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.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
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.
Two more wins would put Rush Propst at the top of the heap
Rush Propst came to Colquitt High School before the 2008 season with a resume that included five Alabama state titles as well as a stint on reality television on MTV’s Two-a-Days. After an improved first season from the year before, Propst led his team to road victory after road victory, all the way to the 2009 semi-finals before falling to eventual champion Camden County.
One year later, Propst and his Colquitt County Packers are once again in the semi-finals, but this year, the Packers may make it all the way to the Georgia Dome for the state title game. Propst’s squad will travel up to Gwinnett County to face Grayson, but Propst told the Moultrie Observer recently that he is “OK” with going on the road after the Rams won the coin toss for home field rights.
Propst should be fine with a road game as his team has gone on the road over the last two seasons with great success. In the 2009 playoffs his unit went to DeKalb County and walked out with a win over Stephenson one week after knocking out Westlake at Westlake. Then he ended Hutson Mason’s prep career at Lassiter with a win over the Trojans in Cobb County last year.
This year has been similar. Colquitt County first traveled to Jenkins and hung a 50-spot on the scoreboard. The next week, the Packers nearly went for 50 in a win over ML King at Hallford Stadium before coming home to polish off Mill Creek.
Now Propst will take his show on the road again and with a record-setting quarterback in Tyler Brown and a fine tailback in Tevin King, Colquitt could be ready to pull another road “upset” against a Grayson squad that will be a state title contender next year. A win this week and then another victory next week in the Georgia Dome would put Propst on a pedestal of elite Georgia high school coaches. Several coaches have pulled the double-dip of an out-of-state title, coupled with a Georgia title, but not many have pulled off the feat in the largest classification. Propst claimed five Class 6A titles in Alabama and now could add a Georgia AAAAA. That would be impressive and you’d have to immediately call him, considering the region he plays in and how quickly he’s restored the program, the best coach currently in the state.
Two games remain but if Propst can pull off the feat with a roster that isn’t one of the most impressive in the state or of his career, then he should be recognized as the best around.
One year later, Propst and his Colquitt County Packers are once again in the semi-finals, but this year, the Packers may make it all the way to the Georgia Dome for the state title game. Propst’s squad will travel up to Gwinnett County to face Grayson, but Propst told the Moultrie Observer recently that he is “OK” with going on the road after the Rams won the coin toss for home field rights.
Propst should be fine with a road game as his team has gone on the road over the last two seasons with great success. In the 2009 playoffs his unit went to DeKalb County and walked out with a win over Stephenson one week after knocking out Westlake at Westlake. Then he ended Hutson Mason’s prep career at Lassiter with a win over the Trojans in Cobb County last year.
This year has been similar. Colquitt County first traveled to Jenkins and hung a 50-spot on the scoreboard. The next week, the Packers nearly went for 50 in a win over ML King at Hallford Stadium before coming home to polish off Mill Creek.
Now Propst will take his show on the road again and with a record-setting quarterback in Tyler Brown and a fine tailback in Tevin King, Colquitt could be ready to pull another road “upset” against a Grayson squad that will be a state title contender next year. A win this week and then another victory next week in the Georgia Dome would put Propst on a pedestal of elite Georgia high school coaches. Several coaches have pulled the double-dip of an out-of-state title, coupled with a Georgia title, but not many have pulled off the feat in the largest classification. Propst claimed five Class 6A titles in Alabama and now could add a Georgia AAAAA. That would be impressive and you’d have to immediately call him, considering the region he plays in and how quickly he’s restored the program, the best coach currently in the state.
Two games remain but if Propst can pull off the feat with a roster that isn’t one of the most impressive in the state or of his career, then he should be recognized as the best around.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Stuff I'm thankful for 2010
It is a little late on Thanksgiving night, but I thought I'd put out there what I am thankful for (some of at least) in 2010
My wife. Seriously what did I do to deserve her? I thank goodness everyday she hasn't come to her senses.
My family. They are dysfunctionally perfect. And my close friends are really more like family now.
My dogs. They are needy and one is a crapsack, but they are my doggies.
My Alma Mater. I LOVE my school (The University of Georgia). Seriously the best four years of my life. I made my friends for life there, met my wife, found my profession and became a man (get your mind out of the gutter...)
My house. Hey, I'm glad I'm not homeless.
Now, on to the less serious things.
Aaron Murray. I have stopped fretting over the Tom Savage decision and now just hope that Zach Mettenberger doesn't come back to bite us in the butt, but I have been a HUGE fan of Murray this year. He is ALREADY special. He's gonna be a good one, maybe even Richt's first Heisman winner at Georgia.
Mark Fox. Actually just glad Felton is gone. he took what Felton HAD and made it a dangerous squad. They are going to the Big Dance THIS YEAR and won't need a fluke four wins in four days to do it.
The off-week last week for Georgia football so I could spend a day watching everyone else without having to worry about the Dawgs result.
Snowy Saturdays in January. Haven't had one in a while, but I'm looking forward to it, MAYBE.
High School football in Georgia on Friday Nights. Ahhhh, the future of football right in front of me
High school basketball in Georgia starting soon. Not as much talent in each game like in GHSFB, but still some REAL players.
Pecan Pie. That crap is GOOD.
Mashed potato bar. Bacon, gravy, cheese, sour cream. Are you KIDDING ME?
Smoothie King. Chocolate peanutbutter blast. Heaven
Lee Corso making Kirk laugh EVERY Saturday morning.
Jeff Probst making smartass comments during Survivor challenges. THESE PEOPLE HAVEN'T EATEN JEFF!
When a football coach says something real. Steve Spurrier, thanks.
That Geico commercial with the last little pig.
When they show the record of Non-BCS conference schools in the BCS bowls and the one loss (before last year) was Georgia smacking Hawaii around.
My Pam Ward and Lou Holtz impressions
I am sure there is other stuff too, but that is a quick peak at what I'm thankful for this year
My wife. Seriously what did I do to deserve her? I thank goodness everyday she hasn't come to her senses.
My family. They are dysfunctionally perfect. And my close friends are really more like family now.
My dogs. They are needy and one is a crapsack, but they are my doggies.
My Alma Mater. I LOVE my school (The University of Georgia). Seriously the best four years of my life. I made my friends for life there, met my wife, found my profession and became a man (get your mind out of the gutter...)
My house. Hey, I'm glad I'm not homeless.
Now, on to the less serious things.
Aaron Murray. I have stopped fretting over the Tom Savage decision and now just hope that Zach Mettenberger doesn't come back to bite us in the butt, but I have been a HUGE fan of Murray this year. He is ALREADY special. He's gonna be a good one, maybe even Richt's first Heisman winner at Georgia.
Mark Fox. Actually just glad Felton is gone. he took what Felton HAD and made it a dangerous squad. They are going to the Big Dance THIS YEAR and won't need a fluke four wins in four days to do it.
The off-week last week for Georgia football so I could spend a day watching everyone else without having to worry about the Dawgs result.
Snowy Saturdays in January. Haven't had one in a while, but I'm looking forward to it, MAYBE.
High School football in Georgia on Friday Nights. Ahhhh, the future of football right in front of me
High school basketball in Georgia starting soon. Not as much talent in each game like in GHSFB, but still some REAL players.
Pecan Pie. That crap is GOOD.
Mashed potato bar. Bacon, gravy, cheese, sour cream. Are you KIDDING ME?
Smoothie King. Chocolate peanutbutter blast. Heaven
Lee Corso making Kirk laugh EVERY Saturday morning.
Jeff Probst making smartass comments during Survivor challenges. THESE PEOPLE HAVEN'T EATEN JEFF!
When a football coach says something real. Steve Spurrier, thanks.
That Geico commercial with the last little pig.
When they show the record of Non-BCS conference schools in the BCS bowls and the one loss (before last year) was Georgia smacking Hawaii around.
My Pam Ward and Lou Holtz impressions
I am sure there is other stuff too, but that is a quick peak at what I'm thankful for this year
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Ray Drew joined the official visit
Expectations can be a tricky thing. Before his senior season began, Thomas County Central (GA) defensive end Ray Drew was considered to be not only the best defensive player in the state of Georgia, but The Sporting News had him pegged as one of the best players in the entire country. The crazy thing about expectations is that typically the high variety is extremely hard to live up to. Drew got off to a slow start, which last night in an interview with Score Atlanta’s The Official Visit, he attributed to the opposition’s game plan geared towards exploiting Drew’s younger teammates. “At the beginning of the season, I got off to a slow start as I had established myself as a dominant defensive end. The other team ran away to the other side (of the line).” Drew did feel that as his team matured, his numbers improved and he improved as a player. Unfortunately for Drew, his season ended in the first round of the playoffs as the TCC Yellow Jackets were bounced by Dutchtown 15-0.
Now that Drew’s high school football career is over, he can focus on football, sort of. Drew is not planning on attending the Georgia/Georgia Tech game this weekend in Athens because of a high school basketball game, but he insists Georgia fans shouldn’t be worried. “Hopefully I’ll make it up sometime (to Athens), maybe after the season.” The Bulldogs have several things working in their favor as far as Drew’s recruitment goes and most of it starts with Faith. Drew, a minister himself, noted that he is impressed with head coach Mark Richt’s religious beliefs and Drew has also built relationships with several other Georgia pledges including Christian LeMay and North Paulding’s Christian Conley, both very religious according to Drew. Athens is also “not too far away from home,” in case Drew needed to get back to Thomas County for some reason, he noted.
Georgia’s struggles this season also don’t have much of an impact on Drew’s recruitment, the defensive end prospect admitted, echoing a sentiment that most recruits are acknowledging this year. “You can never really go by a team’s record year to year,” said Drew of the Bulldogs’ 5-6 record entering its final regular season game.
As much as Drew likes the proximity of Athens though, travel won’t be an issue in his ultimate decision. “I don’t mind traveling, personally,” Drew revealed in the interview. “I want to be at a place where they will support me.” He also noted that a strong education will factor into his decision.
The recruiting world should have known that travel isn’t an issue with Drew based on his official visits to date as well as the two others he has planned. Drew has already been to Auburn and LSU and is planning a trip December 4 to UCLA to see the Bruins face the USC Trojans. The defensive end has also been speaking with Clemson coaches about a visit in January. He admitted he isn’t sure who might get the last one, perhaps Georgia or Florida but not Alabama, who didn’t make his list of six that he provided at the end of his interview. Drew admitted that he probably will commit on National Signing Day because he wants to be a late commitment, so he will likely take all five official visits plus a few unofficial visits.
The SEC West schools that have already received visits are certainly in the running, according to Drew. Auburn’s potential probation problems don’t concern Drew, he said but LSU might just be the leader, though he refused to give one last night. “If I could give one reason only why I would go to LSU it would be (defensive line coach) Brick Haley,” Drew said before moving on to glow that LSU’s Tiger Stadium is “the loudest I’ve ever been to.” LSU also offers an opportunity that other schools are not in that Drew was able to “hang” with Drake Nevis, who according to Drew, wants to pass the torch as team chaplain on to Drew.
Don’t discount the Florida Gators either though as Drew came off impressed after meeting with coach Urban Meyer and tailback and Georgia-native Mack Brown. “Gainesville is a great town.” He said he liked that Florida has proven themselves with several recent championships and he isn’t concerned with the team’s struggles this season. “You never really overlook a program like Florida. You’ll be developed and get a good education.”
Drew’s recruitment will stretch into February and you can bet his decision will be a well thought-out and prayed-about one. Drew won’t rush to make a call, and in the end you can be certain that Drew will make the right decision about his future. The recruiting experts wouldn’t expect anything less from him.
My prediction: I have that sinking feeling that I had with Milton basketball standout Dai-jon Parker. For the first 70% of the interview, it sounded like his friends at Georgia and the Faith of Mark Richt would be enough, but after he started talking about LSU and the chance to be a chaplain, I think he'll be a Bayou Bengal. Should be noted that my co-host Janovitz believes he'll be a Dawg. I hope he's right. I am scared I am right though.
Now that Drew’s high school football career is over, he can focus on football, sort of. Drew is not planning on attending the Georgia/Georgia Tech game this weekend in Athens because of a high school basketball game, but he insists Georgia fans shouldn’t be worried. “Hopefully I’ll make it up sometime (to Athens), maybe after the season.” The Bulldogs have several things working in their favor as far as Drew’s recruitment goes and most of it starts with Faith. Drew, a minister himself, noted that he is impressed with head coach Mark Richt’s religious beliefs and Drew has also built relationships with several other Georgia pledges including Christian LeMay and North Paulding’s Christian Conley, both very religious according to Drew. Athens is also “not too far away from home,” in case Drew needed to get back to Thomas County for some reason, he noted.
Georgia’s struggles this season also don’t have much of an impact on Drew’s recruitment, the defensive end prospect admitted, echoing a sentiment that most recruits are acknowledging this year. “You can never really go by a team’s record year to year,” said Drew of the Bulldogs’ 5-6 record entering its final regular season game.
As much as Drew likes the proximity of Athens though, travel won’t be an issue in his ultimate decision. “I don’t mind traveling, personally,” Drew revealed in the interview. “I want to be at a place where they will support me.” He also noted that a strong education will factor into his decision.
The recruiting world should have known that travel isn’t an issue with Drew based on his official visits to date as well as the two others he has planned. Drew has already been to Auburn and LSU and is planning a trip December 4 to UCLA to see the Bruins face the USC Trojans. The defensive end has also been speaking with Clemson coaches about a visit in January. He admitted he isn’t sure who might get the last one, perhaps Georgia or Florida but not Alabama, who didn’t make his list of six that he provided at the end of his interview. Drew admitted that he probably will commit on National Signing Day because he wants to be a late commitment, so he will likely take all five official visits plus a few unofficial visits.
The SEC West schools that have already received visits are certainly in the running, according to Drew. Auburn’s potential probation problems don’t concern Drew, he said but LSU might just be the leader, though he refused to give one last night. “If I could give one reason only why I would go to LSU it would be (defensive line coach) Brick Haley,” Drew said before moving on to glow that LSU’s Tiger Stadium is “the loudest I’ve ever been to.” LSU also offers an opportunity that other schools are not in that Drew was able to “hang” with Drake Nevis, who according to Drew, wants to pass the torch as team chaplain on to Drew.
Don’t discount the Florida Gators either though as Drew came off impressed after meeting with coach Urban Meyer and tailback and Georgia-native Mack Brown. “Gainesville is a great town.” He said he liked that Florida has proven themselves with several recent championships and he isn’t concerned with the team’s struggles this season. “You never really overlook a program like Florida. You’ll be developed and get a good education.”
Drew’s recruitment will stretch into February and you can bet his decision will be a well thought-out and prayed-about one. Drew won’t rush to make a call, and in the end you can be certain that Drew will make the right decision about his future. The recruiting experts wouldn’t expect anything less from him.
My prediction: I have that sinking feeling that I had with Milton basketball standout Dai-jon Parker. For the first 70% of the interview, it sounded like his friends at Georgia and the Faith of Mark Richt would be enough, but after he started talking about LSU and the chance to be a chaplain, I think he'll be a Bayou Bengal. Should be noted that my co-host Janovitz believes he'll be a Dawg. I hope he's right. I am scared I am right though.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Big B's list of top GHSFB seniors left in playoffs
Brian Jones of Score Atlanta fame is PLEASED to present his list of the top ten seniors left in the GHSA football playoffs. The list will debut tonight on Score Atlanta's The Official Visit, on Sports Radio 790 The Zone. Tune in from 7:30-10 or log on to www.790thezone.com to listen in.
10. Chris Sanders – ATH, Tucker
9. Jabari Hunt-Days – LB, Hillgrove
8. Malcolm Mitchell – WR, Valdosta
7. Gabe Wright – DL, Carver
6. Nick Marshall – ATH, Wilcox County
5. Damian Swann – WR, Grady
4. Brian Randloph – RB, S, Kell
3. James Vaughters – LB, Tucker
2. Jay Rome – TE, Valdosta
1. Isaiah Crowell – RB, Carver
10. Chris Sanders – ATH, Tucker
9. Jabari Hunt-Days – LB, Hillgrove
8. Malcolm Mitchell – WR, Valdosta
7. Gabe Wright – DL, Carver
6. Nick Marshall – ATH, Wilcox County
5. Damian Swann – WR, Grady
4. Brian Randloph – RB, S, Kell
3. James Vaughters – LB, Tucker
2. Jay Rome – TE, Valdosta
1. Isaiah Crowell – RB, Carver
Give a Hoot About the Holidays!
Note: This appears in the latest issue of Hooters Magazine. You're welcome. I just saved you from having to look at Hooters waitresses trying to do soft-core.
As 2010 winds down, we’ve seen Spring sprung itself out; Summer burn itself out; and now Autumn draw to a close as winter and 2011 approaches. However, before 2010 kicks the bucket, the Holidays will send out the year with a bang. As personal trainers cringe, Thanksgiving is nearly upon us with Hanukkah and Christmas following right behind. This is the best time of the year and with all due respect to Spring (allergies anyone?) and Summer (sunburns freaking HURT), the four weeks from Thanksgiving through Christmas and Boxing Day is simply tremendous. You should GIVE A HOOT about the Holiday Season and let me tell you why!
The four-day Thanksgiving weekend is clearly the best four-day stretch of the year. Not only do you get to miss work for FOUR days instead of the traditional Labor and Memorial Day “three,” but the entire Thanksgiving atmosphere is awesome. Think about it: you wake up late on a Thursday morning to head down stairs and turn on the TV when it hits you. BAM! FOOTBALL IS ON ALL DAY. You start watching the Lions or Cowboys play and you’re thinking, “How can this get any better?” Ummm, simple. YOU SMELL TURKEY!
You make a bee-line to the kitchen and there are the women of the manor standing around pretending to cook, but come on, you know that it isn’t hard to stuff a turkey in the oven and it is WAY too early to start mashing the potatoes. Don’t feel like you should help; there isn’t anything to help with just yet. So snag a bite of the honey-baked ham on the counter and head back to watch football. Feel like having a beer? DO IT! YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW!
Perhaps the best part of Thanksgiving is the adjustable interaction with family. If your brother is over and you actually like him, you can drink beer, tell jokes, fart and laugh while the food is being prepared. And if you don’t like the relatives that have come to mooch off of you, simply turn your attention to the football on TV and take a while to respond to questions your wife’s crazy uncle asked you. After a while he’ll catch on that you are enthralled in the Vikings/Lions game that is 41-7.
Now that dinner is ready, are you prepared to eat your weight in cranberry sauce and green beans, all drowned in gravy? Are you ready to consume massive amounts of turkey and ham? Are you prepared to give Jillian Michaels the shivers by eating the mashed potatoes from the bowl and slurping from the gravy-boat? Just blame the pilgrims. They made us do it! They started this whole thing in 1621 up in Plymouth, Massachusetts. And thank goodness they did.
After dinner is the only “bad” part of the weekend, but it isn’t that bad anymore. While the women, who conceivably “made dinner” retire to the living room, the men are left to cleanup. But honestly, who DOESN’T have a TV in the kitchen these days? Just flip on the college football game of the night and maybe even get into a sink fight or two before passing out in front of a fire.
The fun doesn’t stop with you passing out Thursday night at 8pm. Oh no! On the day after Thanksgiving leftovers rule! Ever hear of fresh turkey sandwiches? Oh, and you get more football. And more football that Saturday as well, as college football rivalries kick in. And that Sunday, you guessed it, more football. Thanksgiving is all about food, football and family and deserves anything but an F if you were grading the weekend. Like I said, the best four-day stretch of the year, and with adjustable family-time, how can you go wrong?
Next up in that four-week Holiday season is Hanukkah or “the Festival of Lights.” In case the only thing you know about Hanukkah comes from Adam Sandler’s music or his horrid cartoon-movie Eight Crazy Nights, let me enlighten you: Hanukkah is a Jewish Holiday that commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and its “miracle of the container of oil.” According to legend, the temple had just enough oil to keep the eternal flame burning for one night, but the flame burned on for eight days and nights, enough time for more oil to be made. The holiday is celebrated with children receiving presents on eight nights and the menorah being lit each night to honor tradition. Families join together to pray, sing and eat delicious foods. Children of course can play with the Dreidel, as made popular by the song. Overall Hanukkah is a very religious holiday that has seemingly not been commercialized like Christmas, whose meaning has nearly been completely forgotten.
The comedian Sandler gained popularity with his Hanukkah Songs listing famous Jewish actors and athletes. However Hanukkah was given another boost, as silly as it sounds when the Fox television show The OC combined it with Christmas to form the Super-Holiday Chrismukkah. As described by the show’s Seth Cohen, Chrismukkah is “eight nights of presents followed by one big day of presents.”
People love presents despite the fact that the gifts aren’t really the point of the Christmas holiday. In fact most folks think of the fat man in the red suit whenever Christmas is mentioned. And of course, I am talking about Santa Claus and not your uncle Phil who decided to wear a God-awful Christmas sweater with the bells on it for Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas sweaters have been around since before cockroaches and they are getting new life with the youth of today wearing them simply to mock Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation. The best part about Christmas sweaters though has to be when you are in a mall and you walk by “Santa’s Workshop” to see the family of seven getting a picture taken with Santa and everyone is donning the same sweater. Typically the parents are thrilled while the kids under five are on the verge of wetting themselves as they are thisclose to Santa. The tweens and teens though, if they DO make eye contact with you, are clearly plotting your demise for your having witnessed them in this embarrassing predicament. Ah memories. Don’t they know that one day they’ll look back at that photo…and drink?
Christmas is also about more than just stupid sweaters though. Families get together, perhaps for the only time of the year and share hugs and presents and stories. Some families will remember the “reason for the season,” while others will just be glad to be together, which is REALLY what Christmas is about for me. Sharing love with family is my idea of Christmas and I’m like a lot of people when I look forward to being together, then I look forward to leaving and getting away from the crazy cousins.
Those four weeks are truly a blast of time spent with family, friends, and food. You will absolutely gain eight pounds if you do it correctly and none of those pants your grandmother gave you will fit, but that is what New Years resolutions are for. Enjoy the holidays and just make certain that the non-stop Christmas music doesn’t drive you insane. The holidays are truly the most wonderful time of the year and you should give a hoot about them!
As 2010 winds down, we’ve seen Spring sprung itself out; Summer burn itself out; and now Autumn draw to a close as winter and 2011 approaches. However, before 2010 kicks the bucket, the Holidays will send out the year with a bang. As personal trainers cringe, Thanksgiving is nearly upon us with Hanukkah and Christmas following right behind. This is the best time of the year and with all due respect to Spring (allergies anyone?) and Summer (sunburns freaking HURT), the four weeks from Thanksgiving through Christmas and Boxing Day is simply tremendous. You should GIVE A HOOT about the Holiday Season and let me tell you why!
The four-day Thanksgiving weekend is clearly the best four-day stretch of the year. Not only do you get to miss work for FOUR days instead of the traditional Labor and Memorial Day “three,” but the entire Thanksgiving atmosphere is awesome. Think about it: you wake up late on a Thursday morning to head down stairs and turn on the TV when it hits you. BAM! FOOTBALL IS ON ALL DAY. You start watching the Lions or Cowboys play and you’re thinking, “How can this get any better?” Ummm, simple. YOU SMELL TURKEY!
You make a bee-line to the kitchen and there are the women of the manor standing around pretending to cook, but come on, you know that it isn’t hard to stuff a turkey in the oven and it is WAY too early to start mashing the potatoes. Don’t feel like you should help; there isn’t anything to help with just yet. So snag a bite of the honey-baked ham on the counter and head back to watch football. Feel like having a beer? DO IT! YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW!
Perhaps the best part of Thanksgiving is the adjustable interaction with family. If your brother is over and you actually like him, you can drink beer, tell jokes, fart and laugh while the food is being prepared. And if you don’t like the relatives that have come to mooch off of you, simply turn your attention to the football on TV and take a while to respond to questions your wife’s crazy uncle asked you. After a while he’ll catch on that you are enthralled in the Vikings/Lions game that is 41-7.
Now that dinner is ready, are you prepared to eat your weight in cranberry sauce and green beans, all drowned in gravy? Are you ready to consume massive amounts of turkey and ham? Are you prepared to give Jillian Michaels the shivers by eating the mashed potatoes from the bowl and slurping from the gravy-boat? Just blame the pilgrims. They made us do it! They started this whole thing in 1621 up in Plymouth, Massachusetts. And thank goodness they did.
After dinner is the only “bad” part of the weekend, but it isn’t that bad anymore. While the women, who conceivably “made dinner” retire to the living room, the men are left to cleanup. But honestly, who DOESN’T have a TV in the kitchen these days? Just flip on the college football game of the night and maybe even get into a sink fight or two before passing out in front of a fire.
The fun doesn’t stop with you passing out Thursday night at 8pm. Oh no! On the day after Thanksgiving leftovers rule! Ever hear of fresh turkey sandwiches? Oh, and you get more football. And more football that Saturday as well, as college football rivalries kick in. And that Sunday, you guessed it, more football. Thanksgiving is all about food, football and family and deserves anything but an F if you were grading the weekend. Like I said, the best four-day stretch of the year, and with adjustable family-time, how can you go wrong?
Next up in that four-week Holiday season is Hanukkah or “the Festival of Lights.” In case the only thing you know about Hanukkah comes from Adam Sandler’s music or his horrid cartoon-movie Eight Crazy Nights, let me enlighten you: Hanukkah is a Jewish Holiday that commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and its “miracle of the container of oil.” According to legend, the temple had just enough oil to keep the eternal flame burning for one night, but the flame burned on for eight days and nights, enough time for more oil to be made. The holiday is celebrated with children receiving presents on eight nights and the menorah being lit each night to honor tradition. Families join together to pray, sing and eat delicious foods. Children of course can play with the Dreidel, as made popular by the song. Overall Hanukkah is a very religious holiday that has seemingly not been commercialized like Christmas, whose meaning has nearly been completely forgotten.
The comedian Sandler gained popularity with his Hanukkah Songs listing famous Jewish actors and athletes. However Hanukkah was given another boost, as silly as it sounds when the Fox television show The OC combined it with Christmas to form the Super-Holiday Chrismukkah. As described by the show’s Seth Cohen, Chrismukkah is “eight nights of presents followed by one big day of presents.”
People love presents despite the fact that the gifts aren’t really the point of the Christmas holiday. In fact most folks think of the fat man in the red suit whenever Christmas is mentioned. And of course, I am talking about Santa Claus and not your uncle Phil who decided to wear a God-awful Christmas sweater with the bells on it for Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas sweaters have been around since before cockroaches and they are getting new life with the youth of today wearing them simply to mock Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation. The best part about Christmas sweaters though has to be when you are in a mall and you walk by “Santa’s Workshop” to see the family of seven getting a picture taken with Santa and everyone is donning the same sweater. Typically the parents are thrilled while the kids under five are on the verge of wetting themselves as they are thisclose to Santa. The tweens and teens though, if they DO make eye contact with you, are clearly plotting your demise for your having witnessed them in this embarrassing predicament. Ah memories. Don’t they know that one day they’ll look back at that photo…and drink?
Christmas is also about more than just stupid sweaters though. Families get together, perhaps for the only time of the year and share hugs and presents and stories. Some families will remember the “reason for the season,” while others will just be glad to be together, which is REALLY what Christmas is about for me. Sharing love with family is my idea of Christmas and I’m like a lot of people when I look forward to being together, then I look forward to leaving and getting away from the crazy cousins.
Those four weeks are truly a blast of time spent with family, friends, and food. You will absolutely gain eight pounds if you do it correctly and none of those pants your grandmother gave you will fit, but that is what New Years resolutions are for. Enjoy the holidays and just make certain that the non-stop Christmas music doesn’t drive you insane. The holidays are truly the most wonderful time of the year and you should give a hoot about them!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Chattahoochee rallies past Marist in 2nd round
On an evening where Chattahoochee entered a home game 11-0 with perhaps another home game on the horizon next week, the Marist War Eagles came out the aggressor, contrary to the typical Alan Chadwick approach. After stopping the Cougars and forcing a three-and-out, the War Eagles took a page out of the Cougars playbook with a 30-yard touchdown on first and ten from senior quarterback Andy Perez to sophomore tailback Gray King. The rare touchdown pass gave Marist the early 7-0 lead just two minutes and sixteen seconds into the game. Marist showed that they would bring pressure against Score 44 member Timmy Byerly of Chattahoochee and the Cougars QB was uncomfortable early.
Byerly stood in the pocket though on the next drive after an 85-yard punt return for a score was called back, robbing Kane Whitehurst of his fifth return score of the season. The Cougar quarterback connected with Hunter Thomas on an 80-yard pitch-and-catch to knot the score a seven-all. Marist would answer before the end of the first quarter on a sustained drive, capped off with a QB sneak from inside the one yard line on third-and-goal.
In the second quarter, Byerly lived up to his coach’s description of Chattahoochee’s “little Tebow” by plowing in from the one yard line on third-and-goal to tie the game 14-14 after picking up a huge third down conversion earlier in the drive.
Marist would then double up the Cougars going into halftime thanks to Gray King’s second score of the night, this one from four yards out, then with just 19.7 seconds left, Perez connected with Jordan Snellings on a twenty-one yard bomb on third and long to go up 28-14 entering intermission.
After halftime, Chattahoochee played some defense by forcing a punt and blocking a field goal attempt, then Byerly took over, driving the team down the field before plunging into the endzone on a two-yard sneak to bring the Cougars to within seven points entering the fourth quarter.
In the final frame, Chattahoochee attempted a fake on a 35-yard field goal attempt and would throw an interception with 6:36 left, but the Cougars would recover a Marist fumble to set up the game-tying Byerly four-yard touchdown run.
After the Cougar defense stood tall, Ammon Lakip booted through a 51-yard attempt with under one minute to play to put Chattahoochee up 31-28 for the first time all game. An interception by Josh Gregory iced the victory for the Cougars, who will host Dutchtown in the next round.
Despite suffering a shaky opening to the game, the Cougars rallied behind another strong performance from Timmy Byerly, who lived up to the Tebow-light billing his coach gave him on Sports Central XL. He willed his team to a victory and he may just will the Cougars into the Georgia Dome and a title.
Byerly stood in the pocket though on the next drive after an 85-yard punt return for a score was called back, robbing Kane Whitehurst of his fifth return score of the season. The Cougar quarterback connected with Hunter Thomas on an 80-yard pitch-and-catch to knot the score a seven-all. Marist would answer before the end of the first quarter on a sustained drive, capped off with a QB sneak from inside the one yard line on third-and-goal.
In the second quarter, Byerly lived up to his coach’s description of Chattahoochee’s “little Tebow” by plowing in from the one yard line on third-and-goal to tie the game 14-14 after picking up a huge third down conversion earlier in the drive.
Marist would then double up the Cougars going into halftime thanks to Gray King’s second score of the night, this one from four yards out, then with just 19.7 seconds left, Perez connected with Jordan Snellings on a twenty-one yard bomb on third and long to go up 28-14 entering intermission.
After halftime, Chattahoochee played some defense by forcing a punt and blocking a field goal attempt, then Byerly took over, driving the team down the field before plunging into the endzone on a two-yard sneak to bring the Cougars to within seven points entering the fourth quarter.
In the final frame, Chattahoochee attempted a fake on a 35-yard field goal attempt and would throw an interception with 6:36 left, but the Cougars would recover a Marist fumble to set up the game-tying Byerly four-yard touchdown run.
After the Cougar defense stood tall, Ammon Lakip booted through a 51-yard attempt with under one minute to play to put Chattahoochee up 31-28 for the first time all game. An interception by Josh Gregory iced the victory for the Cougars, who will host Dutchtown in the next round.
Despite suffering a shaky opening to the game, the Cougars rallied behind another strong performance from Timmy Byerly, who lived up to the Tebow-light billing his coach gave him on Sports Central XL. He willed his team to a victory and he may just will the Cougars into the Georgia Dome and a title.
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Picks are limping towards the finish line
LIMPING I tell you. Just like Georgia is through the rest of the season. Such a shame that Georgia's season was wasted due to a variety of things including the coaches not letting Aaron Murray loose, AJ putting $1000 in front of his team and the squad not taking advantage of a weak SEC East. Oh well. I wrote a piece on it for Chuckoliver.net on this topic. Read it here.
I also am pretty ticked at Alabama for ONCE AGAIN getting a free four-hour commercial from ESPN that Georgia MAYBE could have had but instead wanted to play Idaho State instead. I'll talk about that later. Now, on to the picks, complete with various links. ENJOY!
No.7 Wisco @ Michigan. Last week Wisco put 80 on the board against Indiana. Really? I think at some point that comes back to bite you. Does that really impress anyone? Hey B-squared, they took the margin of victory out of the BCS formula. I guess you guys REALLY want to get to the Rose Bowl. Can Michigan pull off the "upset" against the Badgers? I can't think of a reason why. Sorry Meeechigan fans. PS, you should actually be glad that LSU is going to keep Les Miles so you can keep RichRod. I am telling you, NEXT YEAR, you guys are going to go to a BCS bowl game. But you lose this week.
No.10 Okie State @ Kansas. Okie State is No.10 in the country? Really? I guess I'll take them here. How is Okie State doing it? I watched them last year and wasn't impressed. I guess addition by subtraction with Dez Bryant, who didn't know about rookie hazing. Perhaps he was holding back the offense back because he was stupid. Cowboys win.
Pitt @ South Florida. I would go with SoFla but since it is Mo-vember, I've gotta go with the Stache in this one.
Virginia @ BC. I am pretty sure Davey Pollack will be calling this game. Hopefully he remembers he has to talk during the third quarter. I remember at Midlothian High School, the band would take the third quarter off after performing at halftime. I always thought that was weird. Are you guys THAT winded from blowing your horn that you require an entire quarter off? Doesn't the team (that won 4 games my four years there) need some musical encouragement? Maybe Pollack needed a third quarter off too from fake laughing at all of his co-hosts jokes? Oh, back to the game. Go with BC
NC State @ UNC. I think if NC State wins, they could go to the ACC championship game. Wow. The ACC ladies and gentlemen. I actually think the ACC will have UNC win so that FSU can go to the title game. I'm going with the Heels.
Troy @ #17 SoCar. So The Gamecocks FINALLY will go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game. Congrats. Too bad they'll shuffle their way through this week and next before having to play a meaningful game again. They win this one ugly before losing next week to Klimpsen.
App State @ Florida. I hope like HECK this happens.... but it won't. Gators win. I wonder if Rainey will then take out the loss on his girlfriend? Would Urban cry? AGAIN?
Klimspen @ Wake. Yep, the Tigers and my favorite ACC Coach are being punished and getting the Klimpsen tag. Sorry guys. You are thisclose to me jumping off of the Dabo Bandwagon. I might be the only one NOT RELATED to Dabo left on the wagon. You had better win. You will.
Ole Miss @ #5 LSU. On one side you have a big black rebel bear (I wish I was kidding) and on the other side you have a grass-eater. I typically would take a bear over a cow, but the bear will be playing the cow that is in charge of a bunch of tigers. Hmmmmm, tiger v bear, I'll go with a tiger. Faster, and can jump, tigers v bears. Both can climb trees but tigers seem the sleeker animal
#6 Stanford @ Cal. Ahhh the crazy "band on the field" play that one school says never counted while the other team says it does. I though Stanford was the smart school. Don't they know not to run onto the field until the game is over? I guess they aren't the Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaarvard of the West. That's right, that was Stansbury I'll go with The Cardinal in this one, NOT the Cardinals
No.9 Ohio State @ #20 Iowa. I read the supposed Tressel halftime speech he gave Penn State that said the PSU crowd makes shirts when they beat Ohio State. I would say that Ohio State could do that too, except they never win big games... BA-Zing! PS, beating Iowa, ISN'T a big win
No.16 VaTech @ #24 Miami. Pretty funny that Jacory Harris isn't back in at QB yet because his coach likes the freshman better, I mean, Harris hasn't recovered yet from that injury yet. That's it. Won't matter. VaTech has Tyrod Taylor at QB and the Hokies win ANOTHER ACC Coastal title. Big whoop.
Illinois v Northwestern @ Wrigley. The BEST thing about this game.....the bars across the street from Wrigley Field will be open.
No.13 Arkie @ #21 Miss State. How is Miss State ranked? Seriously? Take the little pigs if for NO OTHER REASON, that awesome Gieco commercial. No, this one
Army v Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium. I cannot think of a place I'd rather not be ANYMORE than Yankee Stadium for a Notre Dame game. Will Coach K be doing the coin toss with Oprah and LeBron getting honored during halftime? I SOOOO want to take Army, but I am using my head here. Notre Dame FINALLY wins a game. (Ahhh, I should go with Army. Too late)
Tennessee @ Vandy. I cannot believe that Tennessee, a team that Georgia rolled up and smoked like a fatty might, with a win, go to a better bowl game than the Dawgs. You've got to love Bowl Season. (Actually, I do. How many other sports give 32 teams a chance to be a winner heading into the off-season? NOT ENOUGH!) GO VANDY! but those Tennessee Wildboys win.
USC v Oregon State. I could care less. But it is SOOO tough to go on the road in the Pac-10.....Hmmmm because of that I'll have to go with USC.
#25 FSU @ Maryland. I say where Ralphie is coming back for another season at Maryland. Good call Maryland. Way to think that because he blew out Virginia, he's ready for another year. Noles tomahawk the Terps.
8 Nebraska @ #19 TAMU. I heard that the QB from TAMU is not the same guy that was vastly overrated against Georgia. Apparently they benched that dude that wasn't getting the job done for this guy in there now. Hey, they are No. 19. I guess that means they are good? I'm going with Nebraska though.
Duke @ GT. How much would I love a Duke win? More than you'd know. BUT, the genius that is Paul Johnson (just ask him) will get this win, no doubt. Then they'll lose next week, but he'll get this (close) win.
Finally, a commentary of Georgia blowing it YET AGAIN:
As I sat down to watch Chris, Kirk and Desmond call the Georgia State/Alabama game last night on ESPNU, I was a bit disappointed that the Georgia Bulldogs weren’t involved. No I didn’t want Georgia facing the Tide, but couldn’t the Dawgs have faced Georgia State? Wasn’t that a missed opportunity that once again Bama took advantage of that Georgia failed to grab?
I was at Sanford Stadium a few weeks back to watch Georgia thump Idaho State after cutting a check to the Bengals to fly across the country for the beatdown. I wonder why Georgia didn’t pick up the phone and give Georgia State a buzz to come up instead? You would think that all parties would win here: Georgia gets the same crushing victory while Georgia State’s roster of 99.999% Georgia natives would get to play between the hedges. And Georgia State would get to cash a ridiculous check in the process, just like they did last night against Bama and just like Idaho State did against the Dawgs. Plus if Georgia faces Georgia State, the money stays in-state opposed to financing a state school 2000 miles across the country.
Oh and perhaps Georgia could have used a blowout win over a team on national television for recruiting. The worst part was we Georgia fans and alumni just had to watch ANOTHER ESPN-produced 4-hour commercial for Alabama, after watching the spring practice show on ESPN and the last two Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classics.
All I am saying is that maybe Georgia can take advantage of some of these opportunities that Alabama has done involving the state of Georgia, and perhaps that is why suddenly the Tide is rolling through the state, recruiting-wise. If Georgia could have just scheduled the Panthers for an ESPNU game instead of Idaho State, more people surely would have come than showed up for Idaho State. Georgia missed another opportunity last night and Alabama took advantage yet again. When will the athletic department catch on?
I also am pretty ticked at Alabama for ONCE AGAIN getting a free four-hour commercial from ESPN that Georgia MAYBE could have had but instead wanted to play Idaho State instead. I'll talk about that later. Now, on to the picks, complete with various links. ENJOY!
No.7 Wisco @ Michigan. Last week Wisco put 80 on the board against Indiana. Really? I think at some point that comes back to bite you. Does that really impress anyone? Hey B-squared, they took the margin of victory out of the BCS formula. I guess you guys REALLY want to get to the Rose Bowl. Can Michigan pull off the "upset" against the Badgers? I can't think of a reason why. Sorry Meeechigan fans. PS, you should actually be glad that LSU is going to keep Les Miles so you can keep RichRod. I am telling you, NEXT YEAR, you guys are going to go to a BCS bowl game. But you lose this week.
No.10 Okie State @ Kansas. Okie State is No.10 in the country? Really? I guess I'll take them here. How is Okie State doing it? I watched them last year and wasn't impressed. I guess addition by subtraction with Dez Bryant, who didn't know about rookie hazing. Perhaps he was holding back the offense back because he was stupid. Cowboys win.
Pitt @ South Florida. I would go with SoFla but since it is Mo-vember, I've gotta go with the Stache in this one.
Virginia @ BC. I am pretty sure Davey Pollack will be calling this game. Hopefully he remembers he has to talk during the third quarter. I remember at Midlothian High School, the band would take the third quarter off after performing at halftime. I always thought that was weird. Are you guys THAT winded from blowing your horn that you require an entire quarter off? Doesn't the team (that won 4 games my four years there) need some musical encouragement? Maybe Pollack needed a third quarter off too from fake laughing at all of his co-hosts jokes? Oh, back to the game. Go with BC
NC State @ UNC. I think if NC State wins, they could go to the ACC championship game. Wow. The ACC ladies and gentlemen. I actually think the ACC will have UNC win so that FSU can go to the title game. I'm going with the Heels.
Troy @ #17 SoCar. So The Gamecocks FINALLY will go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game. Congrats. Too bad they'll shuffle their way through this week and next before having to play a meaningful game again. They win this one ugly before losing next week to Klimpsen.
App State @ Florida. I hope like HECK this happens.... but it won't. Gators win. I wonder if Rainey will then take out the loss on his girlfriend? Would Urban cry? AGAIN?
Klimspen @ Wake. Yep, the Tigers and my favorite ACC Coach are being punished and getting the Klimpsen tag. Sorry guys. You are thisclose to me jumping off of the Dabo Bandwagon. I might be the only one NOT RELATED to Dabo left on the wagon. You had better win. You will.
Ole Miss @ #5 LSU. On one side you have a big black rebel bear (I wish I was kidding) and on the other side you have a grass-eater. I typically would take a bear over a cow, but the bear will be playing the cow that is in charge of a bunch of tigers. Hmmmmm, tiger v bear, I'll go with a tiger. Faster, and can jump, tigers v bears. Both can climb trees but tigers seem the sleeker animal
#6 Stanford @ Cal. Ahhh the crazy "band on the field" play that one school says never counted while the other team says it does. I though Stanford was the smart school. Don't they know not to run onto the field until the game is over? I guess they aren't the Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaarvard of the West. That's right, that was Stansbury I'll go with The Cardinal in this one, NOT the Cardinals
No.9 Ohio State @ #20 Iowa. I read the supposed Tressel halftime speech he gave Penn State that said the PSU crowd makes shirts when they beat Ohio State. I would say that Ohio State could do that too, except they never win big games... BA-Zing! PS, beating Iowa, ISN'T a big win
No.16 VaTech @ #24 Miami. Pretty funny that Jacory Harris isn't back in at QB yet because his coach likes the freshman better, I mean, Harris hasn't recovered yet from that injury yet. That's it. Won't matter. VaTech has Tyrod Taylor at QB and the Hokies win ANOTHER ACC Coastal title. Big whoop.
Illinois v Northwestern @ Wrigley. The BEST thing about this game.....the bars across the street from Wrigley Field will be open.
No.13 Arkie @ #21 Miss State. How is Miss State ranked? Seriously? Take the little pigs if for NO OTHER REASON, that awesome Gieco commercial. No, this one
Army v Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium. I cannot think of a place I'd rather not be ANYMORE than Yankee Stadium for a Notre Dame game. Will Coach K be doing the coin toss with Oprah and LeBron getting honored during halftime? I SOOOO want to take Army, but I am using my head here. Notre Dame FINALLY wins a game. (Ahhh, I should go with Army. Too late)
Tennessee @ Vandy. I cannot believe that Tennessee, a team that Georgia rolled up and smoked like a fatty might, with a win, go to a better bowl game than the Dawgs. You've got to love Bowl Season. (Actually, I do. How many other sports give 32 teams a chance to be a winner heading into the off-season? NOT ENOUGH!) GO VANDY! but those Tennessee Wildboys win.
USC v Oregon State. I could care less. But it is SOOO tough to go on the road in the Pac-10.....Hmmmm because of that I'll have to go with USC.
#25 FSU @ Maryland. I say where Ralphie is coming back for another season at Maryland. Good call Maryland. Way to think that because he blew out Virginia, he's ready for another year. Noles tomahawk the Terps.
8 Nebraska @ #19 TAMU. I heard that the QB from TAMU is not the same guy that was vastly overrated against Georgia. Apparently they benched that dude that wasn't getting the job done for this guy in there now. Hey, they are No. 19. I guess that means they are good? I'm going with Nebraska though.
Duke @ GT. How much would I love a Duke win? More than you'd know. BUT, the genius that is Paul Johnson (just ask him) will get this win, no doubt. Then they'll lose next week, but he'll get this (close) win.
Finally, a commentary of Georgia blowing it YET AGAIN:
As I sat down to watch Chris, Kirk and Desmond call the Georgia State/Alabama game last night on ESPNU, I was a bit disappointed that the Georgia Bulldogs weren’t involved. No I didn’t want Georgia facing the Tide, but couldn’t the Dawgs have faced Georgia State? Wasn’t that a missed opportunity that once again Bama took advantage of that Georgia failed to grab?
I was at Sanford Stadium a few weeks back to watch Georgia thump Idaho State after cutting a check to the Bengals to fly across the country for the beatdown. I wonder why Georgia didn’t pick up the phone and give Georgia State a buzz to come up instead? You would think that all parties would win here: Georgia gets the same crushing victory while Georgia State’s roster of 99.999% Georgia natives would get to play between the hedges. And Georgia State would get to cash a ridiculous check in the process, just like they did last night against Bama and just like Idaho State did against the Dawgs. Plus if Georgia faces Georgia State, the money stays in-state opposed to financing a state school 2000 miles across the country.
Oh and perhaps Georgia could have used a blowout win over a team on national television for recruiting. The worst part was we Georgia fans and alumni just had to watch ANOTHER ESPN-produced 4-hour commercial for Alabama, after watching the spring practice show on ESPN and the last two Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classics.
All I am saying is that maybe Georgia can take advantage of some of these opportunities that Alabama has done involving the state of Georgia, and perhaps that is why suddenly the Tide is rolling through the state, recruiting-wise. If Georgia could have just scheduled the Panthers for an ESPNU game instead of Idaho State, more people surely would have come than showed up for Idaho State. Georgia missed another opportunity last night and Alabama took advantage yet again. When will the athletic department catch on?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
What a wasted season
For more of my thoughts on Georgia, head over to http://chuckoliver.net
What a waste of a season. The Georgia Bulldogs entered the 2010 with tempered enthusiasm nationally (a No. 23 preseason ranking) but locally, many thought this team was ready to SOAR under the radar, perhaps all the way to an SEC championship game appearance. The defense was getting a facelift to the 3-4, but come on, the athletes that Georgia had? Some growing pains were expected maybe but not what we've seen aka the squad couldn't get off of the field against Mississippi State, couldn't stop Florida when it needed to, couldn't contain Ryan Mallet and Arkansas with under one minute to play, and couldn't even stop Cam Newton of Auburn when it KNEW he was going to run.
The offense was returning 10 of 11 starters and the running game was going to RUN THIS STATE (and hopefully the conference). Not so much. AJ Green missed the first four games and while I am not certain he would have made a difference against Arkansas, he certainly would have helped against Miss State and South Carolina.
The offensive line....well they pass blocked well...at times.
The redshirt freshman played well 90% of the season once the coaching staff took the shackles off, save for the first half of the Florida game. And even in that game against the Gators, Aaron Murray came back with a fantastic second half. He showed some poise and play-making ability.
So what held the season up? Other than Green's suspension, I would have to say not letting Aaron Murray be Aaron Murray for the first few weeks of the season. What were offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and head coach Mark Richt waiting for? This guy is BETTER than Joe Cox ever could have dreamed of being. They didn't need to protect Murray like they did against South Carolina. The Gamecocks couldn't stop the pass; why not let Murray rip a few? Against Arkansas, you saw the boy could chuck it, but the staff only let him start when down by a handful of touchdowns.
I hate laying the fault at the coaches' feet, especially when the gameplan was fine against Florida, because at some point the players must take some responsibility for their actions, but if Murray had been allowed to go full-bore at the start of the season, perhaps the South Carolina, Arkansas and Mississippi State games result in wins, the Colorado game is a laugher for Georgia and suddenly the rest of the season looks a bit different. College football is all about momentum and the college kids cannot let losses go as quickly as pro players can. One loss can turn into three straight in a hurry unless the players can have their memories whitewashed, which is tough to do. Florida couldn't do it, and Georgia didn't do it this year either.
Such a shame because had Georgia won that South Carolina game, the Dawgs likely don't drop the next three and perhaps are playing in the SEC title game. Oh, if ONLY Green hadn't put $1000 in front of his teammates and Murray had been allowed to be Murray...
What a waste of a season. The Georgia Bulldogs entered the 2010 with tempered enthusiasm nationally (a No. 23 preseason ranking) but locally, many thought this team was ready to SOAR under the radar, perhaps all the way to an SEC championship game appearance. The defense was getting a facelift to the 3-4, but come on, the athletes that Georgia had? Some growing pains were expected maybe but not what we've seen aka the squad couldn't get off of the field against Mississippi State, couldn't stop Florida when it needed to, couldn't contain Ryan Mallet and Arkansas with under one minute to play, and couldn't even stop Cam Newton of Auburn when it KNEW he was going to run.
The offense was returning 10 of 11 starters and the running game was going to RUN THIS STATE (and hopefully the conference). Not so much. AJ Green missed the first four games and while I am not certain he would have made a difference against Arkansas, he certainly would have helped against Miss State and South Carolina.
The offensive line....well they pass blocked well...at times.
The redshirt freshman played well 90% of the season once the coaching staff took the shackles off, save for the first half of the Florida game. And even in that game against the Gators, Aaron Murray came back with a fantastic second half. He showed some poise and play-making ability.
So what held the season up? Other than Green's suspension, I would have to say not letting Aaron Murray be Aaron Murray for the first few weeks of the season. What were offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and head coach Mark Richt waiting for? This guy is BETTER than Joe Cox ever could have dreamed of being. They didn't need to protect Murray like they did against South Carolina. The Gamecocks couldn't stop the pass; why not let Murray rip a few? Against Arkansas, you saw the boy could chuck it, but the staff only let him start when down by a handful of touchdowns.
I hate laying the fault at the coaches' feet, especially when the gameplan was fine against Florida, because at some point the players must take some responsibility for their actions, but if Murray had been allowed to go full-bore at the start of the season, perhaps the South Carolina, Arkansas and Mississippi State games result in wins, the Colorado game is a laugher for Georgia and suddenly the rest of the season looks a bit different. College football is all about momentum and the college kids cannot let losses go as quickly as pro players can. One loss can turn into three straight in a hurry unless the players can have their memories whitewashed, which is tough to do. Florida couldn't do it, and Georgia didn't do it this year either.
Such a shame because had Georgia won that South Carolina game, the Dawgs likely don't drop the next three and perhaps are playing in the SEC title game. Oh, if ONLY Green hadn't put $1000 in front of his teammates and Murray had been allowed to be Murray...
TheFletch busts out the toga!
Your first look at Score Atlanta's TheFletch. Enjoy
Last week’s Falcons win over the Baltimore Ravens really left my scratching my head. It was on a Thursday night; it was a thrilling finish; it was between two teams that could very well end up meeting in the Super Bowl; did I mention the incredible finish; and it was on national television (well, as long as you get the NFL Network). However after the Atlanta victory, instead of 72 hours of, “Boy, this team is certainly ready for the next level!” or “WOW Matt Ryan just won his fifth fourth-quarter-comeback of the season and his eleventh of his young career!” it instead was pointing out that Baltimore was robbed. So weird.
As I watched the game on a piggyback simulcast on WATL (because I, like 74% of America don’t have the NFLN included in my basic cable service), I thought this is going to be great. For the next three days everyone will be giving props to the Falcons for taking the Ravens’ best shot and responding in less than 45 seconds for the win! Too bad that isn’t how it played out. Not by a long shot. ESPN personality and Pardon The Interruption co-host Michael Wilbon railed on the officials and the NFL for Baltimore getting screwed over three calls on the final drive. He went nuts over the fingertip grab of Michael Jenkins, a play that the officials replayed and CONFIRMED was a catch. Then he went crazy over a penalty call. Lastly he went berserk over the Roddy White play where he responded to some chicken-fighting by slapping the defender’s hands away before catching the ball for a score. The defender tried to win a nomination for best supporting actor by pretending Roddy White pulled a Last Boy Scout on him before scoring as he fell to the turf.
Sadly the criticism wasn’t just nationally. As his co-host on Pollack and Bell rejoiced over the win and how the Falcons were now FINALLY starting to find themselves on the positive end of 50/50 calls, David Pollack killed the buzz by arguing that White should have been popped for pass interference. As Bell nearly swallowed his tongue, Pollack tried to say that the defender was allowed to try and jam White, despite being past the 5-yard mark from the line of scrimmage, as long as he stood his ground and stood still. Then Pollack did concede that he was impressed with Ryan despite his “limitations,” as a quarterback. PS, Pollack, I was impressed with your color commentary on last week’s ESPNU broadcast despite the “limitations” of your not saying anything for a stretch of six plays at one point during the third quarter.
NFL Insiders Joe Theismann and Peter King disagreed with Pollack recently on Atlanta radio in terms of Ryan’s limitations as both heaped great praise of the third-year signal caller. King acknowledged to 790 The Zone in an interview that he would take Ryan over Flacco if the 2008 draft was redone today because he liked Ryan’s whole package. Theismann more-or-less echoed the sentiment on 680 The Fan’s Rude Awakening the day of the Falcons/Ravens game.
Theismann was part of the NFL Network broadcast team that called the game and right after the Ravens took the lead with 65 seconds left to play, Matt Millen or Bob Papa pondered if the Ravens scored too quickly, leaving Matt Ryan too much time to comeback and win. Theismann quickly responded, “there is no such thing as ‘scoring too early’ in the NFL.” Umm, really? Because I agreed with the first guy. They scored WAY too soon because of EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. Theismann didn’t go back and say “my bad,” to all Ravens fans after Atlanta scored to win the game. As far as the announcing crew, I can leave Theismann but this crew is clearly better than the old crew of Bryant Gumbel and ANYONE. Good work NFLN, too bad I cannot watch you guys on a regular basis.
Earlier I mentioned Theismann’s appearance on 680 The Fan’s The Rude Awakening. It went well. Theismann does know the game and is very opinionated on the NFL. The interview went well with Rude and Perry peppering Theismann questions and was about to end when Leo Mazzone finally piped in (I didn’t realize he was there as he hadn’t said a word the entire interview) to ask a football question…about Notre Dame. Of course Theismann answered but it was out of place and weird. Leo needs some coaching on what to ask, but at least this non sequitur came at the end of the interview and didn’t disrupt the flow of the interview. At some point 680 might want to consider simply using Leo on the Braves coverage and giving Brandon Home Team Leak a shot at the third chair on the morning show. He’d offer a bit of a different perspective and could also do the updates for the morning shows.
Finally, 680’s King of College Football Chuck Oliver received a little more ammo in his quest to get Mark Richt bounced from Athens after Georgia fell to 5-6 with a loss to Auburn. Oliver has been beating the drum that Richt should be relieved of his whistle due to Georgia’s slide into mediocrity, and his breakthrough website really stepped it up after the Georgia loss with a special section dedicated to the situation. The section included columns about how Richt is no longer among the elite coaches, what Richt would do if not at Georgia, Georgia’s place in the SEC and simply that Richt is at the end of the line, written by the King himself. If you haven’t visited the site and you are a fan of southern football, you are missing the boat.
Finally, kudos to CBS for being able to switch your central theme surrounding the Georgia/Auburn game so quickly. I didn’t see a single Cam Newton/Tim Tebow splitscreen all game, and I just KNOW you guys spent most of the week getting those ready. Instead CBS casually mentioned every once in a while about Newton’s troubling week, at one point flashing up headlines of news outlets from around the country. That showed guts to partially tear down its 2010 flagship team. I salute CBS for not ignoring the story like it has in years past, especially when it comes to Florida.
Can You Believe He Said That?
If Paul Hewitt isn’t the worst basketball coach in the country, it’s only because ours is a mighty big country.
That was Mark Bradley of the AJC ripping into Paul Hewitt after the Jackets lost to Kennesaw State. It seems this is Bradley’s Modus Operandi, put the coach of the school’s flagship program in your sights and pound away at him. He does it with Mark Richt and he’s started up again with Hewitt. After a while Mark, it sounds like you are just writing the same blog over and over again. Bis repetita placent, I guess.
Last week’s Falcons win over the Baltimore Ravens really left my scratching my head. It was on a Thursday night; it was a thrilling finish; it was between two teams that could very well end up meeting in the Super Bowl; did I mention the incredible finish; and it was on national television (well, as long as you get the NFL Network). However after the Atlanta victory, instead of 72 hours of, “Boy, this team is certainly ready for the next level!” or “WOW Matt Ryan just won his fifth fourth-quarter-comeback of the season and his eleventh of his young career!” it instead was pointing out that Baltimore was robbed. So weird.
As I watched the game on a piggyback simulcast on WATL (because I, like 74% of America don’t have the NFLN included in my basic cable service), I thought this is going to be great. For the next three days everyone will be giving props to the Falcons for taking the Ravens’ best shot and responding in less than 45 seconds for the win! Too bad that isn’t how it played out. Not by a long shot. ESPN personality and Pardon The Interruption co-host Michael Wilbon railed on the officials and the NFL for Baltimore getting screwed over three calls on the final drive. He went nuts over the fingertip grab of Michael Jenkins, a play that the officials replayed and CONFIRMED was a catch. Then he went crazy over a penalty call. Lastly he went berserk over the Roddy White play where he responded to some chicken-fighting by slapping the defender’s hands away before catching the ball for a score. The defender tried to win a nomination for best supporting actor by pretending Roddy White pulled a Last Boy Scout on him before scoring as he fell to the turf.
Sadly the criticism wasn’t just nationally. As his co-host on Pollack and Bell rejoiced over the win and how the Falcons were now FINALLY starting to find themselves on the positive end of 50/50 calls, David Pollack killed the buzz by arguing that White should have been popped for pass interference. As Bell nearly swallowed his tongue, Pollack tried to say that the defender was allowed to try and jam White, despite being past the 5-yard mark from the line of scrimmage, as long as he stood his ground and stood still. Then Pollack did concede that he was impressed with Ryan despite his “limitations,” as a quarterback. PS, Pollack, I was impressed with your color commentary on last week’s ESPNU broadcast despite the “limitations” of your not saying anything for a stretch of six plays at one point during the third quarter.
NFL Insiders Joe Theismann and Peter King disagreed with Pollack recently on Atlanta radio in terms of Ryan’s limitations as both heaped great praise of the third-year signal caller. King acknowledged to 790 The Zone in an interview that he would take Ryan over Flacco if the 2008 draft was redone today because he liked Ryan’s whole package. Theismann more-or-less echoed the sentiment on 680 The Fan’s Rude Awakening the day of the Falcons/Ravens game.
Theismann was part of the NFL Network broadcast team that called the game and right after the Ravens took the lead with 65 seconds left to play, Matt Millen or Bob Papa pondered if the Ravens scored too quickly, leaving Matt Ryan too much time to comeback and win. Theismann quickly responded, “there is no such thing as ‘scoring too early’ in the NFL.” Umm, really? Because I agreed with the first guy. They scored WAY too soon because of EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. Theismann didn’t go back and say “my bad,” to all Ravens fans after Atlanta scored to win the game. As far as the announcing crew, I can leave Theismann but this crew is clearly better than the old crew of Bryant Gumbel and ANYONE. Good work NFLN, too bad I cannot watch you guys on a regular basis.
Earlier I mentioned Theismann’s appearance on 680 The Fan’s The Rude Awakening. It went well. Theismann does know the game and is very opinionated on the NFL. The interview went well with Rude and Perry peppering Theismann questions and was about to end when Leo Mazzone finally piped in (I didn’t realize he was there as he hadn’t said a word the entire interview) to ask a football question…about Notre Dame. Of course Theismann answered but it was out of place and weird. Leo needs some coaching on what to ask, but at least this non sequitur came at the end of the interview and didn’t disrupt the flow of the interview. At some point 680 might want to consider simply using Leo on the Braves coverage and giving Brandon Home Team Leak a shot at the third chair on the morning show. He’d offer a bit of a different perspective and could also do the updates for the morning shows.
Finally, 680’s King of College Football Chuck Oliver received a little more ammo in his quest to get Mark Richt bounced from Athens after Georgia fell to 5-6 with a loss to Auburn. Oliver has been beating the drum that Richt should be relieved of his whistle due to Georgia’s slide into mediocrity, and his breakthrough website really stepped it up after the Georgia loss with a special section dedicated to the situation. The section included columns about how Richt is no longer among the elite coaches, what Richt would do if not at Georgia, Georgia’s place in the SEC and simply that Richt is at the end of the line, written by the King himself. If you haven’t visited the site and you are a fan of southern football, you are missing the boat.
Finally, kudos to CBS for being able to switch your central theme surrounding the Georgia/Auburn game so quickly. I didn’t see a single Cam Newton/Tim Tebow splitscreen all game, and I just KNOW you guys spent most of the week getting those ready. Instead CBS casually mentioned every once in a while about Newton’s troubling week, at one point flashing up headlines of news outlets from around the country. That showed guts to partially tear down its 2010 flagship team. I salute CBS for not ignoring the story like it has in years past, especially when it comes to Florida.
Can You Believe He Said That?
If Paul Hewitt isn’t the worst basketball coach in the country, it’s only because ours is a mighty big country.
That was Mark Bradley of the AJC ripping into Paul Hewitt after the Jackets lost to Kennesaw State. It seems this is Bradley’s Modus Operandi, put the coach of the school’s flagship program in your sights and pound away at him. He does it with Mark Richt and he’s started up again with Hewitt. After a while Mark, it sounds like you are just writing the same blog over and over again. Bis repetita placent, I guess.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Braves get Uggla. Pencil in 30 HR...FINALLY
The Atlanta Braves made a bold move to close the gap on the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East Tuesday when GM Frank Wren struck a deal with the Florida Marlins to acquire power-hitting second baseman Dan Uggla in exchange for Omar Infante and Michael Dunn. Uggla, who recorded several career-best marks last season with the Marlins, will play second base for new Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, whom he played for over the last few years in Florida. He is arbitration-eligible in 2011 and should see a raise from the $7.8M he earned last year after recording the high marks. Uggla recently rejected a 4-year/$48M and the Braves might have to up the ante to keep its new infielder, who should immediately boost the offense.
On the way to claiming the National League's Silver Slugger award as the best-hitting second baseman, Uggla, slugged 33 home runs last year, fifth most in the NL, and drove in 105 runs. Uggla has hit 154 home runs in his five years at the major league level or 32 per season. His 105 RBI were fifth most in the NL and a career high as he averages 97 per season. Uggla isn't just a home run hitter though as he recorded 169 hits, including 31 doubles last year. Uggla has hit as many as 49 double (2007) in a season and he plays nearly every day, never playing less than 146 in a season. Last year Uggla appeared in 159 games. He is a two-time all-star and is a .263 career hitter, though he hit .287 last season while slugging .508 in 2010. More than anything though, the Braves won't have to face Uggla anymore as the former Braves killer averaged .354 in 45 career games at Turner Field, while stroking 12 home runs and driving in 36 runs.
Speaking on infielder, with the addition of Uggla and the likely return of Chipper Jones at third base, 2010 breakout superstar Martin Prado will likely be moved to leftfield to keep his bat in the lineup. Prado does have some experience in the outfield, moreso than Uggla, who has played just a handful of games in the outfield in the minor leagues. Prado last played in leftfield in 2008.
To get Uggla, the Braves had to part with 2010 All-Star Omar Infante, who hit a career-best .321 with eight homers and 47 RBI while playing five different positions and batting leadoff for much of the stretch run. Infante has been with the Braves for the last three seasons after coming over from Detroit in 2007. Michael Dunn posted a 1.89 ERA in 25 relief appearances with Atlanta after coming over in the Javier Vazquez deal. He struck out 27 batters while issuing 17 walks in 19 innings of work. On a side note, after dealing Michael Dunn and releasing Melky Cabrera, the only piece left of the deal sending Vazquez to the Yankee is Arodys Vizcaino, who is one of the top prospects in the Atlanta system and will likely spend some of next year in Class AAA Gwinnett.
The bottom line of the trade is that Atlanta got better in a hurry Tuesday. The Braves acquired a prime candidate for the No. 5 spot in the order, solidifying the Silver Slugging catcher Brian McCann in the cleanup spot of the order. If the team doesn't make anymore moves, Prado would likely go back to hitting leadoff, a spot he thrived in when healthy during the 2010 season, with Jason Heyward back at No. 2 and Chipper at No. 3. McCann would go back to the four-spot with some protection in Uggla at No. 5. I would think Alex Gonzalez could sit in the six-hole with Freddie Freeman coming in at No. 7, as to keep the pressure off the rookie. Look for whomever wins the centerfield spot (Nate McLouth perhaps?) at No. 8 before the rotation. I do believe the Braves might try and do something in centerfield but the team otherwise may just need a small tweak to the bench and maybe resigning Eric Hinske if he is willing to play left if Prado is needed at third base. Great move by Wren to jump head of everyone else and get a two-time All-Star in Uggla without giving up too much. The loss of Infante will hurt, but the addition of Uggla more than makes up for what the super-sub could do.
On the way to claiming the National League's Silver Slugger award as the best-hitting second baseman, Uggla, slugged 33 home runs last year, fifth most in the NL, and drove in 105 runs. Uggla has hit 154 home runs in his five years at the major league level or 32 per season. His 105 RBI were fifth most in the NL and a career high as he averages 97 per season. Uggla isn't just a home run hitter though as he recorded 169 hits, including 31 doubles last year. Uggla has hit as many as 49 double (2007) in a season and he plays nearly every day, never playing less than 146 in a season. Last year Uggla appeared in 159 games. He is a two-time all-star and is a .263 career hitter, though he hit .287 last season while slugging .508 in 2010. More than anything though, the Braves won't have to face Uggla anymore as the former Braves killer averaged .354 in 45 career games at Turner Field, while stroking 12 home runs and driving in 36 runs.
Speaking on infielder, with the addition of Uggla and the likely return of Chipper Jones at third base, 2010 breakout superstar Martin Prado will likely be moved to leftfield to keep his bat in the lineup. Prado does have some experience in the outfield, moreso than Uggla, who has played just a handful of games in the outfield in the minor leagues. Prado last played in leftfield in 2008.
To get Uggla, the Braves had to part with 2010 All-Star Omar Infante, who hit a career-best .321 with eight homers and 47 RBI while playing five different positions and batting leadoff for much of the stretch run. Infante has been with the Braves for the last three seasons after coming over from Detroit in 2007. Michael Dunn posted a 1.89 ERA in 25 relief appearances with Atlanta after coming over in the Javier Vazquez deal. He struck out 27 batters while issuing 17 walks in 19 innings of work. On a side note, after dealing Michael Dunn and releasing Melky Cabrera, the only piece left of the deal sending Vazquez to the Yankee is Arodys Vizcaino, who is one of the top prospects in the Atlanta system and will likely spend some of next year in Class AAA Gwinnett.
The bottom line of the trade is that Atlanta got better in a hurry Tuesday. The Braves acquired a prime candidate for the No. 5 spot in the order, solidifying the Silver Slugging catcher Brian McCann in the cleanup spot of the order. If the team doesn't make anymore moves, Prado would likely go back to hitting leadoff, a spot he thrived in when healthy during the 2010 season, with Jason Heyward back at No. 2 and Chipper at No. 3. McCann would go back to the four-spot with some protection in Uggla at No. 5. I would think Alex Gonzalez could sit in the six-hole with Freddie Freeman coming in at No. 7, as to keep the pressure off the rookie. Look for whomever wins the centerfield spot (Nate McLouth perhaps?) at No. 8 before the rotation. I do believe the Braves might try and do something in centerfield but the team otherwise may just need a small tweak to the bench and maybe resigning Eric Hinske if he is willing to play left if Prado is needed at third base. Great move by Wren to jump head of everyone else and get a two-time All-Star in Uggla without giving up too much. The loss of Infante will hurt, but the addition of Uggla more than makes up for what the super-sub could do.
TheFletch....Bo Knows deleted scenes
Not every topic I choose to comment on can make it into the final cut of TheFletch. Here is a snippet from a topic that didn't make the cut.
“Take that pencil and paper away from me.” That was Bo Jackson to reporters after the Auburn victory over Georgia where he was repeatedly shown on the sidelines by CBS camera, once even giving Auburn quarterback Cam Newton a kiss on the forehead. Um, I guess Bo Don’t Know that if he is on the sidelines and in the lockerroom after the game, a reporter is going to want to get a “legend’s” opinion on this team and the best player Auburn has had since him. You can’t get uptight that people want to interview you when you put yourself out there. Bo should Know that!
For the rest of TheFletch, grab a copy of Score Atlanta this Friday, or see it here first on Thursday!!!!
“Take that pencil and paper away from me.” That was Bo Jackson to reporters after the Auburn victory over Georgia where he was repeatedly shown on the sidelines by CBS camera, once even giving Auburn quarterback Cam Newton a kiss on the forehead. Um, I guess Bo Don’t Know that if he is on the sidelines and in the lockerroom after the game, a reporter is going to want to get a “legend’s” opinion on this team and the best player Auburn has had since him. You can’t get uptight that people want to interview you when you put yourself out there. Bo should Know that!
For the rest of TheFletch, grab a copy of Score Atlanta this Friday, or see it here first on Thursday!!!!
And THAT is why they play the games!
As I sat in the Collins Hill press box calling the Georgia Public Broadcasting: Game of the Week last Friday, I could not believe my eyes as I continued to follow the Score Atlanta Flash Scoreboard: Whitewater was up 28-0 on Northside? Seriously? That’s Northside-Warner Robins? Are you sure?
Credit the coaches, fans and players of Whitewater for believing and credit Josh Clemons for toting the rock 32 times for two scores and 200 yards while also hauling in another score on a 42-yard reception. I spoke with a member of the Whitewater coaching staff Friday and he told me they were ready for Northside and I heard the confidence in his voice. Boy they were ready as they snuffed out the No. 1 Eagles season 28-21.
And that upset is one prime example of why they play the games. Everyone (including me last week), gets giddy about the potential match-ups down the line, but every team needs to take care of its business in the first round to even have a shot of getting “down the line.” Northside didn’t do that.
Etowah also didn’t do that in a 32-7 loss to Mill Creek. Etowah entered the playoffs as champions of Region 5-AAAAA but watched as Mill Creek break three different school records and rattle off 25 straight points to finish off the upset.
Region 3-AAAAA runner-up Jenkins allowed 50 points to road warrior Colquitt County while Stephenson, Walton and South Cobb all lost at home to lower-seeded teams.
In total seven No. 1 seeds lost in the first round, including Etowah and Northside. In AAAA, Lovejoy’s season ended with an upset to Glynn Academy. At the AAA level, Ridgeland fell after claiming the Region 7-AAA crown. In AA, one quadrant of the bracket lost both of its top seeds as Swainsboro and Elbert County both lost to No. 4 seeds. In Class A, Savannah Christian pulled the upset on No. 1 seed Mitchell County and will now face No. 3 seed Charlton County, who pulled off a mini-upset of a No. 2 seed. Another No. 1 seed was on the ropes, but Roswell got a last second 52-yard field to sneak by Parkview and into the second round.
This is why they play the games as they all say. Northside was reminded of that in a harsh way, but at the end of the day at least Georgia High School football decides its champions on the field. And Whitewater is certainly glad it does.
Credit the coaches, fans and players of Whitewater for believing and credit Josh Clemons for toting the rock 32 times for two scores and 200 yards while also hauling in another score on a 42-yard reception. I spoke with a member of the Whitewater coaching staff Friday and he told me they were ready for Northside and I heard the confidence in his voice. Boy they were ready as they snuffed out the No. 1 Eagles season 28-21.
And that upset is one prime example of why they play the games. Everyone (including me last week), gets giddy about the potential match-ups down the line, but every team needs to take care of its business in the first round to even have a shot of getting “down the line.” Northside didn’t do that.
Etowah also didn’t do that in a 32-7 loss to Mill Creek. Etowah entered the playoffs as champions of Region 5-AAAAA but watched as Mill Creek break three different school records and rattle off 25 straight points to finish off the upset.
Region 3-AAAAA runner-up Jenkins allowed 50 points to road warrior Colquitt County while Stephenson, Walton and South Cobb all lost at home to lower-seeded teams.
In total seven No. 1 seeds lost in the first round, including Etowah and Northside. In AAAA, Lovejoy’s season ended with an upset to Glynn Academy. At the AAA level, Ridgeland fell after claiming the Region 7-AAA crown. In AA, one quadrant of the bracket lost both of its top seeds as Swainsboro and Elbert County both lost to No. 4 seeds. In Class A, Savannah Christian pulled the upset on No. 1 seed Mitchell County and will now face No. 3 seed Charlton County, who pulled off a mini-upset of a No. 2 seed. Another No. 1 seed was on the ropes, but Roswell got a last second 52-yard field to sneak by Parkview and into the second round.
This is why they play the games as they all say. Northside was reminded of that in a harsh way, but at the end of the day at least Georgia High School football decides its champions on the field. And Whitewater is certainly glad it does.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Richt, likely to stay, is no longer elite
Head over to chuckoliver.net and read more of my thoughts on the Bulldogs. The Kang has been a little hard on CMR but I want to give him one more season to get this thing under control. And boy I hope he does...
The rise and fall of Mark Richt as an elite coach has been a roller coaster that many Georgia fans simply want to get off now, and after the meltdown against Auburn it may just be granted. It wasn’t that long ago that Richt was an elite national coach, just biding his time before he won a BCS National Title and supplanted Vince Dooley at Georgia as the best coach to stand on the sidelines in Athens. He was going to have won his title during the heyday of the Southeastern Conference when the conference stood out as the only man in an NCAA full of boys.
Richt was the Christian coach that played by the rules, got the most out of his quarterbacks and watched as his uber-talented defenses made the necessary plays. In fact, that’s how his rise to elite status began. He took a squad his first year into Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium and shocked a top-ten ranked Volunteer squad with just six seconds left to earn the first of many road wins under Mark Richt at Georgia. It seemed that the Bulldogs couldn’t lose on the road with Richt, and that streak continued in his second season when the Elite stamp was officially rewarded with a sneaky road win against South Carolina, where the defense did what was necessary to win, and then by dialing up a fourth-and-forever playcall to knock off Auburn at Auburn to win the SEC East. A few weeks later after two blowout victories, Georgia was champion of the SEC and Richt was an elite coach.
He followed up his second season by winning yet another SEC East title; though he was blown out in the SEC title game, he rebounded by winning a CapitalOne Bowl. That is something elite coaches do: they get their players ready for the next game. Then the elite-level Mark Richt had his team LAY IT ON Nick Saban and his defending champion LSU Tigers the following season when LSU came to town if what many people still consider to be the signature home win of Richt’s tenure.
Despite no SEC title due to losses to Tennessee and on the road to Auburn, only his second road loss in four years, Richt was considered one of the top coaches in the game. He was able to justify that it was HIM and not that senior class the following year by taking his new old QB DJ Shockley and winning an SEC title in the first year AD (After Davids, Greene and Pollack).
How did that help the elite Richt? He landed a top-five recruiting class featuring quarterback Matt Stafford and tailback Knowshon Moreno. Stafford would take his lumps early on his freshman year, but the team would win three straight to end the season, all against ranked opponents including one against a top-five Auburn on the road.
Richt’s final season of the elite was in 2007, when he finished the year No. 2 with many feeling that the Bulldogs got screwed by the BCS and polls as Georgia was No. 3 entering the final weekend. Both No. 1 and No. 2 lost but Georgia was jumped by two teams for a spot in the BCS title game. No worries though as Georgia dominated an unbeaten Hawaii that all of America seemed to be cheering for and started the 2008 season No. 1.
This is where Richt fell from the elite. Georgia had Matt Stafford, a junior QB who would leave after the 2008 season to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft AND Knowshon Moreno, who would get considerable Heisman buzz for the first few weeks of the season before settling for being taken in the first 12 picks of the draft. Georgia dropped in the polls despite winning and was No. 3 when No. 8 Alabama came to town on September 27. Richt and the team had loved wearing the black jerseys the previous year and Richt was 2-0 vs. Saban since the 2003 SEC Championship game. With ESPN College Gameday coming, you wanted all of your elements in your favor, right? Too bad the only ELITE coach in this game wasn’t thinking about what color his team was going to wear. Nick Saban, who owned a national title and elite status, ran up 31 points on Georgia in the first half and led 31-0 at intermission.
THAT is when Richt lost his elite status. With the entire college football nation watching, Richt laid an egg. Then against Florida a few weeks later, Georgia was run out of the building, only after hinting that the Dawgs may go with another wardrobe change. Lastly Georgia blew a huge lead to Georgia Tech in what might have been’s Stafford’s best game as a Bulldog. In the three biggest games of Richt’s “most loaded” team’s season, Georgia was 0-3. Elite coaches don’t mismanage talent like that.
But could Richt rebound? He had a QB in Joe Cox that was a fifth-year senior, just like Shockley. Surely the once-elite Richt could coach him up like he did DJ, right? Wrong. The Dawgs lost five games with Cox under center in 2009 and were blown out by Florida AGAIN, one year after Florida blew them out. Elite coaches like Urban Meyer would have taken the FIRST blowout and used it as motivation. Richt did not. He did however break out a new uniform for Georgia for the Florida game. What is it with different uniforms? Elite coaches don’t worry about that stuff. They just play the games.
Now with a freshman at QB in 2010, Richt lost four of his first five games and despite getting an elite player in AJ Green back, the Dawgs still lost to Florida and Auburn and are in danger of missing a bowl game. WOW.
You used to be able to take a look at the SEC, the elite of all elite and say: they have Saban, Meyer, Miles, Fulmer and Spurrier all with titles and Richt and Tuberville both on the verge. Tuberville and Fulmer are gone now and Richt might just be behind them. When you mention the SEC now, you still say Saban and Meyer, and you have to mention the grass-eater Miles. You also throw Petrino out there and you’d probably say Spurrier still and soon perhaps Chizik and maybe even Nutt before you get to Richt. That is pretty sad if you are a Georgia fan. The fall from the elite happened when Richt walked into halftime down 31-0 to Alabama in 2008 and was punctuated Saturday when his team led at Auburn 21-7 but went into halftime tied and then decided that a field goal try was necessary while down seven against an offense he could not stop. Chizik may have entered the elite stratosphere yesterday, which for Auburn fans is exciting; sadly all Georgia fans were reminded that their coach is no longer elite and hasn’t been for quite some time.
The rise and fall of Mark Richt as an elite coach has been a roller coaster that many Georgia fans simply want to get off now, and after the meltdown against Auburn it may just be granted. It wasn’t that long ago that Richt was an elite national coach, just biding his time before he won a BCS National Title and supplanted Vince Dooley at Georgia as the best coach to stand on the sidelines in Athens. He was going to have won his title during the heyday of the Southeastern Conference when the conference stood out as the only man in an NCAA full of boys.
Richt was the Christian coach that played by the rules, got the most out of his quarterbacks and watched as his uber-talented defenses made the necessary plays. In fact, that’s how his rise to elite status began. He took a squad his first year into Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium and shocked a top-ten ranked Volunteer squad with just six seconds left to earn the first of many road wins under Mark Richt at Georgia. It seemed that the Bulldogs couldn’t lose on the road with Richt, and that streak continued in his second season when the Elite stamp was officially rewarded with a sneaky road win against South Carolina, where the defense did what was necessary to win, and then by dialing up a fourth-and-forever playcall to knock off Auburn at Auburn to win the SEC East. A few weeks later after two blowout victories, Georgia was champion of the SEC and Richt was an elite coach.
He followed up his second season by winning yet another SEC East title; though he was blown out in the SEC title game, he rebounded by winning a CapitalOne Bowl. That is something elite coaches do: they get their players ready for the next game. Then the elite-level Mark Richt had his team LAY IT ON Nick Saban and his defending champion LSU Tigers the following season when LSU came to town if what many people still consider to be the signature home win of Richt’s tenure.
Despite no SEC title due to losses to Tennessee and on the road to Auburn, only his second road loss in four years, Richt was considered one of the top coaches in the game. He was able to justify that it was HIM and not that senior class the following year by taking his new old QB DJ Shockley and winning an SEC title in the first year AD (After Davids, Greene and Pollack).
How did that help the elite Richt? He landed a top-five recruiting class featuring quarterback Matt Stafford and tailback Knowshon Moreno. Stafford would take his lumps early on his freshman year, but the team would win three straight to end the season, all against ranked opponents including one against a top-five Auburn on the road.
Richt’s final season of the elite was in 2007, when he finished the year No. 2 with many feeling that the Bulldogs got screwed by the BCS and polls as Georgia was No. 3 entering the final weekend. Both No. 1 and No. 2 lost but Georgia was jumped by two teams for a spot in the BCS title game. No worries though as Georgia dominated an unbeaten Hawaii that all of America seemed to be cheering for and started the 2008 season No. 1.
This is where Richt fell from the elite. Georgia had Matt Stafford, a junior QB who would leave after the 2008 season to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft AND Knowshon Moreno, who would get considerable Heisman buzz for the first few weeks of the season before settling for being taken in the first 12 picks of the draft. Georgia dropped in the polls despite winning and was No. 3 when No. 8 Alabama came to town on September 27. Richt and the team had loved wearing the black jerseys the previous year and Richt was 2-0 vs. Saban since the 2003 SEC Championship game. With ESPN College Gameday coming, you wanted all of your elements in your favor, right? Too bad the only ELITE coach in this game wasn’t thinking about what color his team was going to wear. Nick Saban, who owned a national title and elite status, ran up 31 points on Georgia in the first half and led 31-0 at intermission.
THAT is when Richt lost his elite status. With the entire college football nation watching, Richt laid an egg. Then against Florida a few weeks later, Georgia was run out of the building, only after hinting that the Dawgs may go with another wardrobe change. Lastly Georgia blew a huge lead to Georgia Tech in what might have been’s Stafford’s best game as a Bulldog. In the three biggest games of Richt’s “most loaded” team’s season, Georgia was 0-3. Elite coaches don’t mismanage talent like that.
But could Richt rebound? He had a QB in Joe Cox that was a fifth-year senior, just like Shockley. Surely the once-elite Richt could coach him up like he did DJ, right? Wrong. The Dawgs lost five games with Cox under center in 2009 and were blown out by Florida AGAIN, one year after Florida blew them out. Elite coaches like Urban Meyer would have taken the FIRST blowout and used it as motivation. Richt did not. He did however break out a new uniform for Georgia for the Florida game. What is it with different uniforms? Elite coaches don’t worry about that stuff. They just play the games.
Now with a freshman at QB in 2010, Richt lost four of his first five games and despite getting an elite player in AJ Green back, the Dawgs still lost to Florida and Auburn and are in danger of missing a bowl game. WOW.
You used to be able to take a look at the SEC, the elite of all elite and say: they have Saban, Meyer, Miles, Fulmer and Spurrier all with titles and Richt and Tuberville both on the verge. Tuberville and Fulmer are gone now and Richt might just be behind them. When you mention the SEC now, you still say Saban and Meyer, and you have to mention the grass-eater Miles. You also throw Petrino out there and you’d probably say Spurrier still and soon perhaps Chizik and maybe even Nutt before you get to Richt. That is pretty sad if you are a Georgia fan. The fall from the elite happened when Richt walked into halftime down 31-0 to Alabama in 2008 and was punctuated Saturday when his team led at Auburn 21-7 but went into halftime tied and then decided that a field goal try was necessary while down seven against an offense he could not stop. Chizik may have entered the elite stratosphere yesterday, which for Auburn fans is exciting; sadly all Georgia fans were reminded that their coach is no longer elite and hasn’t been for quite some time.
TheFletch for week of 11/12-11/17
Sorry this is a few days late, but we had a CBB preview to run! Enjoy
First there was Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and Dandy Don Meredith in a three-man football broadcast booth. Later Al Michaels, Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf set the standard of a three-man booth. Michael then experimented with Dan Fouts and Dennis Miller before that crew was broken up in favor of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser. Now Tirico and Jaws are joined by Jon Gruden in what might be the second-best current three-man booth in football broadcasting. The best? None other than Georgia Public Broadcasting’s new broadcast Cerberus Bob Houghton, Fletcher Proctor and Dave Hunter. Houghton has called play-by-play for much of the season and has a nice pace when describing the game. Hunter, the former Brookwood coach who led the Broncos to a state championship and now has the complex at Brookwood named after him, understandably breaks down the X’s and O’s while Proctor describes the big picture, involves recruiting aspects and adds a bit of spice to the broadcast with a touch of relevant levity. The crew broke out the three-man booth for the first time last week as Clarke Central defeated Flowery Branch and now the group should be cooking with the playoffs upon us. Be sure to log in this Friday night starting at 7 p.m. for the pregame show, hosted by Fletcher Proctor with Dave Hunter, then those two return to the booth where they analyze the tilt. The best post-game show on the web follows the game as Houghton, Hunter and Proctor break down the game and take a look at the other games across the state. One interesting wrinkle that the broadcast is now incorporating is a live look-in on the chat as it happens. Folks watching the game on-line now have the ability to chat about the game as well as other various topics, led by Score Atlanta. The broadcast of the game will now go to the chat every now and then for interesting comments or questions. Get interactive this Friday on GPB’s Game of the Week Broadcast.
I guess this is exactly what 680 The Fan wanted when it got legendary Georgia QB and former Viking Fran Tarkenton to appear weekly on a segment called “Frankly Fran.” He holds ZERO punches when discussing college football and the Georgia Bulldogs in particular. He spent his segment last week railing on Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt for not coaching up the talent he had to beat Florida. He noted that if Gator coach Urban Meyer had had Richt’s talent, that squad would have easily won. Tarkenton then took the bat to them again preemptively by saying that the team has just as much talent, if not more, than Auburn. He alluded to the fact that Georgia should win against Auburn, perhaps in a Pat Dye-ish “Not Man Enough,” way.
The curious part here is that Tarkenton’s rant seemed to fall under the definition of what 680’s Buck and Kincade call “the lunatic fringe,” of folks that call up to both 680 and Sports Radio 790 The Zone and call for the coach’s head after the team failed to convert all of its third down conversions in the third quarter against Idaho State. The lunatic fringe, that the duo refers to, is always wanting some sort of blood after any loss, be it a quarterback, running back, safety, coordinator or sometimes a head coach. If I had not known that the voice I was listening to was Tarkenton, I would have just assumed it was Bill from Duluth calling to say it was time for Richt to go. Personally I don’t like the folks that call up with zero solutions, simply wanting action. And if they are wild and crazy in calling for action, that just makes my eyes roll even more. BUT I will say that if a caller DOES come with a solution, perhaps the host shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss said-caller as part of the lunatic fringe with fake laughter. If his solution actually makes sense, why not let the caller make his/her point and respond to that point?
Hometeam is back on the airwaves! It is good to hear “Home Team” Brandon Leak back on the air, hosting the Atlanta Hawks pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage for 680 The Fan and 99X. The Fletch caught up with Home Team this past March and learned that he was still keeping his hand in the Atlanta sports media pool, working with the Hawks and the Falcons, but Home Team returned to the airwaves back in his seat with the Hawks once the Atlanta NBA franchise switched flagships from 790 to 680 and 99X. Home Team’s familiar cadence seems to just vibe with the Hawks and he is certainly a Hawks insider from his years with the team. Couple Home Team with 3-D Dennis Scott on the Hawks broadcasts and it feels like 2007 all over again.
Finally, I thought it was interesting that folks locally are still riding the Georgia Tech bandwagon, despite the loss to Virginia Tech and the loss of starting QB Joshua Nesbitt to a broken right forearm. The AJC’s Mark Bradley blogged recently that “Nah” he doesn’t think the Yellow Jackets season is over. The Yellow Jackets certainly gave Virginia Tech a run for the money despite the loss of Nesbitt as Tevin Washington performed well in place of the senior QB. That is a credit to head coach Paul Johnson, who might just win another coach of the year if his squad can win out with a back-up QB in the game.
On Score Atlanta’s Scoreboard Show last week on Sports Radio 790 The Zone, co-host Paul Mac had one thing to say about Nesbitt’s injury: it was your fault. Mac blamed the QB for not simply getting out of the way, since he didn’t know the proper tackling technique. I don’t know that I’d tell my QB not to even try to make a tackle. The QB messed up; he should try and atone for his mistake. However, I would say to the QB, instead of trying to stop the runback for a score after your mistake, don’t make the mistake at all. Either eat the football or throw it away. You could not afford to turn the ball over where you did and you cost your team AT LEAST three points from where you were. Be smarter with the football.
Can you believe he said that?
“(Todd) Grantham, Georgia’s first-year defensive coordinator, did something in the Georgia-Florida game that is so far over the line that it can’t even be debated. He gave a student-athlete from another school…the choke sign.”
That was 790 The Zone and the AJC’s Tony Barnhart after Grantham gave Chas Henry the choke sign that was only found after a Florida television station found the clip on super-slo-mo. I guess I just don’t see the outrage with this. He was in the moment. He didn’t pull a Woody here. Let’s move on. Maybe I’m not old school, or maybe I’m TOO old school. The only reason this is being talked about is because you aren’t allowed to hurt anyone’s feelings these days.
First there was Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and Dandy Don Meredith in a three-man football broadcast booth. Later Al Michaels, Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf set the standard of a three-man booth. Michael then experimented with Dan Fouts and Dennis Miller before that crew was broken up in favor of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser. Now Tirico and Jaws are joined by Jon Gruden in what might be the second-best current three-man booth in football broadcasting. The best? None other than Georgia Public Broadcasting’s new broadcast Cerberus Bob Houghton, Fletcher Proctor and Dave Hunter. Houghton has called play-by-play for much of the season and has a nice pace when describing the game. Hunter, the former Brookwood coach who led the Broncos to a state championship and now has the complex at Brookwood named after him, understandably breaks down the X’s and O’s while Proctor describes the big picture, involves recruiting aspects and adds a bit of spice to the broadcast with a touch of relevant levity. The crew broke out the three-man booth for the first time last week as Clarke Central defeated Flowery Branch and now the group should be cooking with the playoffs upon us. Be sure to log in this Friday night starting at 7 p.m. for the pregame show, hosted by Fletcher Proctor with Dave Hunter, then those two return to the booth where they analyze the tilt. The best post-game show on the web follows the game as Houghton, Hunter and Proctor break down the game and take a look at the other games across the state. One interesting wrinkle that the broadcast is now incorporating is a live look-in on the chat as it happens. Folks watching the game on-line now have the ability to chat about the game as well as other various topics, led by Score Atlanta. The broadcast of the game will now go to the chat every now and then for interesting comments or questions. Get interactive this Friday on GPB’s Game of the Week Broadcast.
I guess this is exactly what 680 The Fan wanted when it got legendary Georgia QB and former Viking Fran Tarkenton to appear weekly on a segment called “Frankly Fran.” He holds ZERO punches when discussing college football and the Georgia Bulldogs in particular. He spent his segment last week railing on Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt for not coaching up the talent he had to beat Florida. He noted that if Gator coach Urban Meyer had had Richt’s talent, that squad would have easily won. Tarkenton then took the bat to them again preemptively by saying that the team has just as much talent, if not more, than Auburn. He alluded to the fact that Georgia should win against Auburn, perhaps in a Pat Dye-ish “Not Man Enough,” way.
The curious part here is that Tarkenton’s rant seemed to fall under the definition of what 680’s Buck and Kincade call “the lunatic fringe,” of folks that call up to both 680 and Sports Radio 790 The Zone and call for the coach’s head after the team failed to convert all of its third down conversions in the third quarter against Idaho State. The lunatic fringe, that the duo refers to, is always wanting some sort of blood after any loss, be it a quarterback, running back, safety, coordinator or sometimes a head coach. If I had not known that the voice I was listening to was Tarkenton, I would have just assumed it was Bill from Duluth calling to say it was time for Richt to go. Personally I don’t like the folks that call up with zero solutions, simply wanting action. And if they are wild and crazy in calling for action, that just makes my eyes roll even more. BUT I will say that if a caller DOES come with a solution, perhaps the host shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss said-caller as part of the lunatic fringe with fake laughter. If his solution actually makes sense, why not let the caller make his/her point and respond to that point?
Hometeam is back on the airwaves! It is good to hear “Home Team” Brandon Leak back on the air, hosting the Atlanta Hawks pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage for 680 The Fan and 99X. The Fletch caught up with Home Team this past March and learned that he was still keeping his hand in the Atlanta sports media pool, working with the Hawks and the Falcons, but Home Team returned to the airwaves back in his seat with the Hawks once the Atlanta NBA franchise switched flagships from 790 to 680 and 99X. Home Team’s familiar cadence seems to just vibe with the Hawks and he is certainly a Hawks insider from his years with the team. Couple Home Team with 3-D Dennis Scott on the Hawks broadcasts and it feels like 2007 all over again.
Finally, I thought it was interesting that folks locally are still riding the Georgia Tech bandwagon, despite the loss to Virginia Tech and the loss of starting QB Joshua Nesbitt to a broken right forearm. The AJC’s Mark Bradley blogged recently that “Nah” he doesn’t think the Yellow Jackets season is over. The Yellow Jackets certainly gave Virginia Tech a run for the money despite the loss of Nesbitt as Tevin Washington performed well in place of the senior QB. That is a credit to head coach Paul Johnson, who might just win another coach of the year if his squad can win out with a back-up QB in the game.
On Score Atlanta’s Scoreboard Show last week on Sports Radio 790 The Zone, co-host Paul Mac had one thing to say about Nesbitt’s injury: it was your fault. Mac blamed the QB for not simply getting out of the way, since he didn’t know the proper tackling technique. I don’t know that I’d tell my QB not to even try to make a tackle. The QB messed up; he should try and atone for his mistake. However, I would say to the QB, instead of trying to stop the runback for a score after your mistake, don’t make the mistake at all. Either eat the football or throw it away. You could not afford to turn the ball over where you did and you cost your team AT LEAST three points from where you were. Be smarter with the football.
Can you believe he said that?
“(Todd) Grantham, Georgia’s first-year defensive coordinator, did something in the Georgia-Florida game that is so far over the line that it can’t even be debated. He gave a student-athlete from another school…the choke sign.”
That was 790 The Zone and the AJC’s Tony Barnhart after Grantham gave Chas Henry the choke sign that was only found after a Florida television station found the clip on super-slo-mo. I guess I just don’t see the outrage with this. He was in the moment. He didn’t pull a Woody here. Let’s move on. Maybe I’m not old school, or maybe I’m TOO old school. The only reason this is being talked about is because you aren’t allowed to hurt anyone’s feelings these days.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Collins Hill survives Woodstock and advances to face Roswell
Taylor Heinicke has thrown for over 3000 yards this season and has set a new single-season touchdown record for Gwinnett County. Friday night the Collins Hill quarterback was hit early and often and didn’t pass for his typical 300 yards or toss his 3+ touchdowns, but his one score was enough as the Eagles beat Woodstock 7-3. The Eagles, hosting a playoff game for the first time since 2005, donned black jerseys and looked good early, as Heinicke connected with Nick England on a 67-yard touchdown connection with three minutes to go in the first. That would end the scoring for Collins Hill though as the defense took over. The Eagles defense, coached by defensive coordinator Larry Massey kept the Eagles opponent out of the endzone for the fourth straight game as Woodstock managed just one third quarter field goal.
Late in the first half, Woodstock drove down into Collins Hill territory and seemingly reached the three-yard line, but a formation call erased a deep pass and the half ended with a failed hail mary short of the Woodstock endzone. In the second half, Woodstock held the ball for most of the quarter before a Wolverine touchdown was wiped away on a downfield holding call. Woodstock had to settle for a 47-yard Jonathan Wiener field goal with 7:19 left in the third quarter.
Neither team could scratch together anymore points as neither squad reached the opposition’s redzone. Now Collins Hill will advance to face Roswell, who won on a last second field goal. The Eagles’ win wasn’t impressive stat-wise, but for this team and its quarterback leader, the win itself was huge. Heinicke said in a recent interview with GPB Sports Central XL that he only cares about his team’s record. The team is now 1-0 in the playoffs and have a real shot against a team it has beaten once before, 13-9 to start the season. Both of these teams have changed since the season-opener, but next week it will be a season-finale for one of them.
Late in the first half, Woodstock drove down into Collins Hill territory and seemingly reached the three-yard line, but a formation call erased a deep pass and the half ended with a failed hail mary short of the Woodstock endzone. In the second half, Woodstock held the ball for most of the quarter before a Wolverine touchdown was wiped away on a downfield holding call. Woodstock had to settle for a 47-yard Jonathan Wiener field goal with 7:19 left in the third quarter.
Neither team could scratch together anymore points as neither squad reached the opposition’s redzone. Now Collins Hill will advance to face Roswell, who won on a last second field goal. The Eagles’ win wasn’t impressive stat-wise, but for this team and its quarterback leader, the win itself was huge. Heinicke said in a recent interview with GPB Sports Central XL that he only cares about his team’s record. The team is now 1-0 in the playoffs and have a real shot against a team it has beaten once before, 13-9 to start the season. Both of these teams have changed since the season-opener, but next week it will be a season-finale for one of them.
Paul Mac cannot speak right now
Our Falcons correspondent Paul Mac was IN the Georgia Dome last night, watching the Falcons, his baby boy, all grows up. (Swingers reference)
Here he talks about the experience
I'm starting to build a pretty spectacular resume of great sporting events that I've been in the arena for. The Phil Mickleson win his first at the Masters was pretty spectacular. The one I spoke of yesterday the 2003 game vs Carolina when Vick came back and then this one last night which is still resonating in my brain. 2003 I was celebrating with my Dad and Andrew Jones in better seats so maybe that's as good as it gets. Last night, I'm hugging complete strangers and some folks I just met. I'm befriending Ravens fans on Marta on the way home. Clearly, the Falcons earned respect last night. But, maybe when it's said and done, we look back and say this is the moment Matt Ryan took the bull by the horns on NATIONAL television and proclaimed to the world. I AM THE FRANCHISE QB of THE ATLANTA FALCONS. It's going to take time but I kind of felt it before the game that, this is going to be special, and we are in the building for it. This is the kind of ending upon which legends are created. THAT is why Matt Ryan is special. Right there. No more Yeah BUTS...
I'm completely relaxed with the MV7 holdovers. We no longer need those people to fill the building. As professional as this team is even the corporate stiffs in the club level will start showing up to see this kid. Hey, Delta Flies north so you can go see Mike Vick in Philly if you want. I'm pretty certain I bought that MV7 jersey on the wings of that 2003 game. I mean, when you have that kind of experience with your Dad and it's that great, you overlook stuff and you just start looking at the amazing things the guy can do. I was a fan, and he broke our hearts. Ok, he's moved on, we've moved on. I bet on the come with Matt Ryan and I'm in High Cotton right now brother. He's not super flashy, but he's a pro's pro. The "he can make all the throws" comment from scouts is never more evident than the sub millimeter accuracy on the critical 3rd down out to Michael Jenkins who made the #1 draft pick catch of his life last night. Matt Ryan... is OUR QB. Any Vick holdovers... well, hey Delta Fly's North.
Back to the game. Roddy has that drop on 4th. He goes right back to the well. 70 catches for Roddy White this year. They know where he's going and they can't stop it. THAT'S the difference between average QB's and Elite QB's. Roddy has a bum knee huh? 12 for 138 and 2 scores, whine about the refs all you want Ed Reed. You got lit up by Matty Ice last night!
So far today, I'm looking at national websites talking about my team in my little town that no one likes on the front page. The flaws of this team are character. Ok, they are not quite able to put a 4 quarter game together yet on defense.... that's coming and Joe Flacco and crew are pretty freaking good. I completely expected a comeback, they were out of sorts all game early. I don't remember seeing Boldin do much at all in the first 3 quarters, and he under threw one that Grimey intercepted. This is an infinitely likeable team man. There's no gimmick. This is not the "dirty bird" or "back in black" These guys, practice hard, work their tails off and then go whip tails on Sunday. I almost don't know how to feel because we've NEVER had this before!
Bottom line: The best ending this one ever could have had. I don't need to talk Super Bowl but I absolutely believe for the first time maybe ever that this team that we have in this town...CAN ABSOLUTELY WIN A SUPER BOWL! The cart is not before the horse here obviously there is a lot of football to be played, but these guys aren't substandard anymore. They are bigger than the sum of their parts (Thank you Owner, GM, Coaching Staff, MATT RYAN etc.) This game play was brilliant, they knew the run game was taken away, they gave it to Ryan and he obliterated the test. People nationally are still trying to talk about Daunte Robinson as the difference on this defense....hogwash, It's Grimes who is our best CB and people go right at him. Said in section 340 last night after a huge JA 55 sack.....That's on the BLINDSIDE Make a MOVIE ABOUT THAT!!!
I can't tell you how happy I am today!
PS, Georgia is winning Saturday! They are focused, they are driven and they can do it. I think they play their best game all year on Saturday.
Here he talks about the experience
I'm starting to build a pretty spectacular resume of great sporting events that I've been in the arena for. The Phil Mickleson win his first at the Masters was pretty spectacular. The one I spoke of yesterday the 2003 game vs Carolina when Vick came back and then this one last night which is still resonating in my brain. 2003 I was celebrating with my Dad and Andrew Jones in better seats so maybe that's as good as it gets. Last night, I'm hugging complete strangers and some folks I just met. I'm befriending Ravens fans on Marta on the way home. Clearly, the Falcons earned respect last night. But, maybe when it's said and done, we look back and say this is the moment Matt Ryan took the bull by the horns on NATIONAL television and proclaimed to the world. I AM THE FRANCHISE QB of THE ATLANTA FALCONS. It's going to take time but I kind of felt it before the game that, this is going to be special, and we are in the building for it. This is the kind of ending upon which legends are created. THAT is why Matt Ryan is special. Right there. No more Yeah BUTS...
I'm completely relaxed with the MV7 holdovers. We no longer need those people to fill the building. As professional as this team is even the corporate stiffs in the club level will start showing up to see this kid. Hey, Delta Flies north so you can go see Mike Vick in Philly if you want. I'm pretty certain I bought that MV7 jersey on the wings of that 2003 game. I mean, when you have that kind of experience with your Dad and it's that great, you overlook stuff and you just start looking at the amazing things the guy can do. I was a fan, and he broke our hearts. Ok, he's moved on, we've moved on. I bet on the come with Matt Ryan and I'm in High Cotton right now brother. He's not super flashy, but he's a pro's pro. The "he can make all the throws" comment from scouts is never more evident than the sub millimeter accuracy on the critical 3rd down out to Michael Jenkins who made the #1 draft pick catch of his life last night. Matt Ryan... is OUR QB. Any Vick holdovers... well, hey Delta Fly's North.
Back to the game. Roddy has that drop on 4th. He goes right back to the well. 70 catches for Roddy White this year. They know where he's going and they can't stop it. THAT'S the difference between average QB's and Elite QB's. Roddy has a bum knee huh? 12 for 138 and 2 scores, whine about the refs all you want Ed Reed. You got lit up by Matty Ice last night!
So far today, I'm looking at national websites talking about my team in my little town that no one likes on the front page. The flaws of this team are character. Ok, they are not quite able to put a 4 quarter game together yet on defense.... that's coming and Joe Flacco and crew are pretty freaking good. I completely expected a comeback, they were out of sorts all game early. I don't remember seeing Boldin do much at all in the first 3 quarters, and he under threw one that Grimey intercepted. This is an infinitely likeable team man. There's no gimmick. This is not the "dirty bird" or "back in black" These guys, practice hard, work their tails off and then go whip tails on Sunday. I almost don't know how to feel because we've NEVER had this before!
Bottom line: The best ending this one ever could have had. I don't need to talk Super Bowl but I absolutely believe for the first time maybe ever that this team that we have in this town...CAN ABSOLUTELY WIN A SUPER BOWL! The cart is not before the horse here obviously there is a lot of football to be played, but these guys aren't substandard anymore. They are bigger than the sum of their parts (Thank you Owner, GM, Coaching Staff, MATT RYAN etc.) This game play was brilliant, they knew the run game was taken away, they gave it to Ryan and he obliterated the test. People nationally are still trying to talk about Daunte Robinson as the difference on this defense....hogwash, It's Grimes who is our best CB and people go right at him. Said in section 340 last night after a huge JA 55 sack.....That's on the BLINDSIDE Make a MOVIE ABOUT THAT!!!
I can't tell you how happy I am today!
PS, Georgia is winning Saturday! They are focused, they are driven and they can do it. I think they play their best game all year on Saturday.
Because there is nothing to lose....PICKS!
I must admit, I did away with the picks this year because I was superstitious, and every time I picked Georgia, they would lose. Then when I KNEW Georgia would lose, I just cannot pick against the Dawgs. (And I am incredibly busy these days with all of my writing, FYI. But HEY, I know you love the Brand that is ME, so I must soldier on)
Well I realized that I IN NO WAY affect Georgia's performance on the field (if I did, they'd never lose when I hear Pigs On Surfboards!), so I thought, "hey let's bring the picks back!"
So here we are. OH, I must say as well, be sure to tune in tonight to www.gpb.org/sports and link to the game of the week Woodstock @ Collins Hill in the first round of the playoffs. Coverage starts at 7pm
With no further ado.....
4 Boise State @ Idaho (Tonight). Believe it or not, THIS is the biggest road game on Boise State's schedule. Not a trip to Auburn. Not a trip to Southern Cal. Not a venture to Stanford. Not a visit to Columbus. Not a visit to Norman. A trip to Idaho. WOW. I don't know if the Broncos can handle a trip to Idaho. Maybe they'll be distracted by the slutty cheerleading unis .... doubt it. BSU wins.
REAL GAMES (unless the Big11 is involved. Garrrrgarrrrgarrr)
Indiana @ #7 Wisco. Oh, the Badgers still think they can win a spot into the BCS title game? That is so cute. They'll need TCU AND BSU AND OREGON AND AUBURN AND LSU to all lose at least once more....Won't happen. They'll have to settle for a win over the Hoosiers.
No.13 Iowa @ Northwestern. My PXP partner Bob Houghton is a Mildkitten alum, but he is the only person in the world that thinks NU can beat Iowa. I will say that Big11 Commish Paul Mac dropped Northwestern's coach's name Pat Fitzgerald as perhaps the next coach of Penn State (he is a "student" there now at PSU) so I will go with his insider knowledge here. Could an upset win over Iowa get him the job? Perhaps. I'll stick with Iowa.
South Florida @ Louisville. Davey Pollack is calling this game for ESPNU. Hey Pollack, you were a 3X All-American at Georgia. Could you please tell them to stop calling you Davey? I would say beat them up if they do it again, but they might fight dirty and turtle your C4. Nevermind. South Florida wins on the road.
BC @ Duke. I have decided that, since I love my country, I will be rooting for Duke this season because Coach K is Team USA basketball's head coach. Actually, does that make me UN-American to root FOR Duke basketball? That Kyle Singler is UGLY. And Coach K is a whiner. Hmmmm this could be difficult. I am CERTAINLY picking against Duke in this game because they beat UVa last week. BC wins! Take that Duke. PS Krzyzewski. I got it RIGHT!
Cincy @ West Va. Amazing how the winner of the Big East gets a BCS bid. If ONLY Georgia had beaten West Va in that Sugar Bowl, then maybe the conference would have gone away. Now though, one of these two COULD be in an $11M bowl game......If I have to...West Va.
Minnesota @ Illinois. Zook against an interim coach. Now if Zook gets outcoached by this temporary coach, do you think he will be replaced by this guy? Actually, Zookie may take his team to a bowl game. If so, Get ready Illini fans: ANOTHER YEAR OF THE ZOOKER! This game helps the bowl game eligibility!
Michigan @ Purdue. Hopefully Michigan doesn't take a bus to West Lafayette. Otherwise they might kill themselves due to boredom from having to drive through Indiana. If Mighigan flies in, Hugh Jackmans win.
Ole Miss @ Tennessee. Hey Vols, you guys are Terrible. And I am rooting for the Rebel Black Bears to beat the Germans here. Masoli could probably beat the Vols with only 7 other guys with him on offense. The Tennessee Germans are not that good. Rebs over Krauts.
#24 K-State @ #17 Mizzou. Ahhhh Big 12 North Action. It doesn't get ANY better than that! Wait, nevermind. It totally does. Just go to a Golden Corral. That is better than this Big 12 North matchup. Too bad as an SEC East fan, I must admit that the B12N is better than SECE this year. Cripes. Mizzou at home is winner-winner-chicken-dinner.
Wake at NC State. It is SOOOO tough to go on the road in the ACC (snicker...) so THAT is why I am going with The Wolfpack. Well, that and Russell Wilson. PS, Tom O'Brien, are you telling me that when Wilson is fielding grounders next year in Colorado's minor league, you have a better QB on your roster than Taylor Heinicke of Collins Hill or Kent Rollins of South Gwinnett? Come on. And Wake Forest, I'm looking at you too! Next year when these two play, it should be Rollins v Heinicke under center.
#14 Utah @ Notre Dame. So when Joe Theismann came on 680 The Fan's Rude Awakening yesterday, instead of discussing the Falcons game on NFLN that Theismann was calling that night, Leo Mazzone was asking him about Notre Dame. WHY LEO? Notre Dame is going to lose and HE IS THERE TO DISCUSS THE NFL! Leo should get the boot from the morning show and bring on Home Team! Let Leo stick to the Braves coverage, which he can barely even do.
Penn State @ 9 Ohio State. Now that JoePa has win #400, will he go away now? I actually don't think he should get credit for the past 8 seasons worth of wins since I don't think he's been doing anything but just pooping in his depends. I would do my JoePa voice, but you cannot hear that. Too bad. Sweatervest wins.
Texas Tech @ #16 Oklahoma. Hey Sooners, way to play sucky enough that I cannot wear my favorite hat on my dogwalks or to the gym. If it was a Georgia hat, I'd wear it anyways as I am an alum, but my OU hat I can ONLY wear if they are good. And they AREN'T right now. But don't think for one SECOND I won't be rocking my TT huggie for this game. OU wins, but I will be rooting for Tubs.
Maryland @ UVa. Perhaps UVa's losing to Duke last week wasn't so bad. Perhaps it gave Maryland the idea that the Wahoos will just roll over. Enhhhh I doubt it. Maryland knows that it isn't very good and will take Virginia seriously. The Wahoos get the running game going and if so, I'm taking Virginia. Hopefully, London doesn't fall to the turf again after the win and fail to shake Ralphie hand like he nearly did with Shannon. (PS, which Ralphie is bigger: Maryland's coach or Colorado's buffalo?)
Louisiana-Monroe @ #5 LSU. I was about to mock LSU for playing these guys this late in the year, but that's right, I was in Sanford Stadium last week when Georgia played Idaho State....Boise State's SECOND toughest game this year!
Kansas @ #8 Nebraska. NU could very well win two straight conference titles this year and next and in TWO DIFFERENT CONFERENCES. That would be AWESOME. Huskers shuck the Jayhawks.
UTEP @ #15 Arkie. Thanks Mallet for beating SoCar last week. Too bad you beat Georgia earlier this year, making that win yesterdy mean NOTHING for the Dawgs. Actually, Georgia's loss to Florida made last week's Arkie win meaningless for Georgia. CRAP! Mallet wins again!
#25 TAMU @ Baylor. Did I see everything correctly last week: Baylor was RANKED? Then they promptly wet the bed. OK. Order is restored. But with the football team beating Texas and getting a ranking with the success of the BBall squad, is this the best Calendar year EVER for Baylor? I say yes. That comes to an end with a TAMU win.
No.23 SoCar @ #22 Florida. I think I saw where the Lamecocks have NEVER beaten the Gators in the swamp. Hmmmm. I cannot see SoCar rising up and winning this one. YET ANOTHER November swoon for the Gamecocks. Too bad Georgia always plays them in week two before they break down. Hey Greg Mac, do something about that!
#1 Oregon @ Cal. Did I hear someone say that Oregon might lose to Cal this week? Seriously? A Jeff Tedford coached team? He had Aaron Rogers and DeSean Jackson and never beat USC! Quack Quack
#6 Stanford @ Arizona State. I still giggle when I think about the Sun Devils fans giving the Shocker sign as encouragement to the team. Stanford wins. easily.
USC @ 18 Arizona. I watched the Wildcats get blown out by Stanford the other day. Paper Wildcats they are at No.18. But I am TOTALLY rooting for them to smack Lane Kiffin down. You've got to think that in Tucson, Stoops can get it done. You'd think, right? Right?....
Clemson @ FSU. No Chris Ponder. But Dabo is coaching and while I LOVE Dabo, I am not sold on his ability to coach a BCS school. I'll have to go with FSU to win its second game against Klimpsen in the last six years.
Specialties of the house:
Lock of the week
#21 Miss State @ #12 Alabama. The Tide lost last week. Miss State is dealing with the Cam Newton situation. And oh yeah, the Tide lost last week. You think Saban is losing two in a row? Tide Rooooooooooooooooooooooolllllls.
Upset of the week
#20 VaTech @ UNC. Virginia Tech had an extra few days after beating GT at home last Thursday, but I kind of get the feeling that the Hokies may be a little full of themselves. UNC's QB TJ Yates is FINALLY starting to put everything together and with the UNC suspension mess over with, perhaps the remaining Heels rally up and show a glimpse of what they could have been with a victory over the Hokies.
Local flavor
Miami @ Georgia Tech. No Nesbitt but Washington played well against the Hokies. Now there is tape out there on him though. Miami has a bunch of playmakers that run to the ball. Too bad for Miami that Randy Shannon is still coaching them. If he loses this one, watch out for Tubs making a move to South Beach. Tough call here. I'm going with Miami. I like their backup QB better than GT's.
FINALLY, THE GEORGIA BULLDOGS HEAD TO AUBURN TO FACE THE TIGERS.
How in the world is Georgia going to go TO Auburn, face the No.2 team in the country with the Heisman favorite (before the money crap started) and walk out with a win? Auburn is undefeated and Georgia has lost 4 conference games! How will Georgia even THINK about smelling a victory? Aaron Murray is a freshman for Pete's sake! He didn't play well in a close loss to Florida (well he did well in the second half). He lost to Colorado!
Wait, this is starting to sound like 2006 when a Georgia freshman QB lost a close game to Florida then traveled to Auburn to face a top five team. Hmmmmmm. I wonder what happened that year? Oh, the Dawgs won the first of four straight against the Tigers? Could that happen again?
Georgia has players, just like Auburn, let's not kid ourselves. AJ Green will be the best player on the field (sorry Newton, but it is a fact). And the Georgia offensive line may not run-block very well, but they do pass-block pretty well. Georgia has some pieces (READ; Houston, Justin) to make Newton have to throw the ball, and Branden Smith is back (which means Vance Cuff and Sanders Commings aren't on the field at the same time! Victory for Georgia there) along-side Boykin.
I'm not predicting a Georgia win, but let's not think that the Tigers are going to toss Georgia aside like a stolen laptop through a dorm windown.
Well I realized that I IN NO WAY affect Georgia's performance on the field (if I did, they'd never lose when I hear Pigs On Surfboards!), so I thought, "hey let's bring the picks back!"
So here we are. OH, I must say as well, be sure to tune in tonight to www.gpb.org/sports and link to the game of the week Woodstock @ Collins Hill in the first round of the playoffs. Coverage starts at 7pm
With no further ado.....
4 Boise State @ Idaho (Tonight). Believe it or not, THIS is the biggest road game on Boise State's schedule. Not a trip to Auburn. Not a trip to Southern Cal. Not a venture to Stanford. Not a visit to Columbus. Not a visit to Norman. A trip to Idaho. WOW. I don't know if the Broncos can handle a trip to Idaho. Maybe they'll be distracted by the slutty cheerleading unis .... doubt it. BSU wins.
REAL GAMES (unless the Big11 is involved. Garrrrgarrrrgarrr)
Indiana @ #7 Wisco. Oh, the Badgers still think they can win a spot into the BCS title game? That is so cute. They'll need TCU AND BSU AND OREGON AND AUBURN AND LSU to all lose at least once more....Won't happen. They'll have to settle for a win over the Hoosiers.
No.13 Iowa @ Northwestern. My PXP partner Bob Houghton is a Mildkitten alum, but he is the only person in the world that thinks NU can beat Iowa. I will say that Big11 Commish Paul Mac dropped Northwestern's coach's name Pat Fitzgerald as perhaps the next coach of Penn State (he is a "student" there now at PSU) so I will go with his insider knowledge here. Could an upset win over Iowa get him the job? Perhaps. I'll stick with Iowa.
South Florida @ Louisville. Davey Pollack is calling this game for ESPNU. Hey Pollack, you were a 3X All-American at Georgia. Could you please tell them to stop calling you Davey? I would say beat them up if they do it again, but they might fight dirty and turtle your C4. Nevermind. South Florida wins on the road.
BC @ Duke. I have decided that, since I love my country, I will be rooting for Duke this season because Coach K is Team USA basketball's head coach. Actually, does that make me UN-American to root FOR Duke basketball? That Kyle Singler is UGLY. And Coach K is a whiner. Hmmmm this could be difficult. I am CERTAINLY picking against Duke in this game because they beat UVa last week. BC wins! Take that Duke. PS Krzyzewski. I got it RIGHT!
Cincy @ West Va. Amazing how the winner of the Big East gets a BCS bid. If ONLY Georgia had beaten West Va in that Sugar Bowl, then maybe the conference would have gone away. Now though, one of these two COULD be in an $11M bowl game......If I have to...West Va.
Minnesota @ Illinois. Zook against an interim coach. Now if Zook gets outcoached by this temporary coach, do you think he will be replaced by this guy? Actually, Zookie may take his team to a bowl game. If so, Get ready Illini fans: ANOTHER YEAR OF THE ZOOKER! This game helps the bowl game eligibility!
Michigan @ Purdue. Hopefully Michigan doesn't take a bus to West Lafayette. Otherwise they might kill themselves due to boredom from having to drive through Indiana. If Mighigan flies in, Hugh Jackmans win.
Ole Miss @ Tennessee. Hey Vols, you guys are Terrible. And I am rooting for the Rebel Black Bears to beat the Germans here. Masoli could probably beat the Vols with only 7 other guys with him on offense. The Tennessee Germans are not that good. Rebs over Krauts.
#24 K-State @ #17 Mizzou. Ahhhh Big 12 North Action. It doesn't get ANY better than that! Wait, nevermind. It totally does. Just go to a Golden Corral. That is better than this Big 12 North matchup. Too bad as an SEC East fan, I must admit that the B12N is better than SECE this year. Cripes. Mizzou at home is winner-winner-chicken-dinner.
Wake at NC State. It is SOOOO tough to go on the road in the ACC (snicker...) so THAT is why I am going with The Wolfpack. Well, that and Russell Wilson. PS, Tom O'Brien, are you telling me that when Wilson is fielding grounders next year in Colorado's minor league, you have a better QB on your roster than Taylor Heinicke of Collins Hill or Kent Rollins of South Gwinnett? Come on. And Wake Forest, I'm looking at you too! Next year when these two play, it should be Rollins v Heinicke under center.
#14 Utah @ Notre Dame. So when Joe Theismann came on 680 The Fan's Rude Awakening yesterday, instead of discussing the Falcons game on NFLN that Theismann was calling that night, Leo Mazzone was asking him about Notre Dame. WHY LEO? Notre Dame is going to lose and HE IS THERE TO DISCUSS THE NFL! Leo should get the boot from the morning show and bring on Home Team! Let Leo stick to the Braves coverage, which he can barely even do.
Penn State @ 9 Ohio State. Now that JoePa has win #400, will he go away now? I actually don't think he should get credit for the past 8 seasons worth of wins since I don't think he's been doing anything but just pooping in his depends. I would do my JoePa voice, but you cannot hear that. Too bad. Sweatervest wins.
Texas Tech @ #16 Oklahoma. Hey Sooners, way to play sucky enough that I cannot wear my favorite hat on my dogwalks or to the gym. If it was a Georgia hat, I'd wear it anyways as I am an alum, but my OU hat I can ONLY wear if they are good. And they AREN'T right now. But don't think for one SECOND I won't be rocking my TT huggie for this game. OU wins, but I will be rooting for Tubs.
Maryland @ UVa. Perhaps UVa's losing to Duke last week wasn't so bad. Perhaps it gave Maryland the idea that the Wahoos will just roll over. Enhhhh I doubt it. Maryland knows that it isn't very good and will take Virginia seriously. The Wahoos get the running game going and if so, I'm taking Virginia. Hopefully, London doesn't fall to the turf again after the win and fail to shake Ralphie hand like he nearly did with Shannon. (PS, which Ralphie is bigger: Maryland's coach or Colorado's buffalo?)
Louisiana-Monroe @ #5 LSU. I was about to mock LSU for playing these guys this late in the year, but that's right, I was in Sanford Stadium last week when Georgia played Idaho State....Boise State's SECOND toughest game this year!
Kansas @ #8 Nebraska. NU could very well win two straight conference titles this year and next and in TWO DIFFERENT CONFERENCES. That would be AWESOME. Huskers shuck the Jayhawks.
UTEP @ #15 Arkie. Thanks Mallet for beating SoCar last week. Too bad you beat Georgia earlier this year, making that win yesterdy mean NOTHING for the Dawgs. Actually, Georgia's loss to Florida made last week's Arkie win meaningless for Georgia. CRAP! Mallet wins again!
#25 TAMU @ Baylor. Did I see everything correctly last week: Baylor was RANKED? Then they promptly wet the bed. OK. Order is restored. But with the football team beating Texas and getting a ranking with the success of the BBall squad, is this the best Calendar year EVER for Baylor? I say yes. That comes to an end with a TAMU win.
No.23 SoCar @ #22 Florida. I think I saw where the Lamecocks have NEVER beaten the Gators in the swamp. Hmmmm. I cannot see SoCar rising up and winning this one. YET ANOTHER November swoon for the Gamecocks. Too bad Georgia always plays them in week two before they break down. Hey Greg Mac, do something about that!
#1 Oregon @ Cal. Did I hear someone say that Oregon might lose to Cal this week? Seriously? A Jeff Tedford coached team? He had Aaron Rogers and DeSean Jackson and never beat USC! Quack Quack
#6 Stanford @ Arizona State. I still giggle when I think about the Sun Devils fans giving the Shocker sign as encouragement to the team. Stanford wins. easily.
USC @ 18 Arizona. I watched the Wildcats get blown out by Stanford the other day. Paper Wildcats they are at No.18. But I am TOTALLY rooting for them to smack Lane Kiffin down. You've got to think that in Tucson, Stoops can get it done. You'd think, right? Right?....
Clemson @ FSU. No Chris Ponder. But Dabo is coaching and while I LOVE Dabo, I am not sold on his ability to coach a BCS school. I'll have to go with FSU to win its second game against Klimpsen in the last six years.
Specialties of the house:
Lock of the week
#21 Miss State @ #12 Alabama. The Tide lost last week. Miss State is dealing with the Cam Newton situation. And oh yeah, the Tide lost last week. You think Saban is losing two in a row? Tide Rooooooooooooooooooooooolllllls.
Upset of the week
#20 VaTech @ UNC. Virginia Tech had an extra few days after beating GT at home last Thursday, but I kind of get the feeling that the Hokies may be a little full of themselves. UNC's QB TJ Yates is FINALLY starting to put everything together and with the UNC suspension mess over with, perhaps the remaining Heels rally up and show a glimpse of what they could have been with a victory over the Hokies.
Local flavor
Miami @ Georgia Tech. No Nesbitt but Washington played well against the Hokies. Now there is tape out there on him though. Miami has a bunch of playmakers that run to the ball. Too bad for Miami that Randy Shannon is still coaching them. If he loses this one, watch out for Tubs making a move to South Beach. Tough call here. I'm going with Miami. I like their backup QB better than GT's.
FINALLY, THE GEORGIA BULLDOGS HEAD TO AUBURN TO FACE THE TIGERS.
How in the world is Georgia going to go TO Auburn, face the No.2 team in the country with the Heisman favorite (before the money crap started) and walk out with a win? Auburn is undefeated and Georgia has lost 4 conference games! How will Georgia even THINK about smelling a victory? Aaron Murray is a freshman for Pete's sake! He didn't play well in a close loss to Florida (well he did well in the second half). He lost to Colorado!
Wait, this is starting to sound like 2006 when a Georgia freshman QB lost a close game to Florida then traveled to Auburn to face a top five team. Hmmmmmm. I wonder what happened that year? Oh, the Dawgs won the first of four straight against the Tigers? Could that happen again?
Georgia has players, just like Auburn, let's not kid ourselves. AJ Green will be the best player on the field (sorry Newton, but it is a fact). And the Georgia offensive line may not run-block very well, but they do pass-block pretty well. Georgia has some pieces (READ; Houston, Justin) to make Newton have to throw the ball, and Branden Smith is back (which means Vance Cuff and Sanders Commings aren't on the field at the same time! Victory for Georgia there) along-side Boykin.
I'm not predicting a Georgia win, but let's not think that the Tigers are going to toss Georgia aside like a stolen laptop through a dorm windown.
Thoughts on the Falcons game last night...
We should hear from our ON SITE correspondent Paul Mac soon, once his hangover wears off, but some of my quick thoughts. I tweeted more about it. Click to the right and view my Twitter thoughts. And follow me! @fproctor
Any holdover from the MV7 era needs to shut up. They'll still chirp that MR2 has never won a playoff game, but once he takes his squad to the NFC championship game (and likely a super bowl. could be THIS YEAR) they will have to shut up FOREVER. ALL of their ground will be taken away. I will love to here though what the Vickophant says today about Matty Ice.
Ryan's numbers: 32-50, 312 3 TDs, 80-yard game-winning drive with 65 seconds left, and he only needed 45 seconds. I guess he CAN throw it and not just serve as a game-manager.
EVERYONE across the country will be talking about this for the next 72 hours.
If you are a Falcons fan, that was probably the BEST way for that game to go. You jump out but Baltimore rallies. Now NO ONE can say, "Oh, well the Ravens were on a short week, that's why you guys won 20-14." Nope. The Ravens gave your their BEST SHOT, you took it and you PUNCHED THEM RIGHT BACK!
Hopefully we can get Paul Mac weighing in on this one later!
Any holdover from the MV7 era needs to shut up. They'll still chirp that MR2 has never won a playoff game, but once he takes his squad to the NFC championship game (and likely a super bowl. could be THIS YEAR) they will have to shut up FOREVER. ALL of their ground will be taken away. I will love to here though what the Vickophant says today about Matty Ice.
Ryan's numbers: 32-50, 312 3 TDs, 80-yard game-winning drive with 65 seconds left, and he only needed 45 seconds. I guess he CAN throw it and not just serve as a game-manager.
EVERYONE across the country will be talking about this for the next 72 hours.
If you are a Falcons fan, that was probably the BEST way for that game to go. You jump out but Baltimore rallies. Now NO ONE can say, "Oh, well the Ravens were on a short week, that's why you guys won 20-14." Nope. The Ravens gave your their BEST SHOT, you took it and you PUNCHED THEM RIGHT BACK!
Hopefully we can get Paul Mac weighing in on this one later!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Paul Mac says Falcons win a close one tonight
Matty Ice defeats Joe Cool on a late 4th quarter drive for a score.
Despite the fact that this is an AFC contest and therefore "less important" in the grand scheme of things, It has the feel of a huge game. I do tend to wonder how seriously the Falcons Brass is taking this one. Obviously it's not the end of the world to lose this game and almost no one thought before the year they would win this one. But....why would you concede this game? Because the Ravens have defensive playmakers? So do we. The Ravens have national cache because they have 15 year linebacker Ray Lewis and Ed Reed who are two of the greatest players in the past decade. That said, they haven't run the ball worth a crap this year and despite their newly robust WR arsenal they are only averaging 22 pts a game against the Falcons 25. I'm still hoping Roddy White is a go for tonight. I think this is a game the Falcons have to win to get respect and even then people are going to say...well they got them at home. No one wants to give the Falcons who have an excellent coach, GM and QB any credit but here they are at 6-2 and playing well. I expect the Falcons to win tonight because I believe Matt Ryan can get it done on offense and I believe Curtis Lofton despite his sore knee can anchor the Falcons defense on this short week. I know Ray Lewis is going to have a monster game, he always does... but if Ovie Mughelli can block him effectively a few times...this should equal a Falcons victory maybe on the leg of Matt Bryant, though It would be nice to see Thomas Decoud or Brent Grimes jump a quick out and take it to the house for a cheap 6.
I have a feeling this will be memorable, much like the Carolina game on Sunday Night in 2003 when Vick Returned. I still have that ticket graced with a fist pumping Patrick Kerney... December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day) 2003 8:30 in the Georgia Dome SEC 134 Row 4 seat 15...two seats down from Andrew Jones. This game has been known forever as "the levitation game" when Vick came back from the vicious preseason ankle injury (given to him by the Ravens) and I forget who the corner was but the Falcons won it in overtime on an interception return.
I don't know how it's going to happen, but there is magic in the air. Matt Ryan needs a signature prime time win. He gets it tonight.
Despite the fact that this is an AFC contest and therefore "less important" in the grand scheme of things, It has the feel of a huge game. I do tend to wonder how seriously the Falcons Brass is taking this one. Obviously it's not the end of the world to lose this game and almost no one thought before the year they would win this one. But....why would you concede this game? Because the Ravens have defensive playmakers? So do we. The Ravens have national cache because they have 15 year linebacker Ray Lewis and Ed Reed who are two of the greatest players in the past decade. That said, they haven't run the ball worth a crap this year and despite their newly robust WR arsenal they are only averaging 22 pts a game against the Falcons 25. I'm still hoping Roddy White is a go for tonight. I think this is a game the Falcons have to win to get respect and even then people are going to say...well they got them at home. No one wants to give the Falcons who have an excellent coach, GM and QB any credit but here they are at 6-2 and playing well. I expect the Falcons to win tonight because I believe Matt Ryan can get it done on offense and I believe Curtis Lofton despite his sore knee can anchor the Falcons defense on this short week. I know Ray Lewis is going to have a monster game, he always does... but if Ovie Mughelli can block him effectively a few times...this should equal a Falcons victory maybe on the leg of Matt Bryant, though It would be nice to see Thomas Decoud or Brent Grimes jump a quick out and take it to the house for a cheap 6.
I have a feeling this will be memorable, much like the Carolina game on Sunday Night in 2003 when Vick Returned. I still have that ticket graced with a fist pumping Patrick Kerney... December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day) 2003 8:30 in the Georgia Dome SEC 134 Row 4 seat 15...two seats down from Andrew Jones. This game has been known forever as "the levitation game" when Vick came back from the vicious preseason ankle injury (given to him by the Ravens) and I forget who the corner was but the Falcons won it in overtime on an interception return.
I don't know how it's going to happen, but there is magic in the air. Matt Ryan needs a signature prime time win. He gets it tonight.
SBF/Hooters takes a stab at the 2010-11 MCBB season-part2
SportsbyFletch and Hooters Magazine continue to look at the 2010-11 season by breaking down the REST of the Mid-majors. Yesterday, we looked at the Majors and the major-mid-majors. If you missed it, click here. Georgia gets underway tomorrow without Trey Thompkins and it may be a few more weeks until the preseason SEC player of the year suits up. Hopefully he'll be back by the start of conference play when the Hoop Dawgs will make a run at the Big Dance. PS, Georgia pulled in all three of its pledges yesterday when three LOI rolled across the fax machine including one of the best players in the country Kentavious Caldwell signed with the Dawgs. The class will get a boost when Nick Marshall, a potential SG/Wing signs with the football team in February.
The America East Conference contains teams from the northeast corner of the country, just like the name would imply. Last season Stony Brook took the regular season title with a 13-3 record but expect Vermont to build off its conference title run of one year ago and contend once again for a Big Dance spot. Binghamton was down last season after a conference title in 2009. Watch out for the Bearcats in 2010.
In the Atlantic Sun, watch out for Belmont this season. After going 19-12 last year, the Bruins appear ready to break back into the tournament field. East Tennessee State has claimed the last two conference tournament championships but Belmont looks to be a force in 2011. Campbell also struggled in the conference tournament and will look to bounce back this year.
Last season in the Big Sky conference championship game, Montana nipped Weber State thanks in large part to Anthony Johnson. Johnson has moved on to Greece but the Grizzlies had a fine recruiting class as they try to keep Weber State at bay. Northern Colorado had a fine 2010 season and could carry some of that momentum into this campaign.
The Big South Conference is one of the more popular mid-majors for major conference teams looking for a coach. Winthrop and VMI have had coaches plucked over the last decade and this year Radford coach Brad Greenberg could be the next moving up the ranks. Coastal Carolina is still the class of the conference though as Cliff Ellis has the horses to once again approach 30 wins after coming up just short last season. Don’t sleep on Radford though. The Highlanders are capable of pulling off a stunner at anytime.
The Big West could be called the Pac-10 California leftovers, but these teams play hard and UC Santa Barbara has two conference titles in the last three years to prove it. UCSB won twenty games last season and could very well exceed that number this season but Pacific and Cal State-Fullerton are in the rearview window, looking to seize the title.
The Ivy League isn’t just a bunch of brains without any basketball ability. Over the years Harvard and Princeton have taken teams down to the wire and Cornell was the team to beat last year. This year, expect the strong recruiting classes of Harvard to be cashed in under Tommy Amaker, with Dee Giger making an impact for the Crimson.
If you are college basketball novice looking for a mid-major to follow, perhaps you should consider the MAAC. Siena is a perennial favorite and 2010-11 is no different. Last season Siena won 27 games and won the league title for the third straight season. Looking for a spoiler in the MAAC? Niagara has won 44 games the last two years combined and Fairfield won 23 games last year. Both could challenge Siena this season.
The Mid-American Conference is split into two divisions and the Eastern Division seems stronger this season than the West. Three teams in the East won 20 games last season with Buffalo knocking on the door of 20. This season, expect the East to once again beat up on the West with Akron and Ohio leading the charge.
Morgan State was the team to beat in the MEAC last season and don’t expect the Bears to go anywhere. Morgan State has won back-to-back conference titles and appeared in another title game in 2008 and while players must be replaced every year, Delaware State likely cannot overcome what the Bear have brewing.
The Missouri Valley Conference has had several positive experiences over the years in the NCAA tournament. Last season Northern Iowa had a magical tournament run, knocking off Kansas before bowing out to Michigan State. Don’t expect a repeat performance from the Panthers though as most of the stars from that team have since departed. Wichita State may take up the mantle as JT Durley and Toure Murry return to run Gregg Marshall’s unit. Marshall had some great runs with Winthrop and now is looking to take the Shockers to the next level.
The Northeast Conference has been dominated recently by one school with two names: Robert Morris. The Colonials have claimed the last two conference tournaments and won the regular season title in 2008. Look for Robert Morris once again to claim double-digit conference wins but Quinnipiac, who tied the Colonials for the regular season title last year, could once again challenge.
The Ohio Valley Conference-champion Murray State Racers last season fell to eventual title runner-up Butler but not before making a name with a first-round upset of Vanderbilt. Isacc Miles and BJ Jenkins are both back as the Racers return eight of its top ten scorers from one year ago. A challenging non-conference schedule will only help Murray State become battle-tested as it tries to advance farther in the NCAA tourney after likely dispatching a weak OVC.
The Patriot League will be very patriotic this season if Jeff Jones’ American Eagles can make a run at a league crown. Jones has his top-three performers from last season back in Vlad Moldoveanu, Stephen Lumpkins and Nick Hendra, who should as upperclassmen, help American improve from its 7-7 conference record from last year. Leigh won 22 games last season but if Bucknell can put the pieces together, perhaps a new champ will emerge.
The Southern Conference was all the rage just two seasons ago as Steph Curry called Davidson home, but with Curry in Golden State last year, Davidson struggled to finish above .500. Expect the College of Charleston to build on last season and use its recruiting class to challenge Wofford for not just the South Division, but for the overall title. App State and Western Carolina will likely go at it again for the North Division title.
Sam Houston State finished atop the Southland standings last season but expect another name-school to challenge this season as Stephen F Austin will look to win its second title in the last three years. Both schools captured twenty-plus wins last season and both could be joined by Southeastern Louisiana in the twenty-win club this season. One potential sleeper for the conference title is Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as coach Perry Clark won 17 games last year. This year, he could win the Western Conference.
Jackson State dominated the SWAC last season, going 17-1 in conference play, but Jackson State must improve its out-of-conference record. The Tigers seemingly lost to everyone it played outside of the SWAC. Still look for the Tigers to once again dominate the conference as perhaps Arkansas-Pine Bluff can challenge. Alabama State could be one to watch after winning 12 conference games in the 2009-10 season.
Believe it or not, the Summit League boasted three twenty-win teams last season and thanks to good coaching in the mid-major conference, expect Oral Roberts and Oakland to be right up there again. IUPUI claimed 15 conference wins and could make a run at the automatic seed that goes to the winner of the conference tournament. Last year Oakland received the bid and gave Pittsburgh a scare as a 14-seed.
The Sun Belt Conference may be known for having the teams that everyone’s favorite college football team plays on Labor Day week, but recently the basketball has stepped up. Troy is a team to watch this season, especially after going 20-13 last season. The Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky are always well-coached as two WKU coaches have gone on to coach in the SEC. Last year Middle Tennessee State knocked on the door of twenty wins; expect them to kick the door down this season.
The America East Conference contains teams from the northeast corner of the country, just like the name would imply. Last season Stony Brook took the regular season title with a 13-3 record but expect Vermont to build off its conference title run of one year ago and contend once again for a Big Dance spot. Binghamton was down last season after a conference title in 2009. Watch out for the Bearcats in 2010.
In the Atlantic Sun, watch out for Belmont this season. After going 19-12 last year, the Bruins appear ready to break back into the tournament field. East Tennessee State has claimed the last two conference tournament championships but Belmont looks to be a force in 2011. Campbell also struggled in the conference tournament and will look to bounce back this year.
Last season in the Big Sky conference championship game, Montana nipped Weber State thanks in large part to Anthony Johnson. Johnson has moved on to Greece but the Grizzlies had a fine recruiting class as they try to keep Weber State at bay. Northern Colorado had a fine 2010 season and could carry some of that momentum into this campaign.
The Big South Conference is one of the more popular mid-majors for major conference teams looking for a coach. Winthrop and VMI have had coaches plucked over the last decade and this year Radford coach Brad Greenberg could be the next moving up the ranks. Coastal Carolina is still the class of the conference though as Cliff Ellis has the horses to once again approach 30 wins after coming up just short last season. Don’t sleep on Radford though. The Highlanders are capable of pulling off a stunner at anytime.
The Big West could be called the Pac-10 California leftovers, but these teams play hard and UC Santa Barbara has two conference titles in the last three years to prove it. UCSB won twenty games last season and could very well exceed that number this season but Pacific and Cal State-Fullerton are in the rearview window, looking to seize the title.
The Ivy League isn’t just a bunch of brains without any basketball ability. Over the years Harvard and Princeton have taken teams down to the wire and Cornell was the team to beat last year. This year, expect the strong recruiting classes of Harvard to be cashed in under Tommy Amaker, with Dee Giger making an impact for the Crimson.
If you are college basketball novice looking for a mid-major to follow, perhaps you should consider the MAAC. Siena is a perennial favorite and 2010-11 is no different. Last season Siena won 27 games and won the league title for the third straight season. Looking for a spoiler in the MAAC? Niagara has won 44 games the last two years combined and Fairfield won 23 games last year. Both could challenge Siena this season.
The Mid-American Conference is split into two divisions and the Eastern Division seems stronger this season than the West. Three teams in the East won 20 games last season with Buffalo knocking on the door of 20. This season, expect the East to once again beat up on the West with Akron and Ohio leading the charge.
Morgan State was the team to beat in the MEAC last season and don’t expect the Bears to go anywhere. Morgan State has won back-to-back conference titles and appeared in another title game in 2008 and while players must be replaced every year, Delaware State likely cannot overcome what the Bear have brewing.
The Missouri Valley Conference has had several positive experiences over the years in the NCAA tournament. Last season Northern Iowa had a magical tournament run, knocking off Kansas before bowing out to Michigan State. Don’t expect a repeat performance from the Panthers though as most of the stars from that team have since departed. Wichita State may take up the mantle as JT Durley and Toure Murry return to run Gregg Marshall’s unit. Marshall had some great runs with Winthrop and now is looking to take the Shockers to the next level.
The Northeast Conference has been dominated recently by one school with two names: Robert Morris. The Colonials have claimed the last two conference tournaments and won the regular season title in 2008. Look for Robert Morris once again to claim double-digit conference wins but Quinnipiac, who tied the Colonials for the regular season title last year, could once again challenge.
The Ohio Valley Conference-champion Murray State Racers last season fell to eventual title runner-up Butler but not before making a name with a first-round upset of Vanderbilt. Isacc Miles and BJ Jenkins are both back as the Racers return eight of its top ten scorers from one year ago. A challenging non-conference schedule will only help Murray State become battle-tested as it tries to advance farther in the NCAA tourney after likely dispatching a weak OVC.
The Patriot League will be very patriotic this season if Jeff Jones’ American Eagles can make a run at a league crown. Jones has his top-three performers from last season back in Vlad Moldoveanu, Stephen Lumpkins and Nick Hendra, who should as upperclassmen, help American improve from its 7-7 conference record from last year. Leigh won 22 games last season but if Bucknell can put the pieces together, perhaps a new champ will emerge.
The Southern Conference was all the rage just two seasons ago as Steph Curry called Davidson home, but with Curry in Golden State last year, Davidson struggled to finish above .500. Expect the College of Charleston to build on last season and use its recruiting class to challenge Wofford for not just the South Division, but for the overall title. App State and Western Carolina will likely go at it again for the North Division title.
Sam Houston State finished atop the Southland standings last season but expect another name-school to challenge this season as Stephen F Austin will look to win its second title in the last three years. Both schools captured twenty-plus wins last season and both could be joined by Southeastern Louisiana in the twenty-win club this season. One potential sleeper for the conference title is Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as coach Perry Clark won 17 games last year. This year, he could win the Western Conference.
Jackson State dominated the SWAC last season, going 17-1 in conference play, but Jackson State must improve its out-of-conference record. The Tigers seemingly lost to everyone it played outside of the SWAC. Still look for the Tigers to once again dominate the conference as perhaps Arkansas-Pine Bluff can challenge. Alabama State could be one to watch after winning 12 conference games in the 2009-10 season.
Believe it or not, the Summit League boasted three twenty-win teams last season and thanks to good coaching in the mid-major conference, expect Oral Roberts and Oakland to be right up there again. IUPUI claimed 15 conference wins and could make a run at the automatic seed that goes to the winner of the conference tournament. Last year Oakland received the bid and gave Pittsburgh a scare as a 14-seed.
The Sun Belt Conference may be known for having the teams that everyone’s favorite college football team plays on Labor Day week, but recently the basketball has stepped up. Troy is a team to watch this season, especially after going 20-13 last season. The Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky are always well-coached as two WKU coaches have gone on to coach in the SEC. Last year Middle Tennessee State knocked on the door of twenty wins; expect them to kick the door down this season.
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