Bad teams find bad things and bad breaks.” So it is OK for the Saints to barely beat two teams that may COMBINE to win 8 games this year, but the Falcons cannot “find” the breaks to beat playoff teams? Crazy.
I am not a Falcons fan at heart, but I feel the national media is still refusing to give due to my hometown team, so I am coming to the rescue. Some one needs to since the four-letter network won’t fully embrace them until Mike Smith and Arthur Blank hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Then the Falcons will probably be lumped in the New Orleans/Ohio State category of “They can do NOTHING wrong!” I just ask that these “experts” apply the same logic to all teams and not treat certain franchises differently due to past successes. As Parcells used to say, “You are what your record is.” That means the Falcons are pretty good. Who cares how they got that way!?
Every local sports radio show has a “black hat,” whose job it is to be a villain that inspires phone calls with ridiculous opinions and who spits on the local teams, just to insight response. Perry Laurentino plays the Ric Flair role on 680 The Fan’s Rude Awakening and while he isn’t as good at the role as John Kincade is on The Fan’s afternoon drive show Buck & Kincade, Laurentino is still entertaining. He may have taken too absurd of a stance recently though as he was trying to instigate an SEC vs. the field argument after Auburn’s win over South Carolina in the SEC Championship game. Laurentino started his rant by ripping Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, which I have no problem with; I thought Laurentino made several valid points. However, Laurentino went into the deep end of the pool without waterwings when he tried to argue that his Pac-10 Conference was just as good as the SEC because the west coast conference had just as many BCS bids as the SEC did, in what is a “down year” for the SEC. Yeah, apparently the BCS rules escaped Laurentino’s brain before the statement came out as EVERY college football fan knows that a conference can ONLY place TWO teams into the BCS bowls. I guess he would say that with his logic that the Big Ten is just as good as the SEC and the Pac-10 as well as it TOO has two teams in the BCS bowls, and that the Mountain West is JUST AS GOOD as the Big XII since both conferences have one team in the bowls. Sorry Perry, but if the rule limiting conferences didn’t exist, LSU or Alabama would receive a BCS bid well before the third place squad from the Pac-10 would. If he REALLY wanted to argue that the SEC was down, he should have championed the cause of the Big Ten who has a top ten team that is missing out of the big bowls.
Finally, the GHSA and Georgia Public Broadcasting were all over it again for the GHSA football state championships. Georgia Public Broadcasting had been leading up to the state championships at the Georgia Dome with a weekly webcast of a football game every Friday night and provided a weekly Wednesday webcast that interviewed coaches, broke down big match-ups and touched on other relevant topics all season long. This past Thursday, GPB-TV aired an hour-long version of GPB Sports Central LIVE from the Georgia Dome that featured a preview of each game complete with the announcing crew from each game, as well as several other big-time features that entertained and informed. Sports Central XL followed with extended analysis, and both can be seen on-demand on GPB.org/sports or on www.gaprepnews.com. If you are heading out to the Dome for the state championship games, be sure and catch the replays of the championship games on GPB’s website. The broadcast crews may be the best collection of talent the championships have ever seen in all of the years the GHSA and GPB have aired the games. Friday’s Class AA game will feature CSS’s Matt Stewart and 680 The Fan’s Chuck Oliver, who work a game every Friday night for CSS. Friday night’s AAAA tilt will feature Charles Ward, a long-time GPB broadcaster and Falcons great Jeff Van Note. Saturday’s Class A game will find WSB’s Zach Klein and Score Atlanta & GPB’s Fletcher Proctor on the call. Class AAA will have a FOX5 crew in Ken Rodriguez and Buck Lanford. Finally Class AAAAA will feature a pair of veteran broadcasters in Dave Garner and Harper LeBel. These broadcast teams all offer keen insights and each broadcaster has a special connection to Georgia high school football that shouldn’t be missed. Every year the telecasts of the championships give GPB some of the highest ratings of any public broadcasting system in the entire country.
Can You Believe He Said That
“There’s a difference between smiling and laughing.”
That was 680 The Fan’s Perry Laurentino who defended Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward for smiling after dropping a pass that would have given his team a first down in a win but ripped Derek Anderson for laughing on the sidelines in an Arizona loss. He doesn’t like it when professional athletes don’t seem to take the game seriously and don’t seem to care when he messes up…as long as that athlete doesn’t play for the Mets, Steelers, or USC Trojans. Those guys can do what they may. Drop a pass and smile it off? Oh he was just smiling…
He most of the praise he gets from the national media, but why are we so hesitant to call him out on his futile record in the games that matter most?
Hypocrisy, my name is ESPN. Falcons fans across the city and the state surely must be pulling their hair out after listening to the World Wide Leader’s NFL experts slam the Falcons’ accomplishments but excuse-make for other teams with a lesser record than Atlanta. Just a few weeks after the Atlanta Falcons came back to conk out the Baltimore Ravens on national television and then best the Packers with a late field goal on the way to a 10-2 record, ESPN’s Marcellus Wiley gave the New Orleans Saints a free pass “get out of jail” card. Michael Wilbon railed on the Falcons the day after the team caught a break or two against the Ravens and then made their own breaks against Green Bay and Tampa Bay, but Wiley was praising the Saints for pulling the same tricks against an AWFUL Cowboys squad on Thanksgiving and then surviving against an even worse Cincinnati team. Quote Wiley on Sunday’s ESPN Radio coverage: “In the NFL, it comes down to wins and losses.” Well if it does, then give the Falcons the respect and due the team deserves for running off a better record than New Orleans, including a victory over the Saints IN the Super Dome.
Wiley continued, “Good things and good breaks happen to good teams. Bad teams find bad things and bad breaks.” So it is OK for the Saints to barely beat two teams that may COMBINE to win 8 games this year, but the Falcons cannot “find” the breaks to beat playoff teams? Crazy.
I am not a Falcons fan at heart, but I feel the national media is still refusing to give due to my hometown team, so I am coming to the rescue. Some one needs to since the four-letter network won’t fully embrace them until Mike Smith and Arthur Blank hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Then the Falcons will probably be lumped in the New Orleans/Ohio State category of “They can do NOTHING wrong!” I just ask that these “experts” apply the same logic to all teams and not treat certain franchises differently due to past successes. As Parcells used to say, “You are what your record is.” That means the Falcons are pretty good. Who cares how they got that way!?
Every local sports radio show has a “black hat,” whose job it is to be a villain that inspires phone calls with ridiculous opinions and who spits on the local teams, just to insight response. Perry Laurentino plays the Ric Flair role on 680 The Fan’s Rude Awakening and while he isn’t as good at the role as John Kincade is on The Fan’s afternoon drive show Buck & Kincade, Laurentino is still entertaining. He may have taken too absurd of a stance recently though as he was trying to instigate an SEC vs. the field argument after Auburn’s win over South Carolina in the SEC Championship game. Laurentino started his rant by ripping Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, which I have no problem with; I thought Laurentino made several valid points. However, Laurentino went into the deep end of the pool without waterwings when he tried to argue that his Pac-10 Conference was just as good as the SEC because the west coast conference had just as many BCS bids as the SEC did, in what is a “down year” for the SEC. Yeah, apparently the BCS rules escaped Laurentino’s brain before the statement came out as EVERY college football fan knows that a conference can ONLY place TWO teams into the BCS bowls. I guess he would say that with his logic that the Big Ten is just as good as the SEC and the Pac-10 as well as it TOO has two teams in the BCS bowls, and that the Mountain West is JUST AS GOOD as the Big XII since both conferences have one team in the bowls. Sorry Perry, but if the rule limiting conferences didn’t exist, LSU or Alabama would receive a BCS bid well before the third place squad from the Pac-10 would. If he REALLY wanted to argue that the SEC was down, he should have championed the cause of the Big Ten who has a top ten team that is missing out of the big bowls.
Finally, the GHSA and Georgia Public Broadcasting were all over it again for the GHSA football state championships. Georgia Public Broadcasting had been leading up to the state championships at the Georgia Dome with a weekly webcast of a football game every Friday night and provided a weekly Wednesday webcast that interviewed coaches, broke down big match-ups and touched on other relevant topics all season long. This past Thursday, GPB-TV aired an hour-long version of GPB Sports Central LIVE from the Georgia Dome that featured a preview of each game complete with the announcing crew from each game, as well as several other big-time features that entertained and informed. Sports Central XL followed with extended analysis, and both can be seen on-demand on GPB.org/sports or on www.gaprepnews.com. If you are heading out to the Dome for the state championship games, be sure and catch the replays of the championship games on GPB’s website. The broadcast crews may be the best collection of talent the championships have ever seen in all of the years the GHSA and GPB have aired the games. Friday’s Class AA game will feature CSS’s Matt Stewart and 680 The Fan’s Chuck Oliver, who work a game every Friday night for CSS. Friday night’s AAAA tilt will feature Charles Ward, a long-time GPB broadcaster and Falcons great Jeff Van Note. Saturday’s Class A game will find WSB’s Zach Klein and Score Atlanta & GPB’s Fletcher Proctor on the call. Class AAA will have a FOX5 crew in Ken Rodriguez and Buck Lanford. Finally Class AAAAA will feature a pair of veteran broadcasters in Dave Garner and Harper LeBel. These broadcast teams all offer keen insights and each broadcaster has a special connection to Georgia high school football that shouldn’t be missed. Every year the telecasts of the championships give GPB some of the highest ratings of any public broadcasting system in the entire country.
Can You Believe He Said That
“There’s a difference between smiling and laughing.”
That was 680 The Fan’s Perry Laurentino who defended Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward for smiling after dropping a pass that would have given his team a first down in a win but ripped Derek Anderson for laughing on the sidelines in an Arizona loss. He doesn’t like it when professional athletes don’t seem to take the game seriously and don’t seem to care when he messes up…as long as that athlete doesn’t play for the Mets, Steelers, or USC Trojans. Those guys can do what they may. Drop a pass and smile it off? Oh he was just smiling…
He most of the praise he gets from the national media, but why are we so hesitant to call him out on his futile record in the games that matter most?
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Georgia is already 1-0 for 2011
Be sure to head to www.chuckoliver.net to read all about the Urban Meyer retirement news. Hopefully this piece will be up soon under the Georgia section
With Urban Meyer's second retirement announcement in as many years (though this one is more likely to stick), Georgia coach Mark Richt will be able to sit back and think about how he already has one win checked off on the schedule for the 2011 season. No, not JUST the Georgia Tech game, but either the Mississippi State game or the Boise State game. With Meyer leaving, the short list to replace the two-time champion coach has been drawn up and at the top of the list seems to be Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen as well as Boise State head man Chris Petersen. The Bronco coach just signed an extension that might make it tricky for him to leave the blue turf for the likes of Gainesville, but Mullen's deal is a friendly one for Gator Nation that could mean the former Florida offensive coordinator could be back on the sidelines as the head coach for 2011.
If Dan Mullen (or Petersen) does take the job, Florida will still be Florida and the Gators will still give Georgia fits. However whichever team loses its coach will be down for the count for AT LEAST 2011 if not 2012 as well. With Mark Richt on the hot seat entering next year after going 8-5 in '09 and 6-6 with a bowl berth to come in '10, he'll need all of the wins he can get. Mullen's playcalling was the ONLY reason the Georgia Bulldogs lost to the other SEC Bulldogs earlier this year, and if Mullen isn't there next year, Georgia should cruise to a victory between the Hedges. If Petersen isn't at Boise State for the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game, with all due respect Kellen Moore, the Broncos are going to meet a similar fate as the 2005 BSU squad did in Athens. These two coaching candidates are THAT good and that is why Florida is thinking about them, assuming these short lists all over the net are correct.
What happened today is good news for Georgia for the simple fact that Florida is going to be good with whomever is coaching there; now potentially another team on the schedule will be without its great coach. I also wouldn't underestimate the impact this will have on recruiting as well. Meyer can say all he wants that he'll call all of the recruits to help the new coach, and perhaps if Mullen IS the choice, he can keep MOST of the recruits because he is off of the Meyer-Tree, but some will leave, no doubt. Some players on campus may decide to pack up the wagons and leave as well. In the SEC, the recruiting roads are tough and Saban, Chizik, Dooley, Spurrier and especially Richt will hit hard on the fact that ANY new coach means transition, which could mean early struggles to adjust to a new way. That could sway enough of the undecideds as well as some pledges right into the arms of FSU, Georgia, Alabama and Auburn.
Georgia just picked up a win today with Meyer leaving: either Miss State or Boise State. And Richt may have saved his job thanks to Urban Meyer.
With Urban Meyer's second retirement announcement in as many years (though this one is more likely to stick), Georgia coach Mark Richt will be able to sit back and think about how he already has one win checked off on the schedule for the 2011 season. No, not JUST the Georgia Tech game, but either the Mississippi State game or the Boise State game. With Meyer leaving, the short list to replace the two-time champion coach has been drawn up and at the top of the list seems to be Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen as well as Boise State head man Chris Petersen. The Bronco coach just signed an extension that might make it tricky for him to leave the blue turf for the likes of Gainesville, but Mullen's deal is a friendly one for Gator Nation that could mean the former Florida offensive coordinator could be back on the sidelines as the head coach for 2011.
If Dan Mullen (or Petersen) does take the job, Florida will still be Florida and the Gators will still give Georgia fits. However whichever team loses its coach will be down for the count for AT LEAST 2011 if not 2012 as well. With Mark Richt on the hot seat entering next year after going 8-5 in '09 and 6-6 with a bowl berth to come in '10, he'll need all of the wins he can get. Mullen's playcalling was the ONLY reason the Georgia Bulldogs lost to the other SEC Bulldogs earlier this year, and if Mullen isn't there next year, Georgia should cruise to a victory between the Hedges. If Petersen isn't at Boise State for the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game, with all due respect Kellen Moore, the Broncos are going to meet a similar fate as the 2005 BSU squad did in Athens. These two coaching candidates are THAT good and that is why Florida is thinking about them, assuming these short lists all over the net are correct.
What happened today is good news for Georgia for the simple fact that Florida is going to be good with whomever is coaching there; now potentially another team on the schedule will be without its great coach. I also wouldn't underestimate the impact this will have on recruiting as well. Meyer can say all he wants that he'll call all of the recruits to help the new coach, and perhaps if Mullen IS the choice, he can keep MOST of the recruits because he is off of the Meyer-Tree, but some will leave, no doubt. Some players on campus may decide to pack up the wagons and leave as well. In the SEC, the recruiting roads are tough and Saban, Chizik, Dooley, Spurrier and especially Richt will hit hard on the fact that ANY new coach means transition, which could mean early struggles to adjust to a new way. That could sway enough of the undecideds as well as some pledges right into the arms of FSU, Georgia, Alabama and Auburn.
Georgia just picked up a win today with Meyer leaving: either Miss State or Boise State. And Richt may have saved his job thanks to Urban Meyer.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The Class AAAAA finals breakdown
I know I am calling Class A, but I am PUMPED about watching Class AAAAA as well. Colquitt v Brookwood. Can the Broncos win a title for a GPB Sports Central XL regular "Brookwood Boy"? Or will Rush Propst win his first Georgia state title with the Packers?
The Brookwood Broncos began the season in the Georgia Dome, knocking off Walton in the Corky Kell Classic and now the Broncos return to the Dome to try and finish off the season with a state title. Brookwood is currently riding an eleven game winning streak and boast one of the best defenses in the entire state of Georgia. Mark Crews’ defense is led by the extraordinary linebacker Cameron Lynch who is always around the ball making plays. Lynch has a knack for coming up with big plays and last week against Collins Hill, the playmaker came up with a big interception of Taylor Heinicke to end a drive and push the Broncos towards the finals. Nick Moore is as fine a defensive back that you will find in the metro-Atlanta area and he snagged two interceptions of his own. Andre “AJ” Sims also roams in the defensive secondary. Sims is more often though found on offense, snagging passes from senior quarterback Ben McLane. The 6’2 signal-caller can sling the ball when given time and has the ability to pick apart a defense. What would Brookwood be though without a strong rushing attack, and the Broncos once again have a dominant running game. Junior Nick Tompkins goes both ways but has rushed for over 1200 yards on the season and should be looked at as one of the best backs in the state next season. Sophomore Jamaal Cole recently eclipsed the 1000 yard mark for the season and can score from anywhere on the field.
The Colquitt County Packers came up just short of the state championships last season, falling in the semifinals to eventual champion Camden County. This year the Packers are in the championship game, a place the head coach Rush Propst knows well. Propst, who won his 200th game last week against Grayson, won five Alabama state titles and appeared in seven straight title games. The squad that could get him his first Georgia state title is certainly loaded offensively. The Packers offense starts with the offensive line, where Xzavier Ward has been keeping the quarterback clean all season long. Last week against Grayson, the line gave the offense all sorts of holes to run through and gave quarterback Tyler Brown plenty of time to throw. Brown is one of three Colquitt players who have set school records on offense. Brown threw two touchdowns against Grayson, both to Tommy Hudson, a record-setting wide receiver. The running game is also stout, with the dynamo Tevin King churning up yardage and snagging touchdowns at a record-setting pace. The defense will have to be on its toes to stop the Brookwood multi-pronged attack, but the Packers defense has been very opportunistic all throughout the playoffs. Against Grayson, the defense blitzed the Rams away in the fourth quarter and forced a crucial fumble that was turned into the game-winning score. Colquitt entered the playoffs 5-5 but now sit just one win away from a state title and a 10-5 year.
The Playoff Skinny
The Brookwood Broncos are returning to the state finals for the first time since 2005 and for the fourth time overall. The Broncos captured the state title under Dave Hunter in 1996, back when the state championship games were played on campus. Hunter led the Broncos to three title games before giving way to Mark Crews, who was on the sidelines in 2005. Meanwhile the Colquitt Packers, having made the semifinals one year ago, are in the finals for the first time since winning the state title in 1994. The Packers were state runners-up in 1991, as well as 1963 and 1937, but the school was then known as Moultrie High School. Rush Propst has five Alabama state titles on his resume from his time at Hoover High School. Brookwood enters the game as Region 8-AAAAA champions while Colquitt County found its way to the title game as the No. 3 seed out of Region 1-AAAAA.
Prediction: Colquitt wins 27-24.
The Brookwood Broncos began the season in the Georgia Dome, knocking off Walton in the Corky Kell Classic and now the Broncos return to the Dome to try and finish off the season with a state title. Brookwood is currently riding an eleven game winning streak and boast one of the best defenses in the entire state of Georgia. Mark Crews’ defense is led by the extraordinary linebacker Cameron Lynch who is always around the ball making plays. Lynch has a knack for coming up with big plays and last week against Collins Hill, the playmaker came up with a big interception of Taylor Heinicke to end a drive and push the Broncos towards the finals. Nick Moore is as fine a defensive back that you will find in the metro-Atlanta area and he snagged two interceptions of his own. Andre “AJ” Sims also roams in the defensive secondary. Sims is more often though found on offense, snagging passes from senior quarterback Ben McLane. The 6’2 signal-caller can sling the ball when given time and has the ability to pick apart a defense. What would Brookwood be though without a strong rushing attack, and the Broncos once again have a dominant running game. Junior Nick Tompkins goes both ways but has rushed for over 1200 yards on the season and should be looked at as one of the best backs in the state next season. Sophomore Jamaal Cole recently eclipsed the 1000 yard mark for the season and can score from anywhere on the field.
The Colquitt County Packers came up just short of the state championships last season, falling in the semifinals to eventual champion Camden County. This year the Packers are in the championship game, a place the head coach Rush Propst knows well. Propst, who won his 200th game last week against Grayson, won five Alabama state titles and appeared in seven straight title games. The squad that could get him his first Georgia state title is certainly loaded offensively. The Packers offense starts with the offensive line, where Xzavier Ward has been keeping the quarterback clean all season long. Last week against Grayson, the line gave the offense all sorts of holes to run through and gave quarterback Tyler Brown plenty of time to throw. Brown is one of three Colquitt players who have set school records on offense. Brown threw two touchdowns against Grayson, both to Tommy Hudson, a record-setting wide receiver. The running game is also stout, with the dynamo Tevin King churning up yardage and snagging touchdowns at a record-setting pace. The defense will have to be on its toes to stop the Brookwood multi-pronged attack, but the Packers defense has been very opportunistic all throughout the playoffs. Against Grayson, the defense blitzed the Rams away in the fourth quarter and forced a crucial fumble that was turned into the game-winning score. Colquitt entered the playoffs 5-5 but now sit just one win away from a state title and a 10-5 year.
The Playoff Skinny
The Brookwood Broncos are returning to the state finals for the first time since 2005 and for the fourth time overall. The Broncos captured the state title under Dave Hunter in 1996, back when the state championship games were played on campus. Hunter led the Broncos to three title games before giving way to Mark Crews, who was on the sidelines in 2005. Meanwhile the Colquitt Packers, having made the semifinals one year ago, are in the finals for the first time since winning the state title in 1994. The Packers were state runners-up in 1991, as well as 1963 and 1937, but the school was then known as Moultrie High School. Rush Propst has five Alabama state titles on his resume from his time at Hoover High School. Brookwood enters the game as Region 8-AAAAA champions while Colquitt County found its way to the title game as the No. 3 seed out of Region 1-AAAAA.
Prediction: Colquitt wins 27-24.
My GHSA brackets are busted, but who cares?
So when the regular season ended and the brackets came out, everyone, including myself penciled in how we thought the brackets would play out over the last few weeks. I want to start by saying that my brackets were busted officially last week and I have just one “champion” pick left, though I won’t say which one.
The best part about the Georgia high school playoffs though: who cares about brackets? As high school football fans, we’ve been treated to incredible game after incredible game, many with amazing finishes and all with standout performances from standout players.
I am not sure what I’ve been most impressed with this playoff “second season.” Was it Carver-Columbus’ Isaiah Crowell playing Can-You-Top-This with himself and going for huge game after huge game with all of the state and most of the Southeastern Conference watching? Was it Kyle Karempelis waving to Herschel Walker as he passed his rushing touchdown mark with another explosive postseason for Wesleyan? Was it Ammon Lapik nailing a 52-yard field goal in the freezing cold to move Chattahoochee past Marist and then two weeks later drilling a 27-yarder with no time left to beat Statesboro by one point to reach the finals? Was it Hillgrove, Collins Hill and Mill Creek pulling off incredible upsets to advance in the AAAAA playoffs and give North Georgia a good name? Was it Starr’s Mill pulling off maybe the biggest upset in Class AAAA, stealing the “biggest upset” title from Whitewater? Was it Class AAA’s Carrollton and Sandy Creek setting up what might be the highest scoring championship ever? Was it Buford willing itself to win time after time at home, setting up a third straight title game with Calhoun?
My bracket may be busted but I have thoroughly enjoyed the 2010 playoffs and am looking forward to the 31 hours of coverage that GPB will provide starting at 4:30 p.m. this Friday live from the Georgia Dome. You can have California, Texas and Florida. I’ll take Georgia’s action any day of the week.
The best part about the Georgia high school playoffs though: who cares about brackets? As high school football fans, we’ve been treated to incredible game after incredible game, many with amazing finishes and all with standout performances from standout players.
I am not sure what I’ve been most impressed with this playoff “second season.” Was it Carver-Columbus’ Isaiah Crowell playing Can-You-Top-This with himself and going for huge game after huge game with all of the state and most of the Southeastern Conference watching? Was it Kyle Karempelis waving to Herschel Walker as he passed his rushing touchdown mark with another explosive postseason for Wesleyan? Was it Ammon Lapik nailing a 52-yard field goal in the freezing cold to move Chattahoochee past Marist and then two weeks later drilling a 27-yarder with no time left to beat Statesboro by one point to reach the finals? Was it Hillgrove, Collins Hill and Mill Creek pulling off incredible upsets to advance in the AAAAA playoffs and give North Georgia a good name? Was it Starr’s Mill pulling off maybe the biggest upset in Class AAAA, stealing the “biggest upset” title from Whitewater? Was it Class AAA’s Carrollton and Sandy Creek setting up what might be the highest scoring championship ever? Was it Buford willing itself to win time after time at home, setting up a third straight title game with Calhoun?
My bracket may be busted but I have thoroughly enjoyed the 2010 playoffs and am looking forward to the 31 hours of coverage that GPB will provide starting at 4:30 p.m. this Friday live from the Georgia Dome. You can have California, Texas and Florida. I’ll take Georgia’s action any day of the week.
Give me (the) Liberty (bowl) AND give me the practices!
Sorry Patrick Henry, but I had to paraphrase you a tad.... For more Georgia coverage, head to www.chuckoliver.net
So Mark Richt and the Georgia Bulldogs will be spending New Year's Eve in Memphis for the Liberty Bowl. OK. I guess it could be worse. They could be back in Shreveport for another Independence Bowl. In all seriousness though I would much rather have a bowl to play in than no bowl at all. Does a 6-6 team with ZERO signature victories that needed wins over Louisiana-Lafayette and Idaho State to even be eligible for a bowl deserve a postseason? Probably not, but the way the current system is set up, Georgia qualified and should thus take advantage.
The thing is though, I could care less about the trip to Memphis; I care about the extra practice that the bowl season allows. Georgia will get an extra 12-15 practices with the coaching staff watching over the team for the extra month which is exactly what this team needs right now: MORE PRACTICE. The Georgia coaching staff and Mark Richt have said in several instances that the team is a play here and a play there from being 9-3, and perhaps with the extra practice next year's squad could make a run at winning 10 instead of struggling for bowl eligibility. The extra practice could allow Aaron Murray to build a rapport with Marlon Brown and Rantavious Wooten with the likely departure of AJ Green. The extra practice could be just what Jarvis Jones and Richard Samuel need to solidify themselves as two of the starting linebackers for next year's defense. The extra practice will be good for the offensive coaches to monitor the young offensive linemen that will get huge reps next season.
I don't like the idea of Georgia being rewarded for a 6-6 season. I DO however like the idea that a 6-6 team gets more practice. This is precisely the team that needs extra practice. Mark Richt will get it, and with his seat likely being equator-hot next year, he'll need to start the 2011 season right now. If the team really is one or two plays away, these practices could be where he swings those plays next year his way. He should hope so, otherwise he may not get the extra practices next season and he might be using that month to send out resumes.
So Mark Richt and the Georgia Bulldogs will be spending New Year's Eve in Memphis for the Liberty Bowl. OK. I guess it could be worse. They could be back in Shreveport for another Independence Bowl. In all seriousness though I would much rather have a bowl to play in than no bowl at all. Does a 6-6 team with ZERO signature victories that needed wins over Louisiana-Lafayette and Idaho State to even be eligible for a bowl deserve a postseason? Probably not, but the way the current system is set up, Georgia qualified and should thus take advantage.
The thing is though, I could care less about the trip to Memphis; I care about the extra practice that the bowl season allows. Georgia will get an extra 12-15 practices with the coaching staff watching over the team for the extra month which is exactly what this team needs right now: MORE PRACTICE. The Georgia coaching staff and Mark Richt have said in several instances that the team is a play here and a play there from being 9-3, and perhaps with the extra practice next year's squad could make a run at winning 10 instead of struggling for bowl eligibility. The extra practice could allow Aaron Murray to build a rapport with Marlon Brown and Rantavious Wooten with the likely departure of AJ Green. The extra practice could be just what Jarvis Jones and Richard Samuel need to solidify themselves as two of the starting linebackers for next year's defense. The extra practice will be good for the offensive coaches to monitor the young offensive linemen that will get huge reps next season.
I don't like the idea of Georgia being rewarded for a 6-6 season. I DO however like the idea that a 6-6 team gets more practice. This is precisely the team that needs extra practice. Mark Richt will get it, and with his seat likely being equator-hot next year, he'll need to start the 2011 season right now. If the team really is one or two plays away, these practices could be where he swings those plays next year his way. He should hope so, otherwise he may not get the extra practices next season and he might be using that month to send out resumes.
Monday, December 6, 2010
A preview of the GHSA Football Class A final
As you may remember, I'll be analyzing the Class A state championship game for GPB-TV this Saturday at 1pm. Tune in!
Class A finals
Clinch County v Savannah Christian
Clinch County
There is only one undefeated team left in Class A for the 2010 season and that team is the No. 1 Clinch County Panthers (14-0), champions of Region 2-A. Any discussion of the Panthers must start with the do-it-all quarterback Tray Dorsey. In the semifinal tilt against Wilkinson County, Dorsey passed for 128 yards while rushing for 133 yards, including one score. For the season, Dorsey now has passed for over 1200 yards with 14 scores and has run for 24 touchdowns and nearly 1500 yards. He is joined in the backfield by Anthony McNeil, who has been tearing up the competition in the postseason. Against ELCA, McNeil found the endzone twice in the fourth quarter to engineer a comeback victory, and last week against Wilkinson, McNeil rushed for 187 yards on twenty carries and found paydirt four times. Clinch will look to pound the ball against Savannah Christian and try and top its 321 rushing yards and 449 overall yards from the semifinals. The defense meanwhile is strong and held Wilkinson to just 52 yards rushing and 150 overall with most coming after the result had long been decided.
Savannah Christian
One year after making it all the way to the Georgia Dome only to lose to Wilcox County for the state title, the Savannah Christian Raiders are back in the Dome and seeking redemption against Clinch County. The Raiders, 13-1, yet unranked upon entering the playoffs as a No. 4 seed out of Region 3-A, have cruised through the playoffs with four straight road wins, all against higher-seeded opponents. Savannah Christian has held opponents to an average of less than ten points per game and has allowed more than seven points just three times this year. Last week against Wesleyan, the Raiders held the vaunted Wolves team rushing attack to just 18 yards rushing. The Raiders intercepted two passes and took one back to the house.
The offense is strong as well as the backfield can toss a pair of backs at opponents in Andrew Moore and Nardo Govan, who ran for 127 yards against Wesleyan last week. Quarterback Harrison Curry has some playmakers to work with in Taylor Ivey and Will Austin. Curry is a threat to pass for a score or take it in himself and Austin can run it into the endzone or snag a Curry pass for six quick points.
PLAYOFF SKINNY
The bright lights of the Georgia Dome likely won’t intimidate either team as both have experience in the state title game. Just last season the Raiders of Savannah Christian competed on the Georgia Dome field for a state title, coming up just short to Wilcox County 30-21. The Raiders are trying to become the first former GISA school ever to capture a GHSA state title, and the first Savannah-area school to win a state title since Savannah did so in 1969. Over the course of Clinch County’s history, the Panthers have gotten to at least 13-0 three times prior to this season and all three times (1988, 1991, 2002), the Panthers won the state title. Clinch County coach Jim Dickerson was on the sidelines for the Panthers most recent state title in 2004. Clinch was runner-up in 2006. A victory in Saturday’s Class A championship game would give Clinch County a state title in a fourth straight decade.
Class A finals
Clinch County v Savannah Christian
Clinch County
There is only one undefeated team left in Class A for the 2010 season and that team is the No. 1 Clinch County Panthers (14-0), champions of Region 2-A. Any discussion of the Panthers must start with the do-it-all quarterback Tray Dorsey. In the semifinal tilt against Wilkinson County, Dorsey passed for 128 yards while rushing for 133 yards, including one score. For the season, Dorsey now has passed for over 1200 yards with 14 scores and has run for 24 touchdowns and nearly 1500 yards. He is joined in the backfield by Anthony McNeil, who has been tearing up the competition in the postseason. Against ELCA, McNeil found the endzone twice in the fourth quarter to engineer a comeback victory, and last week against Wilkinson, McNeil rushed for 187 yards on twenty carries and found paydirt four times. Clinch will look to pound the ball against Savannah Christian and try and top its 321 rushing yards and 449 overall yards from the semifinals. The defense meanwhile is strong and held Wilkinson to just 52 yards rushing and 150 overall with most coming after the result had long been decided.
Savannah Christian
One year after making it all the way to the Georgia Dome only to lose to Wilcox County for the state title, the Savannah Christian Raiders are back in the Dome and seeking redemption against Clinch County. The Raiders, 13-1, yet unranked upon entering the playoffs as a No. 4 seed out of Region 3-A, have cruised through the playoffs with four straight road wins, all against higher-seeded opponents. Savannah Christian has held opponents to an average of less than ten points per game and has allowed more than seven points just three times this year. Last week against Wesleyan, the Raiders held the vaunted Wolves team rushing attack to just 18 yards rushing. The Raiders intercepted two passes and took one back to the house.
The offense is strong as well as the backfield can toss a pair of backs at opponents in Andrew Moore and Nardo Govan, who ran for 127 yards against Wesleyan last week. Quarterback Harrison Curry has some playmakers to work with in Taylor Ivey and Will Austin. Curry is a threat to pass for a score or take it in himself and Austin can run it into the endzone or snag a Curry pass for six quick points.
PLAYOFF SKINNY
The bright lights of the Georgia Dome likely won’t intimidate either team as both have experience in the state title game. Just last season the Raiders of Savannah Christian competed on the Georgia Dome field for a state title, coming up just short to Wilcox County 30-21. The Raiders are trying to become the first former GISA school ever to capture a GHSA state title, and the first Savannah-area school to win a state title since Savannah did so in 1969. Over the course of Clinch County’s history, the Panthers have gotten to at least 13-0 three times prior to this season and all three times (1988, 1991, 2002), the Panthers won the state title. Clinch County coach Jim Dickerson was on the sidelines for the Panthers most recent state title in 2004. Clinch was runner-up in 2006. A victory in Saturday’s Class A championship game would give Clinch County a state title in a fourth straight decade.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Colquitt punches its ticket to the Dome
Everyone across the state of Georgia was anticipating the match-up between the defense of Grayson and the offense of Colquitt County, but the Class AAAAA semifinal contest between the Rams and the Packers was decided by the other two units. The offense of Grayson sparked the Rams early after the home team’s defense rose up to force an early turnover from the Colquitt County Packers. Sophomore defensive end standout Robert Nkemdiche used all 6’5, 250lb to bull into the endzone on fourth down for an early 7-0 lead.
Colquitt County would respond by marching 80 yards thanks to several big plays through the air. Tyler Brown connected with Tommy Hudson for three catches, including a ten-yard strike for a score on third down to pull to 7-6. Hudson snagged the pass with Grayson’s Camen Marshall draped all over his back providing defense.
After forcing a three and out, the Colquitt offense was back and after a first down, Tevin King took a reception on the wheel route down to the four yard line and then found the endzone on his next carry. Packer coach Rush Propst elected to go for two and Brown found King off play-action for a 14-7 lead in the first quarter, after Grayson had not allowed any sort of first half score in these playoffs.
Grayson’s Austin Clark nailed a 47-yard field goal to open up the second quarter, which cut the Packers’ lead to 14-10, but Rich Tyndall was able to answer with a 25-yard of his own to push the lead back to seven 17-10, where it would stay at halftime after Tyndall missed a 37-yard attempt right before intermission.
Grayson took the ball to open the second half and picked up a fourth down in Colquitt territory before deciding to go for it again on 4th and six on the 30-yard line. Denzel Nkemdiche picked up a 25-yard gain, setting up his younger brother for Robert’s second score of the night. Clark’s extra point knotted the game at 17-17. Denzel wasn’t finished in the third quarter as the senior raced around the corner after reversing his course in the backfield and taking it to the corner of the endzone for a 24-17 Rams lead.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Hudson took a hitch on third down 64 yards for his eighth catch of the night and his second score to knot the game at 24-24. Grayson suddenly lost the ball on a fumble two plays later and the Packers recovered inside the redzone. Several Tevin King carries later and the Packers boasted a 31-24 lead after King found paydirt from inside the one.
Then the Packer defense decided the game after getting the late lead by snuffing out the last-ditch effort of Grayson with blitzes and pressure to advance to the Georgia Dome for a shot at Rush Propst’s first Georgia state title.
Colquitt County would respond by marching 80 yards thanks to several big plays through the air. Tyler Brown connected with Tommy Hudson for three catches, including a ten-yard strike for a score on third down to pull to 7-6. Hudson snagged the pass with Grayson’s Camen Marshall draped all over his back providing defense.
After forcing a three and out, the Colquitt offense was back and after a first down, Tevin King took a reception on the wheel route down to the four yard line and then found the endzone on his next carry. Packer coach Rush Propst elected to go for two and Brown found King off play-action for a 14-7 lead in the first quarter, after Grayson had not allowed any sort of first half score in these playoffs.
Grayson’s Austin Clark nailed a 47-yard field goal to open up the second quarter, which cut the Packers’ lead to 14-10, but Rich Tyndall was able to answer with a 25-yard of his own to push the lead back to seven 17-10, where it would stay at halftime after Tyndall missed a 37-yard attempt right before intermission.
Grayson took the ball to open the second half and picked up a fourth down in Colquitt territory before deciding to go for it again on 4th and six on the 30-yard line. Denzel Nkemdiche picked up a 25-yard gain, setting up his younger brother for Robert’s second score of the night. Clark’s extra point knotted the game at 17-17. Denzel wasn’t finished in the third quarter as the senior raced around the corner after reversing his course in the backfield and taking it to the corner of the endzone for a 24-17 Rams lead.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Hudson took a hitch on third down 64 yards for his eighth catch of the night and his second score to knot the game at 24-24. Grayson suddenly lost the ball on a fumble two plays later and the Packers recovered inside the redzone. Several Tevin King carries later and the Packers boasted a 31-24 lead after King found paydirt from inside the one.
Then the Packer defense decided the game after getting the late lead by snuffing out the last-ditch effort of Grayson with blitzes and pressure to advance to the Georgia Dome for a shot at Rush Propst’s first Georgia state title.
Championship weekend Picks
The next-to-last edition of the Picks blogs for the football season. Sorry I didn't do more picks blogs, but Georgia sucked, so what was the point?
Let's go over the picks of the championship games ONLY. Who really cares who wins Oregon/Oregon State or Boise State/New Mexico (or whoever they are playing) or UConn/SomeBigEast gawdawful team? The games that MATTER (sort of) will be the only ones we speak of here on this particular edition of The Picks.
with no FURTHER ado....
ACC Championship Game
Va Tech v FSU. Thank GOODNESS Boise State lost last week because I would HATE to have those blueshirts bragging that they beat the ACC Champs. But they didn't. They NEVER played FSU. And PS, Boise State didn't so much beat VaTech as the Hokies gave that game away at the end of the contest. RUN THE BALL MORONS! I still shake my head over the mismanagement of that clock. Did Les Miles handle the clock duties for Beamer? Won't matter. I like FSU's defense to shut down the three-headed rushing attack of the Hokies. And the FSU offense is head and shoulders better than the Hokie D. And FSU rubs it in with a special teams score from Greg Reid.
BigXII title game
Oklahoma v Nebraska. I will be rooting for the Boomers since I have an OU hat, and I think i'll be on the right side of this one since Landry Jones has all of those weapons at receiver. Blackshirts are nice but Nebraska won't go back-to-back in difference conferences next season. Sorry cornheads. OU.
SEC Title game
Auburn v SoCar
It will be difficult for me to watch Saturday’s SEC Championship game as a Georgia fan. Folks across Bulldog Nation will be tuning in and seeing Auburn, a team that Georgia led by two touchdowns AT Auburn, playing for a spot in the BCS Title game, go against South Carolina, the survivor of the weak SEC East. If you ignore the fact that Auburn has beaten the Gamecocks once this season and simply judge how each did against Georgia at home, you’d easily come to the conclusion that Auburn will take the game.
But the reason it will be difficult to watch this game as a Georgia fan is because you believe you should be there in Atlanta. Before non-Georgia fans laugh, consider for just a second how South Carolina “won” this berth, aka Georgia and Florida threw it away. Before the season started Georgia’s AJ Green lost his mind and sold his Independence Bowl jersey for some spending money and was subsequently suspended for four games to begin the year. Georgia’s record in those four games: 1-3, including 0-3 in SEC play. The contest against South Carolina was included in that 0-3 stretch, with the Gamecocks winning 17-6. In the fourth quarter of that game, the Bulldogs were knocking on the door trailing 14-6 when Washaun Ealey fumbled the ball into the endzone. With Green out, the Gamecock defense was crowding the box, daring Aaron Murray to throw to secondary receivers, which he was not allowed to do by the coaches even though he excelled in limited chances in that game.
Green’s absence would be noticed as well in the Mississippi State game as the offense was once again held out of the endzone until late in the game after the game had been decided.
In a deep hole thanks to the 0-3 conference start, Georgia still clung to a chance to get to the Georgia Dome, needing multiple losses and somehow everything broke the Dawgs way…until South Carolina managed to beat the Crimson Tide. Regardless, all Georgia needed to do was beat Florida then have the Gators in turn beat South Carolina, but as always, the Gators kept the Dawgs in place and edged Georgia in overtime.
The opportunities were there all season for Georgia, especially with Florida and Tennessee down and out. Sadly the combination of AJ Green’s suspension with Ealey’s fumbles and Murray’s one bad game happening to come against Florida coinciding with Alabama not helping out means the Dawg Nation will just have to think about what-coulda-been while Auburn faces South Carolina Saturday.
Auburn wins. (So does Oregon over Oregon State. The beavers lost to BOTH TCU and Boise for pete's sake!)
We get Oregon v Auburn for the BCS title and Georgia gets shut out of the Music City bowl for Tennessee (huh?) and has to go to the Liberty Bowl. Memphis!
Let's go over the picks of the championship games ONLY. Who really cares who wins Oregon/Oregon State or Boise State/New Mexico (or whoever they are playing) or UConn/SomeBigEast gawdawful team? The games that MATTER (sort of) will be the only ones we speak of here on this particular edition of The Picks.
with no FURTHER ado....
ACC Championship Game
Va Tech v FSU. Thank GOODNESS Boise State lost last week because I would HATE to have those blueshirts bragging that they beat the ACC Champs. But they didn't. They NEVER played FSU. And PS, Boise State didn't so much beat VaTech as the Hokies gave that game away at the end of the contest. RUN THE BALL MORONS! I still shake my head over the mismanagement of that clock. Did Les Miles handle the clock duties for Beamer? Won't matter. I like FSU's defense to shut down the three-headed rushing attack of the Hokies. And the FSU offense is head and shoulders better than the Hokie D. And FSU rubs it in with a special teams score from Greg Reid.
BigXII title game
Oklahoma v Nebraska. I will be rooting for the Boomers since I have an OU hat, and I think i'll be on the right side of this one since Landry Jones has all of those weapons at receiver. Blackshirts are nice but Nebraska won't go back-to-back in difference conferences next season. Sorry cornheads. OU.
SEC Title game
Auburn v SoCar
It will be difficult for me to watch Saturday’s SEC Championship game as a Georgia fan. Folks across Bulldog Nation will be tuning in and seeing Auburn, a team that Georgia led by two touchdowns AT Auburn, playing for a spot in the BCS Title game, go against South Carolina, the survivor of the weak SEC East. If you ignore the fact that Auburn has beaten the Gamecocks once this season and simply judge how each did against Georgia at home, you’d easily come to the conclusion that Auburn will take the game.
But the reason it will be difficult to watch this game as a Georgia fan is because you believe you should be there in Atlanta. Before non-Georgia fans laugh, consider for just a second how South Carolina “won” this berth, aka Georgia and Florida threw it away. Before the season started Georgia’s AJ Green lost his mind and sold his Independence Bowl jersey for some spending money and was subsequently suspended for four games to begin the year. Georgia’s record in those four games: 1-3, including 0-3 in SEC play. The contest against South Carolina was included in that 0-3 stretch, with the Gamecocks winning 17-6. In the fourth quarter of that game, the Bulldogs were knocking on the door trailing 14-6 when Washaun Ealey fumbled the ball into the endzone. With Green out, the Gamecock defense was crowding the box, daring Aaron Murray to throw to secondary receivers, which he was not allowed to do by the coaches even though he excelled in limited chances in that game.
Green’s absence would be noticed as well in the Mississippi State game as the offense was once again held out of the endzone until late in the game after the game had been decided.
In a deep hole thanks to the 0-3 conference start, Georgia still clung to a chance to get to the Georgia Dome, needing multiple losses and somehow everything broke the Dawgs way…until South Carolina managed to beat the Crimson Tide. Regardless, all Georgia needed to do was beat Florida then have the Gators in turn beat South Carolina, but as always, the Gators kept the Dawgs in place and edged Georgia in overtime.
The opportunities were there all season for Georgia, especially with Florida and Tennessee down and out. Sadly the combination of AJ Green’s suspension with Ealey’s fumbles and Murray’s one bad game happening to come against Florida coinciding with Alabama not helping out means the Dawg Nation will just have to think about what-coulda-been while Auburn faces South Carolina Saturday.
Auburn wins. (So does Oregon over Oregon State. The beavers lost to BOTH TCU and Boise for pete's sake!)
We get Oregon v Auburn for the BCS title and Georgia gets shut out of the Music City bowl for Tennessee (huh?) and has to go to the Liberty Bowl. Memphis!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
An early Christmas present: TheFletch!
Don't forget to stop by and pick up a copy of ScoreAtlanta when it hits newsstands tomorrow! and by newsstands, I mean Kroger and QuikTrip!
Funny how a win over Georgia Tech can turn the tide for the Bulldog Nation. Earlier this college football season when Georgia was playing sans AJ Green and losing four straight games, including the embarrassing loss to Colorado, Dawg fans were calling for head coach Mark Richt’s head, offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s head and even fill-in Uga Russ’s head. Now though, after Georgia rebounded to gain bowl eligibility and knock off Georgia Tech in the process, most of the Bulldog faithful seem to want Richt to stick around. Callers in to 680 The Fan and Sports Radio 790 The Zone also seem to have cooled off on the Richt-on-the-hotseat talk and those listening to the Mark Richt call-in show were nearly begging Richt to stay in Athens and turn down potential offers from Colorado as well as his alma mater Miami. In a recent blog from the AJC, Georgia beat writer Tim Tucker touched on the highlights from the call-in show, noting that one caller “implored Richt to ‘hang in with us.’”
In a recent piece in the AJC Jeff Schultz argued that Richt will stay in 2011 and he deserves to stay on. “Mark Richt has built up a lot of credits. He deserves a chance to fix this,” opined Schultz. “The bottom line numbers are too overwhelming to ignore so quickly.” Schultz did leave a bit of an opening in that if the immediate future doesn’t show results, the new AD and the Dawg fans might pull the chord, but that is a problem for 2011.
On the other hand, Mark Bradley of the AJC was back at Richt’s throat with his solution to fixing Georgia’s problems. Unlike his (exact same) piece about Georgia Tech, which said the Jackets simply needed a talent infusion and a more humble coach, Bradley hammered Georgia, saying that the team needed to get stronger (READ: fire the strength coach), get edgier and “get an idea.” The last point questioned Richt’s offensive philosophy, and honestly, it might be time to start thinking of new column ideas. Bradley goes after Hewitt and Richt to the point that I am starting to think that Terence Moore has taken over his column.
While driving back in town from a Thanksgiving with the family I had the chance to catch the last few minutes of the Atlanta/Green Bay game on Dave FM (and again, what a treat Atlanta gets every week, being able to hear Wes Durham call a football game), and then I heard a bit of postgame on various radio stations. Apparently at one point some of the coverage, the personalities on 790 The Zone compared the 2010 Falcons to the 1998 Falcons. Looking back now, we know that the 1998 team didn’t have the staying power that the current Falcons squad has, and the current team has one of the top seven quarterbacks in the league, unlike the 1998 squad. I also think that this team will actually be feared in the playoffs, unlike the 1998 team that was an afterthought to the Vikings with Randy Moss and Cris Carter roaming around. But that was without question the most successful Falcons team ever, so I can see why you’d want to use that team as a measuring stick with this unit. That team went farther than any other team in franchise history, including any team that ever featured one Michael Vick.
While I don’t necessarily agree with the comparison, I think it is quite comical that several shows on 680 The Fan have taken 790 to the woodshed over the comparison. One show in particular, The Rude Awakening, Perry, Leo and Rude were barbing the discussion, saying “Oh that was ANOTHER radio station making that comparison,” when a caller asked about that. On that morning I guess it was a little too sports-related of an inquiry as the three had just spent a segment discussing turkey, online shopping and listening to Leo discuss fashion. I swear I was listening to Q100. A caller tried to steer the topic back to sports but was told that they were entertainers. Could have fooled me.
Finally, I must commend Score Atlanta, the AJC, the Marietta Daily Journal, the Gwinnett Daily Post, the Valdosta Daily Times, Gainesville Times and nearly every other newspaper in the state of Georgia for the coverage they all give on high school sports in Georgia. I was in Texas over the Thanksgiving weekend, where Johnny Moxon once proclaimed that “High School football is a way of life.” I must say that as a high school football commentator/writer/fan, I was looking forward to indulging in the wall-to-wall coverage I expected to be immersed in during my stay. BOY was I surprised when I could not find a single game on the radio while drive around during prime “Friday Night Lights” time. I was surprised when the Friday morning paper didn’t have the previews that Score Atlanta, Georgia Public Broadcasting or the Gwinnett Daily Post put forth every Friday morning. I was amazed that Saturday morning’s “recaps” were maybe four paragraphs long per game, if that. I thought towns shut down in Texas so folks could go watch the local high school team play. I thought Peter Berg made a movie and subsequent television show about life in Texas revolving around high school football? Was I mistaken? Perhaps I was in the wrong city/town/region of Texas, but I was disappointed with the coverage of high school football in the Lone Star State and must thump my chest at the Peach State’s coverage. All of the papers discuss the sport; every single website seemingly has a webcast discussing the local teams. Georgia Public Broadcasting runs Sports Central and gpb.org/sports runs an hour-long interactive webcast following the show called Sports Central XL, where coaches, writers and guests are interviewed by myself and Mark Harmon. You can find two games broadcast on television every week with GPB’s webcast, and the state championships will be broadcast yet again on GPB-TV as it has been for years. Georgia has high school football covered and Texas may want to take notes.
Can You Believe He Said That
“He deserves most of the praise he gets from the national media, but why are we so hesitant to call him out on his futile record in the games that matter the most?”
That was Jeff Woolverton on 790thezone.com as he called out Peyton Manning in a debate over who was better: Manning or Tom Brady. I agree with Woolvey here. I am not sure why, simply because of MVP trophies we award Manning the title of best around. Brady has three Super Bowl titles with another appearance while Manning, despite regular season success has choked in the playoffs. The year he won was clearly a down year for New England and he lost last season’s Super Bowl. I’d take Brady too Woolvey.
HHe most of the praise he gets from the national media, but why are we so hesitant to call him out on his futile record in the games that matter most?
Funny how a win over Georgia Tech can turn the tide for the Bulldog Nation. Earlier this college football season when Georgia was playing sans AJ Green and losing four straight games, including the embarrassing loss to Colorado, Dawg fans were calling for head coach Mark Richt’s head, offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s head and even fill-in Uga Russ’s head. Now though, after Georgia rebounded to gain bowl eligibility and knock off Georgia Tech in the process, most of the Bulldog faithful seem to want Richt to stick around. Callers in to 680 The Fan and Sports Radio 790 The Zone also seem to have cooled off on the Richt-on-the-hotseat talk and those listening to the Mark Richt call-in show were nearly begging Richt to stay in Athens and turn down potential offers from Colorado as well as his alma mater Miami. In a recent blog from the AJC, Georgia beat writer Tim Tucker touched on the highlights from the call-in show, noting that one caller “implored Richt to ‘hang in with us.’”
In a recent piece in the AJC Jeff Schultz argued that Richt will stay in 2011 and he deserves to stay on. “Mark Richt has built up a lot of credits. He deserves a chance to fix this,” opined Schultz. “The bottom line numbers are too overwhelming to ignore so quickly.” Schultz did leave a bit of an opening in that if the immediate future doesn’t show results, the new AD and the Dawg fans might pull the chord, but that is a problem for 2011.
On the other hand, Mark Bradley of the AJC was back at Richt’s throat with his solution to fixing Georgia’s problems. Unlike his (exact same) piece about Georgia Tech, which said the Jackets simply needed a talent infusion and a more humble coach, Bradley hammered Georgia, saying that the team needed to get stronger (READ: fire the strength coach), get edgier and “get an idea.” The last point questioned Richt’s offensive philosophy, and honestly, it might be time to start thinking of new column ideas. Bradley goes after Hewitt and Richt to the point that I am starting to think that Terence Moore has taken over his column.
While driving back in town from a Thanksgiving with the family I had the chance to catch the last few minutes of the Atlanta/Green Bay game on Dave FM (and again, what a treat Atlanta gets every week, being able to hear Wes Durham call a football game), and then I heard a bit of postgame on various radio stations. Apparently at one point some of the coverage, the personalities on 790 The Zone compared the 2010 Falcons to the 1998 Falcons. Looking back now, we know that the 1998 team didn’t have the staying power that the current Falcons squad has, and the current team has one of the top seven quarterbacks in the league, unlike the 1998 squad. I also think that this team will actually be feared in the playoffs, unlike the 1998 team that was an afterthought to the Vikings with Randy Moss and Cris Carter roaming around. But that was without question the most successful Falcons team ever, so I can see why you’d want to use that team as a measuring stick with this unit. That team went farther than any other team in franchise history, including any team that ever featured one Michael Vick.
While I don’t necessarily agree with the comparison, I think it is quite comical that several shows on 680 The Fan have taken 790 to the woodshed over the comparison. One show in particular, The Rude Awakening, Perry, Leo and Rude were barbing the discussion, saying “Oh that was ANOTHER radio station making that comparison,” when a caller asked about that. On that morning I guess it was a little too sports-related of an inquiry as the three had just spent a segment discussing turkey, online shopping and listening to Leo discuss fashion. I swear I was listening to Q100. A caller tried to steer the topic back to sports but was told that they were entertainers. Could have fooled me.
Finally, I must commend Score Atlanta, the AJC, the Marietta Daily Journal, the Gwinnett Daily Post, the Valdosta Daily Times, Gainesville Times and nearly every other newspaper in the state of Georgia for the coverage they all give on high school sports in Georgia. I was in Texas over the Thanksgiving weekend, where Johnny Moxon once proclaimed that “High School football is a way of life.” I must say that as a high school football commentator/writer/fan, I was looking forward to indulging in the wall-to-wall coverage I expected to be immersed in during my stay. BOY was I surprised when I could not find a single game on the radio while drive around during prime “Friday Night Lights” time. I was surprised when the Friday morning paper didn’t have the previews that Score Atlanta, Georgia Public Broadcasting or the Gwinnett Daily Post put forth every Friday morning. I was amazed that Saturday morning’s “recaps” were maybe four paragraphs long per game, if that. I thought towns shut down in Texas so folks could go watch the local high school team play. I thought Peter Berg made a movie and subsequent television show about life in Texas revolving around high school football? Was I mistaken? Perhaps I was in the wrong city/town/region of Texas, but I was disappointed with the coverage of high school football in the Lone Star State and must thump my chest at the Peach State’s coverage. All of the papers discuss the sport; every single website seemingly has a webcast discussing the local teams. Georgia Public Broadcasting runs Sports Central and gpb.org/sports runs an hour-long interactive webcast following the show called Sports Central XL, where coaches, writers and guests are interviewed by myself and Mark Harmon. You can find two games broadcast on television every week with GPB’s webcast, and the state championships will be broadcast yet again on GPB-TV as it has been for years. Georgia has high school football covered and Texas may want to take notes.
Can You Believe He Said That
“He deserves most of the praise he gets from the national media, but why are we so hesitant to call him out on his futile record in the games that matter the most?”
That was Jeff Woolverton on 790thezone.com as he called out Peyton Manning in a debate over who was better: Manning or Tom Brady. I agree with Woolvey here. I am not sure why, simply because of MVP trophies we award Manning the title of best around. Brady has three Super Bowl titles with another appearance while Manning, despite regular season success has choked in the playoffs. The year he won was clearly a down year for New England and he lost last season’s Super Bowl. I’d take Brady too Woolvey.
HHe most of the praise he gets from the national media, but why are we so hesitant to call him out on his futile record in the games that matter most?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Dawgs WILL be better in 2011 because of ONE MAN
Aaron Murray!
I read where a local radio talk show host predicted that Georgia would stink once again next season, perhaps winning just seven games in 2011, but I must disagree for ONE MAIN REASON: Aaron Murray.
The redshirt freshman quarterback has, through the first twelve games of the season, thrown for 24 touchdowns, just one back of Matthew Stafford's single-season Georgia record for scoring tosses, and he is tied with DJ Shockley with 28 overall scores, also a record for the Red & Black. He also has racked up some big-time passing yardage as a freshman, as in the most in the school's history for a freshman signal-caller. He passed David Greene, aka the once all-time winningest QB in NCAA history during the Georgia Tech game, and according to the AJC, he has 2851 yards for the year, behind only Kentucky's Jared Lorenzen (2000) in the SEC. Murray has a chance to pad his yardage numbers and overtake Stafford, you may remember him as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft, with two scores in the bowl game.
And let's not forget that Murray has started EVERY game this year (something that Stafford didn't do his freshman year), and this spring will be his third spring practice in Athens. Take a look at how two of Richt's previous multiple-year starters fared in their second seasons: David Greene led Georgia to the SEC title, a Sugar Bowl win and a final ranking of No. 2 or No. 3, depending on your poll preference; Matt Stafford led Georgia to a share of the SEC East title, a Sugar Bowl victory and the No. 2 or No. 3 final ranking, depending on your poll preference. Both entered the season with a low starting ranking (like Georgia likely will start the year in 2011) and both players had the help of a defensive freak and a running back that finally broke out that season. David Pollack and Musa Smith helped Greene while Marcus Howard and Knowshon Moreno helped Stafford. Justin Houston (if he sticks around) and Washaun Ealey (or perhaps a true freshman whose name rhymes with Fisiah Trowell) could be those guys next year.
Now you are going to say, "But he'll lose AJ Green and Kris Durham!" Well let's just say that Durham is certainly gone due to graduation, but Green could come back. OK, fine, he's gone too. But you're telling me that Georgia doesn't have other players capable of stepping up? Tavarres King was a FREAK in high school. Same with Marlon Brown. Don't forget Wooten and perhaps the Champ Bailey-esque Branden Smith. Are any of those guys AJ Green? No, not yet. But you are telling me Kenneth Harris, Sean Bailey and Mohamed Massaquoi were AJ Green either? You are telling me that Terrence Edwards, Fred Gibson and Damien Gary were better than what Murray could be trotting out next season? And don't sleep on Michael Bennett, a freshman currently redshirting that could be a Durham-clone: sneaky speed and great height.
I now that something happens between the freshman and sophomore seasons with Mark Richt watching over you. I don't know what it is, but he has the magic touch. He won Chris Weinke a Heisman at FSU and he won Charlie Ward one as well. Richt knows how to tailor an offense to a quarterback (see: 2005 with Shockley), and he'll have Murray as the center of the 2011 offense, much like Green was supposed to be the center of the 2010 offense. Seven wins is selling Richt short. He hasn't forgotten how to coach, especially coach up a quarterback. Should Houston stay (not a stretch that he would stick around) and one of those talented receivers plays the role of Bailey/Massaquoi/Gibson, Murray could easily take this team on his back all the way to a BCS bowl.
I read where a local radio talk show host predicted that Georgia would stink once again next season, perhaps winning just seven games in 2011, but I must disagree for ONE MAIN REASON: Aaron Murray.
The redshirt freshman quarterback has, through the first twelve games of the season, thrown for 24 touchdowns, just one back of Matthew Stafford's single-season Georgia record for scoring tosses, and he is tied with DJ Shockley with 28 overall scores, also a record for the Red & Black. He also has racked up some big-time passing yardage as a freshman, as in the most in the school's history for a freshman signal-caller. He passed David Greene, aka the once all-time winningest QB in NCAA history during the Georgia Tech game, and according to the AJC, he has 2851 yards for the year, behind only Kentucky's Jared Lorenzen (2000) in the SEC. Murray has a chance to pad his yardage numbers and overtake Stafford, you may remember him as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft, with two scores in the bowl game.
And let's not forget that Murray has started EVERY game this year (something that Stafford didn't do his freshman year), and this spring will be his third spring practice in Athens. Take a look at how two of Richt's previous multiple-year starters fared in their second seasons: David Greene led Georgia to the SEC title, a Sugar Bowl win and a final ranking of No. 2 or No. 3, depending on your poll preference; Matt Stafford led Georgia to a share of the SEC East title, a Sugar Bowl victory and the No. 2 or No. 3 final ranking, depending on your poll preference. Both entered the season with a low starting ranking (like Georgia likely will start the year in 2011) and both players had the help of a defensive freak and a running back that finally broke out that season. David Pollack and Musa Smith helped Greene while Marcus Howard and Knowshon Moreno helped Stafford. Justin Houston (if he sticks around) and Washaun Ealey (or perhaps a true freshman whose name rhymes with Fisiah Trowell) could be those guys next year.
Now you are going to say, "But he'll lose AJ Green and Kris Durham!" Well let's just say that Durham is certainly gone due to graduation, but Green could come back. OK, fine, he's gone too. But you're telling me that Georgia doesn't have other players capable of stepping up? Tavarres King was a FREAK in high school. Same with Marlon Brown. Don't forget Wooten and perhaps the Champ Bailey-esque Branden Smith. Are any of those guys AJ Green? No, not yet. But you are telling me Kenneth Harris, Sean Bailey and Mohamed Massaquoi were AJ Green either? You are telling me that Terrence Edwards, Fred Gibson and Damien Gary were better than what Murray could be trotting out next season? And don't sleep on Michael Bennett, a freshman currently redshirting that could be a Durham-clone: sneaky speed and great height.
I now that something happens between the freshman and sophomore seasons with Mark Richt watching over you. I don't know what it is, but he has the magic touch. He won Chris Weinke a Heisman at FSU and he won Charlie Ward one as well. Richt knows how to tailor an offense to a quarterback (see: 2005 with Shockley), and he'll have Murray as the center of the 2011 offense, much like Green was supposed to be the center of the 2010 offense. Seven wins is selling Richt short. He hasn't forgotten how to coach, especially coach up a quarterback. Should Houston stay (not a stretch that he would stick around) and one of those talented receivers plays the role of Bailey/Massaquoi/Gibson, Murray could easily take this team on his back all the way to a BCS bowl.
The candidates for SBF's Inaugural Hall of Fame class
SportsbyFletch has done the Fletcher Globes for a few years now and last year we award Aaron Sorkin with a Lifetime achievement award. I've decided to go one step further and create the SBF Hall of Fame. Back before I became a BIG-TIME sports writer (wink), SBF used to also talk about pop culture, not just sports. Well, in 2011 I am going to try and venture back into the pop culture realm. This is a start. I have put together a LONG list on nominees on which my readers (OK, fine, Roomie, Sleazy P, JCole and Wifey)can vote on to determine who makes the first class. The voting ends after Christmas and we'll announce the inaugural class a few days before the New Year. I'll describe some of the candidates; others, just use your imagination. The class will be between 6-8 people/entities big, so pick wisely.
With no further ado....
The OC. The show/cast/etc. Love this show. Period
Eric Taylor. Coach from the Dillon Panthers on FNL
Riggins. Big bad ass from FNL
Lorelei and Rory Gilmore. Has there EVER been a hotter mother/daughter combo?
Josh Schwartz. He gave us The OC AND Gossip Girl
Katy Perry. She's hot because she kissed a girl and apparently liked it.
Joel McHale. From the Soup. This guy is funny. I saw his standup.
Jo Koy. The panelist from Chelsea Lately is funnier than McHale.
Alton from the RW/RR Challenges. HE MOVED A TRUCK BY HIMSELF!
Jeff Probst. His smart-ass play-by-play at the Survivor challenges makes me want to try out for the show.
Evan from RW/RR Challenges. Seriously dominating because he is an athlete but he OWNS the politics.
Holly Rowe. Did you see the ESPN sideline reporter mow down that turkey leg?
Volcheck from The OC. He did want EVERY VIEWER wished they could: he killed Marissa.
Blake Lively. From Gossip Girl. If only she didn't talk out of the side of her mouth.
Greg House, MD. He's an A-Hole, but he'll save your life after he nearly kills you four times!
Justin Timberlake. The guy is musically talented but could be the best SNL host EVER
Dave Matthews Band. Who DOESN'T like this guy's music?
Pauley D. Because he hasn't sold out like The Situation....yet.
Michael Buble and Jon Hamm. You're telling me you wouldn't eat at Hamm & Buble?
Taylor Townsend. She single-handedly made that final season of The OC watchable. You go Autumn Reeser!
Lucy Camden's ugly mask. She worked that thing for how many years before 7th Heaven told her to finally take it off.
Matt's Bride from 7th Heaven.
Nicky Fisk. The HAIR!
Cat Deeley. That you joogeez
Matt Diaz. The Braves outfielder took out an idiot from Philly that ran onto the field.
Reunion. I want to know who the killer was!
teriyaki sauce. that stuff is GOOD.
bacon. Do i need to explain this?
Labor Day weekend. The START of college football
Thanksgiving holiday. The BEST holiday of the year.
Fun Dip. The powder candy
So there are the candidates. If you feel I've missed something, write it in, but vote on those and we'll have the first class later this month.
With no further ado....
The OC. The show/cast/etc. Love this show. Period
Eric Taylor. Coach from the Dillon Panthers on FNL
Riggins. Big bad ass from FNL
Lorelei and Rory Gilmore. Has there EVER been a hotter mother/daughter combo?
Josh Schwartz. He gave us The OC AND Gossip Girl
Katy Perry. She's hot because she kissed a girl and apparently liked it.
Joel McHale. From the Soup. This guy is funny. I saw his standup.
Jo Koy. The panelist from Chelsea Lately is funnier than McHale.
Alton from the RW/RR Challenges. HE MOVED A TRUCK BY HIMSELF!
Jeff Probst. His smart-ass play-by-play at the Survivor challenges makes me want to try out for the show.
Evan from RW/RR Challenges. Seriously dominating because he is an athlete but he OWNS the politics.
Holly Rowe. Did you see the ESPN sideline reporter mow down that turkey leg?
Volcheck from The OC. He did want EVERY VIEWER wished they could: he killed Marissa.
Blake Lively. From Gossip Girl. If only she didn't talk out of the side of her mouth.
Greg House, MD. He's an A-Hole, but he'll save your life after he nearly kills you four times!
Justin Timberlake. The guy is musically talented but could be the best SNL host EVER
Dave Matthews Band. Who DOESN'T like this guy's music?
Pauley D. Because he hasn't sold out like The Situation....yet.
Michael Buble and Jon Hamm. You're telling me you wouldn't eat at Hamm & Buble?
Taylor Townsend. She single-handedly made that final season of The OC watchable. You go Autumn Reeser!
Lucy Camden's ugly mask. She worked that thing for how many years before 7th Heaven told her to finally take it off.
Matt's Bride from 7th Heaven.
Nicky Fisk. The HAIR!
Cat Deeley. That you joogeez
Matt Diaz. The Braves outfielder took out an idiot from Philly that ran onto the field.
Reunion. I want to know who the killer was!
teriyaki sauce. that stuff is GOOD.
bacon. Do i need to explain this?
Labor Day weekend. The START of college football
Thanksgiving holiday. The BEST holiday of the year.
Fun Dip. The powder candy
So there are the candidates. If you feel I've missed something, write it in, but vote on those and we'll have the first class later this month.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
A look at the Class A Semi-final match-ups
As you probably know by now, I will be part of Georgia Public Broadcasting's play-by-play crew for the December 11 Class A state championship game. I will provide color commentary while WSB's Zach Klein will call play-by-play. The game can be seen on GPB-TV at 1pm that Saturday. The two teams will be determined this Friday night and here is a brief breakdown of the two contests.
Clinch County @ Wilkinson County
To say the sum is greater than the parts would not be insulting to the Cougars of Clinch County because the sum adds up to the top ranked squad in Class A. Clinch County improved to 13-0 and earned a spot in the semifinals with a 34-27 comeback win over ELCA last week thanks to two fourth quarter touchdowns from Anthony McNeil. Last season, McNeil was the Cougars leading rusher and he has teamed with Tray Dorsey to form a potent one-two punch out of the offensive backfield. The defense of Clinch County also has shut down several potent offenses all season long and will look to do so against Wilkinson County as well. Clinch County has some big wins on the year, having knocked off Wilcox and Charlton entering the playoffs.
The Warriors will need a standout performance from sophomore quarterback David Whipple, who threw a 28-yard touchdown pass and ran for a go-ahead 40-yard scoring scamper in Wilkinson’s 20-7 win over ECI. Before the season is over, Whipple likely will post 2000 yards passing and 30 scores through the air. He’ll have the support of Tevin Underwood at tailback, Alvin Dupree at tight end and Devontaye Drayton at wideout. Drayton has had some problems with drops this year but he was solid in the quarterfinals against ECI, hauling in one score and securing a two-point conversion. Wilkinson County has now advanced to the semifinals for the second time in three seasons.
Savannah Christian @ Wesleyan
The Wesleyan Wolves won the Class A state title in 2008 and now sit on the verge of another championship game appearance. Several players have contributed to the team’s remarkable 2010 run but senior Kyle Karempelis has been churning up mileage like no other during the playoffs. Karempelis rushed for 298 yards in a quarterfinal win over Wilcox and had three touchdowns to spark the victory. He has over 5000 rushing yards for his career and 92 career scores, better than Herschel and Darius Walker. Andrew Frerking also provides senior leadership from the quarterback position and Georgia-bound offensive lineman David Andrews calls the shots down in the trenches.
Savannah Christian meanwhile is just one win away from returning to the Georgia Dome one season after coming up one win short of a title. The Raiders will surely have the 2009 season on its mind when the school lost 30-21 in the finals. The 2010 edition features a balanced offense with quarterback Harrison Curry capable of placing the ball anywhere on the field. The running game is strong as well as Will Austin can notch rushing yards as well as receiving yards (he ran for a 44-yard score and hauled in a touchdown reception against Lincoln County in the quarters) to complement Nardo Govan and fullback Andrew Moore. The defense is also stout, allowing just one second-half first down while snagging two fourth quarter interceptions to ice the quarterfinals victory.
Clinch County @ Wilkinson County
To say the sum is greater than the parts would not be insulting to the Cougars of Clinch County because the sum adds up to the top ranked squad in Class A. Clinch County improved to 13-0 and earned a spot in the semifinals with a 34-27 comeback win over ELCA last week thanks to two fourth quarter touchdowns from Anthony McNeil. Last season, McNeil was the Cougars leading rusher and he has teamed with Tray Dorsey to form a potent one-two punch out of the offensive backfield. The defense of Clinch County also has shut down several potent offenses all season long and will look to do so against Wilkinson County as well. Clinch County has some big wins on the year, having knocked off Wilcox and Charlton entering the playoffs.
The Warriors will need a standout performance from sophomore quarterback David Whipple, who threw a 28-yard touchdown pass and ran for a go-ahead 40-yard scoring scamper in Wilkinson’s 20-7 win over ECI. Before the season is over, Whipple likely will post 2000 yards passing and 30 scores through the air. He’ll have the support of Tevin Underwood at tailback, Alvin Dupree at tight end and Devontaye Drayton at wideout. Drayton has had some problems with drops this year but he was solid in the quarterfinals against ECI, hauling in one score and securing a two-point conversion. Wilkinson County has now advanced to the semifinals for the second time in three seasons.
Savannah Christian @ Wesleyan
The Wesleyan Wolves won the Class A state title in 2008 and now sit on the verge of another championship game appearance. Several players have contributed to the team’s remarkable 2010 run but senior Kyle Karempelis has been churning up mileage like no other during the playoffs. Karempelis rushed for 298 yards in a quarterfinal win over Wilcox and had three touchdowns to spark the victory. He has over 5000 rushing yards for his career and 92 career scores, better than Herschel and Darius Walker. Andrew Frerking also provides senior leadership from the quarterback position and Georgia-bound offensive lineman David Andrews calls the shots down in the trenches.
Savannah Christian meanwhile is just one win away from returning to the Georgia Dome one season after coming up one win short of a title. The Raiders will surely have the 2009 season on its mind when the school lost 30-21 in the finals. The 2010 edition features a balanced offense with quarterback Harrison Curry capable of placing the ball anywhere on the field. The running game is strong as well as Will Austin can notch rushing yards as well as receiving yards (he ran for a 44-yard score and hauled in a touchdown reception against Lincoln County in the quarters) to complement Nardo Govan and fullback Andrew Moore. The defense is also stout, allowing just one second-half first down while snagging two fourth quarter interceptions to ice the quarterfinals victory.
No matter how many times....it never gets old
Be certain to stop by http://chuckoliver.net to check out more Georgia coverage!
Perhaps Georgia's victory over Georgia Tech shouldn't be read into as much as I am going to do. Perhaps I should dwell on the fact that Georgia's defense couldn't seem to stop Tech in the first 54 minutes unless it forced a turnover (Something that Bob Davie forgot to mention when he said Georgia couldn't stop Tech). Perhaps I should fret over the two turnovers in the redzone by the Dawgs as well as the turnover on downs that the Dawgs gave away towards the end of the game when Murray mishandled the snap. Perhaps I should, but I am not going to do that.
Nope.
Instead I want to focus on the fact that Aaron Murray looked incredibly sharp throughout the first half and the offense couldn't be stopped by Tech, unless it stopped itself like it did with the Caleb King fumble. And the defense forced a turnover on downs itself to open the game as well as a fumble in the redzone itself. If Georgia doesn't fumble the opening kick or doesn't commit the turnovers on the Tech side of the field, this game doesn't come down to a missed extra point followed by an "allowed" score.
I choose to focus on the fact that, despite the 5-6 record entering the game, Georgia was far and away the better team on the field. Tech couldn't hold a candle talent-wise, and needed a gimmick offense to even stay close to Georgia. The time of possession favored Tech, only because the Yellow Jacket ran the ball 24 straight times at one point, while Georgia simply sliced down the field on maybe three passes per drive. Georgia could have held onto the ball longer but why when you just go down and score? Washaun Ealey appeared more than ready for a stint as workhorse tailback with another huge night, including a score.
And in the end, the 3-4 defense made enough adjustments to finish off the Jackets, capped off with a Justin Houston interception. The Todd Grantham defense deserves credit for wrapping up a wounded Tech defense and snuffing out any hopes of a game-winning drive.
Now with a bowl game on the horizon and more importantly a new month of practice, the future of the program looks bright. Head coach Mark Richt has the new AD's confidence and it looks as though Richt will turn down offers from Miami and Colorado to stay with Georgia. The recruiting weekend for Georgia had to have gone well with over 100 potential student-athletes in Sanford Stadium taking in the game. Richt, now bowl-eligible, should be able to pitch a few of those high-profile uncommitted players on Athens and 2011 could really be special with Murray and a hard-charging Ealey. The right recruit here and there, plus a not-so-tough schedule (after Boise State, which doesn't look as daunting now), could mean a great season next year, or at least one successful enough to keep Richt off of the hotseat.
Perhaps Georgia's victory over Georgia Tech shouldn't be read into as much as I am going to do. Perhaps I should dwell on the fact that Georgia's defense couldn't seem to stop Tech in the first 54 minutes unless it forced a turnover (Something that Bob Davie forgot to mention when he said Georgia couldn't stop Tech). Perhaps I should fret over the two turnovers in the redzone by the Dawgs as well as the turnover on downs that the Dawgs gave away towards the end of the game when Murray mishandled the snap. Perhaps I should, but I am not going to do that.
Nope.
Instead I want to focus on the fact that Aaron Murray looked incredibly sharp throughout the first half and the offense couldn't be stopped by Tech, unless it stopped itself like it did with the Caleb King fumble. And the defense forced a turnover on downs itself to open the game as well as a fumble in the redzone itself. If Georgia doesn't fumble the opening kick or doesn't commit the turnovers on the Tech side of the field, this game doesn't come down to a missed extra point followed by an "allowed" score.
I choose to focus on the fact that, despite the 5-6 record entering the game, Georgia was far and away the better team on the field. Tech couldn't hold a candle talent-wise, and needed a gimmick offense to even stay close to Georgia. The time of possession favored Tech, only because the Yellow Jacket ran the ball 24 straight times at one point, while Georgia simply sliced down the field on maybe three passes per drive. Georgia could have held onto the ball longer but why when you just go down and score? Washaun Ealey appeared more than ready for a stint as workhorse tailback with another huge night, including a score.
And in the end, the 3-4 defense made enough adjustments to finish off the Jackets, capped off with a Justin Houston interception. The Todd Grantham defense deserves credit for wrapping up a wounded Tech defense and snuffing out any hopes of a game-winning drive.
Now with a bowl game on the horizon and more importantly a new month of practice, the future of the program looks bright. Head coach Mark Richt has the new AD's confidence and it looks as though Richt will turn down offers from Miami and Colorado to stay with Georgia. The recruiting weekend for Georgia had to have gone well with over 100 potential student-athletes in Sanford Stadium taking in the game. Richt, now bowl-eligible, should be able to pitch a few of those high-profile uncommitted players on Athens and 2011 could really be special with Murray and a hard-charging Ealey. The right recruit here and there, plus a not-so-tough schedule (after Boise State, which doesn't look as daunting now), could mean a great season next year, or at least one successful enough to keep Richt off of the hotseat.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Paul Mac says these Falcons are BETTER than '98
In response to a recent discussion on the Atlanta sports radio airwaves, comparing the 2010 Falcons to the 1998 Dirty Birds, the driver of the SBF Falcons Bandwagon Paul Mac weighs in....
The 1998 14-2 Falcons drew comparisons? I don’t see the comparison.
I’m not even sure other than record how to draw a comparison.
I think this team is better long term than that team ever could hope to be. The coolest thing about this team is that they compare more favorably to the Steelers than to old Falcons teams. They punish people on defense, you can’t run on them, and they have suspect secondary play at times. (obviously the falcons don’t have as many playmakers)
but… the Falcons have enough to get it done on offense. Roddy White has been ridiculous. Matt Ryan is as cool as it gets. This team doesn’t care about things that don’t matter, they only care about winning and doing things that lead to wins. I don’t know how to compare this team to any Falcons team past because they simply don’t compare.
The 1998 14-2 Falcons drew comparisons? I don’t see the comparison.
I’m not even sure other than record how to draw a comparison.
I think this team is better long term than that team ever could hope to be. The coolest thing about this team is that they compare more favorably to the Steelers than to old Falcons teams. They punish people on defense, you can’t run on them, and they have suspect secondary play at times. (obviously the falcons don’t have as many playmakers)
but… the Falcons have enough to get it done on offense. Roddy White has been ridiculous. Matt Ryan is as cool as it gets. This team doesn’t care about things that don’t matter, they only care about winning and doing things that lead to wins. I don’t know how to compare this team to any Falcons team past because they simply don’t compare.
Big B's top recruiting classes to date
Big B, Brian Jones provided another top ten list which will debut tonight on Score Atlanta's The Official Visit on 790 The Zone 7-9pm. (New time!) Here is his top ten recruiting classes as of Sunday, November 28, 2010. Scott Janovitz and I will break it down tonight! Tune in!
10) Nebraska: The Huskers have an impressive 17 commitments and tremendous quality with 11 four-star guys. Two great QBs in Bubba Starling – baseball – and Jamal Turner. Also, recently stole back Aaron Green out of Texas and has three top OLinemen in Tyler Moore, Ryne Reeves and Zach Sterup (Janovitz weighs in with the comments)
9) UNC: A bigger class than Nebraska’s with 20 already on board, but not quite the quality. Will it stay together? The class is led by QB Marquise Williams, DE/LB Norkeithus Otis, offensive linemen Jarrod James and Landon Turner, and North Carolina athlete T.J. Thorpe;
8) Stanford: 21 guys, but again probably not the quality Nebraska has. Defensive end Charlie Hopkins is a stud, Ty Montgomery is a top wideout from Texas, James Vaughters and Anthony Sarao are top linebackers, and Stanford has three top running backs in Kelsey Young, Remound Wright and Amir Carlisle;
7) LSU: 17 guys with great talent at the top, but lacks balance with I think more stretches than usual. Still, loaded with stars in OLinemen Corey White, Trai Turner, and La’El Collins, top backs in Jeremy Hill and Kenny Hilliard, DT Anthony Johnson and WR Jarvis Landry;
6) Ohio St.: 18 guys in the bag. I really like its defensive line haul, with ends Chase Farris, Kenny Hayes, and Steve Miller, and then throw in possibly the best DT in the land in Michael Bennett and I think Joel Hale is underrated. Of course, we have to mention OG Brian Bobek and QB Braxton Miller;
5) Florida: 18 guys and another top-quality class. Stars everywhere, but Jeff Driskel and Mike Blakely are the two best. Great class in the secondary with Louchiez Purifoy, Nick Waisome, Valdez Showers, Chris Johnson and Pop Saunders, and offensive pass catchers in A.C. Leonard, Ja’Juan Story and Javares McCroy. Will Jeoffrey Pagan stick?;
4) Oklahoma: 17 guys and great quality. Another great defensive line haul with DTs Jordan Phillips, Jordan Wade and Marquis Anderson, and DE Nathan Hughes. Still the class is led by two offensive stars with five-star running back Brandon Williams and five-star receiver Trey Metoyer;
3) FSU: 19 guys, I haven’t quite as high on this class as others because of Wilder, but I love WR Rashad Greene, and Giorgio Newberry is a top DE, and they recently added Jordan Prestwood from ND and a big-time defensive end in Aaron Lynch. Karlos Williams is also a top-ten prospect. I have them behind Ohio State, though;
2) Alabama: The class is big with 19, and very high quality and deep. Two five-star guys in Brent Calloway and Hasean Clinton-Dix, Shannon Brown is a beast, I love Danny Woodson and Marvin Shinn and Phillip Ely could be a very productive college player;
1) Texas: It’s hard not to have the Longhorns ranked No. 1. 23 guys of high quality, though I still think they sell themselves short. Malcolm Brown is a beast, great LBs in Steve Edmond, Chet Moss, and Kendall Thompson, and a tremendous OL group with Sedrick Flowers, Garrett Greenlea, and Christian Westerman.
I dropped Georgia out and move FSU up. I also added Nebraska and UNC to the list.
10) Nebraska: The Huskers have an impressive 17 commitments and tremendous quality with 11 four-star guys. Two great QBs in Bubba Starling – baseball – and Jamal Turner. Also, recently stole back Aaron Green out of Texas and has three top OLinemen in Tyler Moore, Ryne Reeves and Zach Sterup (Janovitz weighs in with the comments)
9) UNC: A bigger class than Nebraska’s with 20 already on board, but not quite the quality. Will it stay together? The class is led by QB Marquise Williams, DE/LB Norkeithus Otis, offensive linemen Jarrod James and Landon Turner, and North Carolina athlete T.J. Thorpe;
8) Stanford: 21 guys, but again probably not the quality Nebraska has. Defensive end Charlie Hopkins is a stud, Ty Montgomery is a top wideout from Texas, James Vaughters and Anthony Sarao are top linebackers, and Stanford has three top running backs in Kelsey Young, Remound Wright and Amir Carlisle;
7) LSU: 17 guys with great talent at the top, but lacks balance with I think more stretches than usual. Still, loaded with stars in OLinemen Corey White, Trai Turner, and La’El Collins, top backs in Jeremy Hill and Kenny Hilliard, DT Anthony Johnson and WR Jarvis Landry;
6) Ohio St.: 18 guys in the bag. I really like its defensive line haul, with ends Chase Farris, Kenny Hayes, and Steve Miller, and then throw in possibly the best DT in the land in Michael Bennett and I think Joel Hale is underrated. Of course, we have to mention OG Brian Bobek and QB Braxton Miller;
5) Florida: 18 guys and another top-quality class. Stars everywhere, but Jeff Driskel and Mike Blakely are the two best. Great class in the secondary with Louchiez Purifoy, Nick Waisome, Valdez Showers, Chris Johnson and Pop Saunders, and offensive pass catchers in A.C. Leonard, Ja’Juan Story and Javares McCroy. Will Jeoffrey Pagan stick?;
4) Oklahoma: 17 guys and great quality. Another great defensive line haul with DTs Jordan Phillips, Jordan Wade and Marquis Anderson, and DE Nathan Hughes. Still the class is led by two offensive stars with five-star running back Brandon Williams and five-star receiver Trey Metoyer;
3) FSU: 19 guys, I haven’t quite as high on this class as others because of Wilder, but I love WR Rashad Greene, and Giorgio Newberry is a top DE, and they recently added Jordan Prestwood from ND and a big-time defensive end in Aaron Lynch. Karlos Williams is also a top-ten prospect. I have them behind Ohio State, though;
2) Alabama: The class is big with 19, and very high quality and deep. Two five-star guys in Brent Calloway and Hasean Clinton-Dix, Shannon Brown is a beast, I love Danny Woodson and Marvin Shinn and Phillip Ely could be a very productive college player;
1) Texas: It’s hard not to have the Longhorns ranked No. 1. 23 guys of high quality, though I still think they sell themselves short. Malcolm Brown is a beast, great LBs in Steve Edmond, Chet Moss, and Kendall Thompson, and a tremendous OL group with Sedrick Flowers, Garrett Greenlea, and Christian Westerman.
I dropped Georgia out and move FSU up. I also added Nebraska and UNC to the list.
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