SB Nation - Reshad Jones

Georgia Bulldogs 31, Auburn Tigers 24

T Kyle King — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:30:06 -0000

Games between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers are not always close---see 2004 and 2007---but, historically, this has been a series hallmarked by tight ballgames, as befits a rivalry as ancient and storied as this one. Of the 113 clashes between these two teams, 49 have been decided by seven or fewer points. On average, more than two out of every five meetings between the Bulldogs and the Plainsmen have been nailbiters. So it was in Sanford Stadium last night.

Georgia recorded eighteen first downs and Auburn recorded eighteen first downs. Georgia converted five third downs and Auburn converted five third downs, which is baffling to me, since it seemed like the Tigers converted at least a dozen third-and-longs. Georgia ran the ball 38 times and Auburn ran the ball 38 times. Georgia tallied 342 yards of total offense, a mere 33 feet shy of the mark attained by Auburn. Had the Tigers held the pigskin for 47 fewer seconds, the time of possession would have been exactly even, which is remarkable, given the decided advantage the Plainsmen held in the early going. Despite the similar endings of the respective contests, this game, unlike the South Carolina game, was every bit as close as the score indicated.

It didn’t look that way from the get-go, though. Half an hour before kickoff, I entered Sanford Stadium accompanied by an overwhelming sense of dread, assured of the doom that awaited the ‘Dawgs, and nothing I saw in the opening period disabused me of my dour preconceptions. Auburn opened the game with a nine-play, 74-yard drive that ended in a touchdown. Georgia responded by going three and out on an opening drive that lost four yards and included a Bulldog false start penalty. The Plainsmen proceeded to go 82 yards in eleven snaps to take a 14-0 lead and the Red and Black answered by picking up two yards in three plays before punting. In short, it was exactly the contest I anticipated it would be. After fifteen minutes of clock time had elapsed, the hedges were in jeopardy and the Tiger faithful were getting ready to party like it was 1999.

Joe Cox looked like Joe Cox at his worst . . . which is to say, he looked like Brandon Cox. Potentially big plays came up just short and the Bulldogs’ increasingly predictable menu of sweeps and screens routinely failed to gain. Willie Martinez’s defense played the way we have come to expect it to play. Seemingly one play out of every three went well for the Georgia D until the inevitable completion to the open receiver behind the linebackers and in front of the safeties. My 56-7 prediction wasn’t looking quite so outlandish as the second period got underway.

When we looked up at the scoreboard as the first half unfolded, we saw few statistics from which to take heart, but there were a couple for those among the Bulldog faithful who were willing to squint and search for them. Georgia had incurred fewer penalties and had shown at least a modicum of discipline, as when the defender very deliberately turned loose of the Auburn ballcarrier he had ridden out of bounds before drawing a flag for administering a late hit. The ‘Dawgs hadn’t moved the ball, but they hadn’t turned it over, either. It was, as my uncle has been known to remark, bad, but it wasn’t so bad.

Then Cox connected with Israel Troupe on a 50-yard touchdown pass to put Georgia on the board and allow the Classic City Canines to go to the locker room at halftime down by a single score. A 51-yard Blair Walsh field goal cut the deficit to four points and Washaun Ealey capped off a four-and-a-half-minute drive spanning 82 yards in eight plays with a one-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs the lead. Son of a gun, we were in this thing! It had taken a decidedly lucky bounce on a would-be interception that turned into an Orson Charles reception, but the Bulldogs were out in front in a game that had appeared as though it might get out of hand.

Auburn wasn’t done, of course; the Tigers’ turnaround has been too genuine, and the spirit of the rivalry is too strong, for us ever to expect the Plainsmen to curl up into the fetal position at the first sign of adversity. A doinked field goal by Wes Byrum---whom Orson Swindle had told me at Tent City earlier in the evening that he would run down with his automobile if given the opportunity---sent the contest to the final quarter tied at 17.

Tavarres King redeemed his earlier drop of what ought to have been a touchdown pass by snagging a 47-yard reception on the first snap of the fourth stanza. One play later, Caleb King was in the end zone and the hometown heroes had retaken the lead. The Georgia edge lasted only as long as it took Demond Washington to take a pretty decent kickoff at the one yard line and weave 99 yards downfield for the tying touchdown.

The Bulldogs got the ball back and punted. The Plainsmen took possession and Reshad Jones intercepted a Chris Todd pass. A personal foul penalty against---wait for it---a team other than Georgia set up the Red and Black inside the Auburn 40 yard line. Three Ealey carries gave the ‘Dawgs a first down inside the 25 and Caleb King covered the remaining ground for a touchdown.

Once again, the Tigers refused to run and hide. Auburn held the ball for the next fourteen plays, running almost six minutes off the clock while marching 40 yards downfield. The Plainsmen picked up five first downs in the course of the drive, the last of which came on a fourth-down conversion that carried the visitors to the Georgia 22 yard line.

On first down, Ben Tate was halted for a one-yard loss. On second down, an electrified Sanford Stadium was given a severe scare when Bacarri Rambo went down after delivering the touchdown-saving hit that separated the intended receiver from the football. There were two more downs to be played, but, truthfully, the game was over when Rambo, strapped immobile to a backboard and lifted onto the cart upon which he would be whisked away to receive medical attention, raised his right arm and gave the crowd the thumbs up that signaled to us that he would be all right. There would be no 2005-like fourth-down heroics by the Tigers this night.

Inevitably, the Alabamians moved backwards. Cornelius Washington dropped Todd for a seven-yard loss on third down. Back-to-back Auburn time outs could not stop the roaring crowd from inducing perhaps the most flagrant false start in the history of college football. Todd’s final desperate toss on fourth and 23 fell incomplete, and all that was left was what my father calls "the prettiest play in football": your quarterback taking a knee to bleed the final seconds from the game clock.

I have yelled that loudly for that long, cheered that lustily and that elatedly, and applauded that strongly and that sincerely, in Sanford Stadium more than once before, but it’s been a while---actually, it’s been exactly two years, since the last time our guys beat these guys in this venue, in a game that yielded a victory only slightly more stirring than this one---and, despite what my head shrewdly tells me, there was no convincing my heart in that moment that there has ever been anything wrong with being a Georgia Bulldog that beating the Auburn Tigers couldn’t fix.

Oh, I know this doesn’t cure all our ills; a loss at historic Grant Field in two weeks appears all but certain, and a victory over the Kentucky Wildcats is far from a sure thing with Rambo and fellow injury victim A.J. Green sidelined for the duration. Nevertheless, for all the faults that fairly might be found with the Bulldogs’ performance between the hedges last night, I defy anyone to deny the truth of this statement: Georgia’s win over Auburn last night marked the best all-around performance by a Red and Black team since the win over Hawaii in the 2008 Sugar Bowl.

The foregoing statement probably is more of an indictment of the 22 games that preceded last night’s triumph than a praise of this latest Bulldog victory, but, at this point, I’ll take it, warts (which admittedly and undeniably were there) and all. Maybe it was a "dead cat bounce" and maybe it was the start of a 2006-like stretch run, but, either way, it was a fourth straight win over our oldest and biggest rival for the first time in my lifetime, and that, in my book, is cause for celebration, no matter what the occasion.

After the game, I went into the Tate Center to use the facilities---in the course of a tense game against a major rival, I become so focused that I essentially experience a cessation of all bodily functions, so I tend to come down from the rarefied air of game day by exiting the stadium and realizing, "I have to go to the bathroom and get something to eat, stat!"---and I found myself in line behind an Auburn fan. Since we both were standing there, I thought the civilized thing to do would be to extend my hand and say, "Good game," so I did.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and sarcastically snorted, "Yeah, ‘good game.’" He refused to shake my hand. I didn’t say another word to him; he took care of his business at his urinal and I took care of my business at mine, but it was a satisfying exchange that confirmed the basic correctness of my prejudices against his kind and reminded me why this rivalry matters, why this victory matters, and why I hate Auburn.

Go ‘Dawgs! Auburna delenda est!

Lane Kiffin gets the first notch in his belt

Will — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:00:21 -0000

More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

"Alright, I'm going to pretend like I was expecting this from you all along, okay? Just go with it."

Browse more photos »

In our Rocky Top Tennessee preseason annual, Josh McNeil said "Football is not fun if you lose. Period." It's a sentiment we can all relate to, especially in the last two years. And especially for McNeil, who added injury to insult in fall camp, probably lost millions of NFL dollars along the way and worst of all, appeared to have lost the ability to play football at all.

That's the same Josh McNeil we saw on the field in the waning moments today, with his hands on the football once more and, presumably, a smile on his face. For more than one reason. Because as little fun as we had all of last season, today was a welcome reminder that when you win - and you win like this - football is fun. Really, really fun.

The fact that we had the luxury of getting McNeil on the field at all is a good place to start. Because I always enjoy the games where you can't decide what you're most excited about:

The first big win for Lane Kiffin

Last year, the Vols suffered the most frustrating competitive loss in recent memory against Auburn, and were more or less noncompetitive in the rest of the big SEC games, losing by 20+ to Florida, Alabama and South Carolina. Plus, the Vols gave up 458 yards to Georgia and ran for one total yard themselves in a 26-14 loss.

This year, it's been competitive, but up until today that was all. We were close against Florida. Close against UCLA. We made it close at the end against Auburn. There was reason for hope.

But we needed more than hope. This program hadn't won a big game in two years, and Lane Kiffin needed a reason to be believed besides his work behind a microphone and in the living room on the recruiting trail.

The Clawfense was our hope once. But when it never became tangible, the players never had a reason to fully buy in, and that hope eventually collapsed and took everyone down with it. Phillip Fulmer's inability to keep the snowball from rolling downhill by winning a big game was the final nail in his coffin last season.

Kiffin was next in line to give us hope. But unlike last season, today he and the Vols got a return on that investment. A big one.

Any win would've been huge today. But the how of it all, in a 45-19 game that could've/should've been 45-3 if you remove special teams from the equation, gives Kiffin his big first win, and gives him something to hang his hat on. Now we've seen it, now we know for sure that this can work - players, fans, everyone. That's not to say that Kiffin is going to have success here forever, but when you win like that in your first year against one of your biggest rivals, you earn a whole lot of trust. Tennessee needed to win one of these big SEC games in the worst way. And turns out, we won in the very best way.

Georgia got 458 yards of offense last year. This year they got 241. Tennessee had 1 rushing yard last year. This year we got 162. And if you liked the running game...

Willie Martinez overtakes Jonathan Crompton for the "Most Likely to be Hated by His Own Fanbase" Award

At halftime, I told my friend next to me in Z11 that I didn't want to see Crompton's numbers. There was a Raiders of the Lost Ark feel about it - "Shut your eyes! Don't look at it!" - because what #8 did in the first half was so totally unnatural, I feared that seeing 12 of 15 for 205 yards and 3 TDs and then having my brain try to comprehend it might, in fact, make my face melt off.

Then in the second half, when the dreaded tipped ball pick six reared its ugly head and Georgia was right in the middle of one of those games it seems like that team always wins - statistically overmatched, but in it thanks to special teams and defensive touchdowns - Crompton went right back to work.

Let's take nothing away from him. That offensive performance was stunning, and he deserves every ounce of credit for his role in it. So do the receivers for catching almost everything - eight different Vols caught passes, and Gerald Jones gave us the type of go-to performance we've been waiting for with 105 yards and 2 TDs.

So does Montario Hardesty, for giving every defense a reason to be vulnerable to play action, and for continuing to be the best running back in the SEC.

Having said all of that...Georgia's defense? Yikes.

It's the biggest difference between on-paper and on-field I can remember in a long time. You looked at the names in August - Prince Miller, Rennie Curran, Geno Atkins, Jeff Owens, Reshad Jones - and figured they'd carry the slack for Joe Cox and the offense. You look at the numbers here in the second weekend of October, and see a defense that's given up 37+ points three times, 400+ yards three times, and made Jon Crompton and Stephen Garcia look like Peyton Manning and (insert good South Carolina quarterback here - Steve Tanneyhill does not count).

T Kyle King was on our podcast last week and said that Georgia's special teams should've taken some of the heat off Martinez after the LSU game. After the Tennessee game, whoever's responsible for special teams needs a raise...unless it's Martinez.

This leads to a larger point:

Georgia reminds me of Tennessee in the last few years of the Fulmer Era

They run a consistent offense that isn't "sexy" and, when it features Joe Cox instead of Matthew Stafford, isn't that consistent. They got a great young coach who brought them more success than they had seen in decades, but who has struggled to maintain that level of success on a consistent basis, and who is fiercely loyal to his assistants, for better or worse. Meanwhile, just as Fulmer watched the SEC go from a two-team race to everyone for themselves, Richt found his early success when Ron Zook was at Florida and the door was revolving in Tuscaloosa. Now the Tide and Gators are a step ahead of everyone else, LSU is still right behind them, and Georgia just got embarrassed by the new kid on the block. And the Dawgs will see the other new kid come November, and Gene Chizik certainly appeared to have Auburn moving in the right direction until Saturday.

And in this little game, Willie Martinez will be playing the role of Randy Sanders.

Between my total shock at Crompton's performance and the small but shared recognition I feel with Georgia fans, I didn't even fully enjoy their suffering in Neyland Stadim today. I still hope they enjoyed the long sad drive back down I-7-5, but you know.

Because we've been there. We've been Georgia. As a friend of mine said in the postgame, we've forded that river and lost two oxen.

I like it much better this way.

Georgia's offense never crossed the Tennessee 30 yard line

...no commentary necessary.

Staying Relevant

In a world where Florida has beaten you five years in a row and won two National Championships in the process, Alabama is back to being Alabama and LSU is also ahead of you, it was absolutely critical for Lane Kiffin to keep Tennessee from slipping any further in the SEC hierarchy.

Beating Georgia was, is, and always will be key for recruiting. By the way, what are the odds Coach O picked up the phone and called Marlon's Granny after the game today?

But it also pays off in the short term: being just the fifth best team in the SEC is still good enough to get you to January 1, and after that performance the conversations about bowl games move from if to where.

And even if I'm too busy feeling Georgia's pain to fully appreciate it the way I'd like to today, it should be noted and remembered that three of the last four years, the Vols have beaten the Dawgs 51-33, 35-14, and 45-19.

So now the bye week comes at the perfect time, as the Vols will carry some spring in their step to Tuscaloosa to face a tremendous challenge. And they'll face it not as a 2-4 team still looking for answers and their first big win, but a 3-3 team that isn't just hoping anymore...now we've seen it. Now we know.

Week Three BlogPoll Ballot Draft

T Kyle King — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:30:14 -0000

As I indicated earlier, Georgia night games and day-long Sunday church obligations are not conducive to my duties here at Dawg Sports, which include voting in the BlogPoll. This week’s top 25 is a modification of last week’s ballot, although, next week, I will begin working the resume ranking approach into the mix, so you should expect to see significant changes from this arrangement:

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Alabama	4
2	Texas	2
3	Florida	2
4	California	1
5	Southern Cal	3
6	Ohio State
7	Mississippi
8	Boise State
9	Oklahoma	2
10	UCLA	3
11	Miami (Florida)
12	Penn State	2
13	Virginia Tech	2
14	Florida State
15	Cincinnati	1
16	LSU	2
17	Brigham Young	8
18	Washington
19	TCU	7
20	Oklahoma State	1
21	North Carolina
22	Georgia
23	Georgia Tech	5
24	Oregon
25	Michigan	2
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Nebraska (#17), Pittsburgh (#19), Houston (#20), West Virginia (#24), Wisconsin (#25).

I felt badly about dropping the Penn St. Nittany Lions, the TCU Horned Frogs, the Pittsburgh Panthers, the Houston Cougars, the Michigan Wolverines, and the Wisconsin Badgers, but, for once, I felt like I had too many teams rather than too few.

On the whole, the Alabama Crimson Tide have looked like the more complete team than the Florida Gators, so the Red Elephants rose to the top spot while the Sunshine State Saurians dropped a couple of notches following their underwhelming performance against the Tennessee Volunteers. Where was 49-10 when we needed it, you bunch of orange-and-blue-wearing sissy-marys? Congratulations on earning Lane Kiffin a Charlie Weis-style contract extension, nancy-boys.

I really didn’t like moving the Texas Longhorns up after they played a back-and-forth game with the depleted Texas Tech Red Raiders, but what else was I going to do? The California Golden Bears let the Minnesota Golden Gophers hang around for far too long, I had to drop the USC Trojans after yet another road loss to an unranked Pac-10 opponent (yet I couldn’t drop them below the Ohio St. Buckeyes), and I wasn’t about to move the Mississippi Rebels up and have SEC teams ranked first, second, and third, since that would have earned me an accusation of ranking four SEC teams in my top three from a University of Michigan-educated engineer.

(Insert your Reggie Ball joke here.)

My sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-ranked squads stayed put because nothing in their respective wins seemed to justify moving them, but the Florida St. Seminoles’ 54-28 blasting of the BYU Cougars dropped the latter to No. 17 and earned the former a No. 14 placement. In a related item, the Miami Hurricanes leapt into the poll at No. 11 after throttling the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (now ranked 23rd) in a game that wasn’t remotely as close as the score indicated.

Vacancies in the top ten were filled by the Oklahoma Sooners after they manhandled the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and by the UCLA Bruins in the wake of their 23-9 win over the Kansas St. Wildcats. The lack of poll love for the club from Westwood baffles me. Rick Neuheisel’s crew beat San Diego State handily, defeated the Vols by four points in Knoxville to card a triumph that looks even better in retrospect, and dropped a two-touchdown setback on a Big 12 team. Why isn’t that counting for more in the eyes of the voters? I don’t get it.

I regret that the sudden crowding of the field prevented me from giving to the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Cincinnati Bearcats the boosts they rightfully deserved, and I am open to arguments for why other teams ought to be moved down to accommodate them. The LSU Tigers have done nothing to impress me other than have the letters "LSU" on their helmets, so the Bayou Bengals’ slow slide continues.

The Washington Huskies hung tough with my No. 16 team and beat my No. 5 team, so they enter the poll at No. 18. Once again, I am open to justifications for placing U-Dub higher. The Oklahoma St. Cowboys crept up, although I’d like to think they shouldn’t have, and the North Carolina Tar Heels benefited from being undefeated in what appears suddenly to be a much more stout ACC than I previously had believed.

The Georgia Bulldogs stayed put, but at least they’re clearly the best team in the state. The Oregon Ducks re-entered the rankings after beating the Utah Utes, although their latest affront to fashion very nearly kept them out of the top 25. The Auburn Tigers and the Iowa Hawkeyes received consideration for inclusion, and the former’s omission had nothing to do with the fact that I hate Auburn, although I do, in point of fact, hate Auburn. (I hate Auburn. See?)

I was able to enjoy every minute of Thursday night’s Georgia Tech-Miami tilt. On Friday night, I watched the Boise State-Fresno State game while wishing Reshad Jones had been able to have that WAC officiating crew in Stillwater. I saw almost all of the Boston College-Clemson game (lightning delays and all), all of the Georgia-Arkansas game, and parts of the Florida-Tennessee, Michigan State-Notre Dame, and Auburn-West Virginia games.

Your constructive criticisms are welcome, as always.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Previewing South Carolina at Georgia: Georgia's Defense

Gamecock Man — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:17:28 -0000

Georgia uses a traditional 4-3 defense. The 'Dawgs, although they struggled at points late last season, have consistently had one of the best defenses in the country over the past few years, ranking no lower than 22nd in the country in total defense since 2002. Georgia continued to play strong defense last week in their loss to Oklahoma State, giving up only 307 total, 135 passing, and 172 rushing yards to OSU's vaunted offense. The 'Dawgs did give up a relatively high 24 points, but OSU often had a short field due to Georgia's offensive miscues.

Georgia's strengths on defense are numerous. First of all, although they gave up a relatively high amount of rushing yards against OSU, the 'Dawgs should be strong against the run this year with Geno Atkins, Jeff Owens, and Kade Weston forming a talented interior-line rotation. Also helping out on the run will be star inside linebacker Rennie Curran, who led the SEC in tackles a year ago. The 'Dawgs secondary is led by Prince Miller and Reshad Jones and did a good job slowing down a usually prolific OSU passing attack last week.

Georgia's defensive weaknesses coming into the season were their pass rush and overall passing defense. Georgia failed to register many sacks last year, a fact attested to by the fact that our paltry line for the most part kept them out of our backfield last year. Georgia had no sacks and few hurries against Oklahoma State, although it should be said that OSU was known for being rarely sacked last year. Georgia did well against the pass against Oklahoma State, suggesting that their talent and depth in the linebacking corps and secondary may be coming together in passing defense.

Read the rest of the preview after the jump.

This weekend, I expect Georgia to try to play to our perceived weaknesses by assuming that their line can manhandle ours and stuff our rushing game, usually using their linebacking corp to play the pass, and occasionally using blitzs to attempt to throw Stephen Garcia off. Georgia's inability to get quarterback pressure with a four-man rush will require these blitzes. These strategies should be effective for the most part. Our rushing game showed some potential last week against a decent N. C. State rushing defense, but we still averaged less than 3 ypc. Georgia has no reason to believe that their more talented line can't hold us to the same average until we prove otherwise. With Spurrier claiming he'll be less conservative this week, I do expect you'll see us diversify the running game with more outside pitches, occasional option plays, and perhaps wildcat formations with Stephon Gilmore taking the snap. Hopefully this, along with better line play and fewer freshman mistakes by Jarvis Giles, will help us move the ball on the ground somewhat effectively. However, you have to think that Georgia will be able to limit our rushing yards to a large degree.

As far as the passing game goes, I think that with their rushing defense Georgia will mostly play to dare Garcia to throw the ball downfield, assuming that he won't make the throws he needs to and may make occasional mistakes that lead to turnovers. Again, Spurrier claims he's going to take more chances this week, so we can expect to see us take Georgia's gambit here. Whether we succeed depends on a few keys. First of all, Garcia obviously needs to continue to avoid throwing into traffic. He did a good job of that last week, and I'd much prefer to see him continue to take a two- or three-yard gain on the ground instead of forcing the ball, as I think our defense can carry us in this game as long as we don't commit turnovers. Second of all, Garcia has to make the throws when he has open receivers. He underthrew Tori Gurley on the touchdown that got called back and underthrew a wide-open Weslye Saunders earlier in the game. He has to make those throws when we get the chances, because we won't get many. Finally, Garcia has to manage the blitz better. Spurrier criticizes him for not audibling well against N. C. State, and we've seen Garcia have trouble with this before. If he can find out a way to handle the blitz, we could see things open up in different ways. An well-timed handoff or pitch to the speedy Giles seems like the ideal blitz-breaker to me.

Overall, I expect we'll have some trouble moving the ball against Georgia. However, if we can limit turnovers and convert on the scoring opportunities we get, I do think we can score some points against the 'Dawgs. This week it probably really will be about Garcia; we're going to have trouble running, so Garcia playing smart and making plays when he gets the chance is what will have to make the difference for us.

The Big Games On the Schedule, Part 1: @Georgia, 10/3

Richard Pittman — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:50:24 -0000

Today, in the long dark offseason of the soul, we start looking at some of the "big" games that LSU will play this year. We won't look at all the games in this fashion, because we have to save something for the regular season, and I'll be damned if I'm looking up stats and rosters on UL-Lafayette in July.

Let me preface by saying I have an almost pathological aversion to making predictions of how games will go. A football game is a bit like the weather. There are too many complex interactions to reliably predict what will occur. Small human decisions play a huge part in the course of action, and in the ultimate result. While sometimes the talent disparities between teams are so great that one can at least reliably predict the outcome, even that can be problematic. Any one of us can name several times in which a team has given a vastly superiorly talented team a huge scare (Troy, last year), or upset them outright (UL-Monroe at Bama two years ago). If that sort of thing could happen, how can you reliably predict outcomes when the talent disparity is not so great (see Ole Miss @ Florida, last year).

That is why omissions from this series should not be taken to mean those games are easy wins. I will not be previewing Washington, Vandy, ULL, or Mississippi State here at this time, even though at least two and possibly three of those teams would have a non-negligible chance of beating us. It could happen, but if it were, the season would quickly descend into a pit of despair.

Probably this blog's first Princess Bride reference.

Instead, we start with Georgia on October 3, 2009. Barring disaster (always possible), the Tigers should be 4-0. The Dawgs have a bit of a tougher road to October 3 than we have, facing Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Arizona State in the first four weeks. Georgia will be well into the meat of their schedule by this point.

Georgia loses some players off of last year's team. Chief among them are, of course, are running back Knowshon Moreno and quarterback Matt Stafford, who both were selected in the first round of the NFL draft. Stafford was #1 overall. Also lost were #2 wide receiver Mohammed Massaquoi, cornerback Asher Allen, veteran linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, and a couple of good defensive linemen.

Losing a good wide receiver, a great running back, and a great quarterback certainly hurts, and for what it's worth T. Kyle King seems to think this is going to be a dark season for his beloved Dawgs. I am not so sure. Last season was of course supposed to be a great season for the Dawgs, but injuries to left tackle Trinton Sturdivant and defensive tackle Jeff Owens derailed those plans very quickly.

Those guys are back now, and while we're not sure they're the same players they were before, if they are, I think Georgia could be better this year than they were last year despite the lost skill players. Their offensive line was supposed to be the best in the conference until injuries took their toll last year, and now those players are back.

With Jeff Owens and Geno Atkins holding down the middle of the field, and arguably the best linebacker in the conference sitting behind them in Rennie Curran and a talented safety back there as well in Reshad Jones, the Georgia Bulldog defense should be pretty scary.

The offensive line, if Trinton Sturdivant and Chris Davis are healthy, could be the best in the conference. Good line play on both sides of the ball can make up for a lot of deficiencies in the personnel at the sexier lineup spots.

Of course, the most important position on the field is the quarterback, and the Ginger Assassin is not exactly striking fear into opponents' hearts right now. If Joe Cox doesn't produce, Mark Richt could make a move for the future and bring in sophomore Logan Gray or true freshman Aaron Murray. If we see a true freshman starting in this game, I will feel much better about our chances.

A great player like A.J. Green can do little if a quarterback isn't there to get him the ball.

This is a game between two teams who, at this point, are kind of hard to figure out. Georgia fans are grossly pessimistic about their prospects this season, and LSU fans certainly expect that a big improvement is in the offing for their own side. However, this game is far from being a gimme, especially in Athens. If Georgia stays healthy and gets solid quarterback play, they are going to be a very good team. All the other pieces are in place, as they can certainly find at least an acceptable replacement for Knowshon Moreno. It's hard to characterize GEORGIA of all teams as a dark horse team, but they really could be. They just need for their supposedly healthy players to really be healthy and to get solid QB play and they are a threat to beat anyone, including the likes of Florida and LSU.

Post-Spring Previews: Georgia

Gamecock Man — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:34:56 -0000

After traveling to Raleigh, the Gamecocks continue their path along one of the nation's toughest schedules when they go to Athens to take on the 'Dawgs. The Georgia game is always one of the defining moments of our season. Most Gamecocks fans consider Georgia our biggest SEC rival, and a win typically marks the beginning of a good season (2007 aside).

On the whole, Georgia is a team full of question marks. They disappointed last year after coming into the season with sky-high expectations. This year, they have to replace a number of significant players, most notably offensive stars Matt Stafford, Knowshon Moreno, and Mohamed Massaquoi. On the other hand, they return significant talent on defense and on the offensive line. Their success will likely depend on whether Joe Cox can be efficient and can at least come to close to matching Stafford's productivity and if their defense can stay healthy and play better than it did in highly publicized meltdowns against LSU, Florida, and Georgia Tech last season. We'll probably know a lot more about Georgia after they open their season at Oklahoma State, a team with an absolutely explosive offense that will probably be preseason top ten.

Let's take a closer look at how we match up against these guys.

Quarterback

Mark Richt plans to start senior Joe Cox, who got significant playing time early in 2006 but since then has been Stafford's backup, only playing in mop-up duty. Cox is a fairly talented player and has spent a lot of time in the system, so the 'Dawgs can reasonably hope that he will be a competent signal caller. However, he lacks Stafford's physical abilities, so his ceiling is probably relatively low. I'd call it a push between Cox and Stephen Garcia; Cox has had longer to grow into his roll and is a more mature player, but he lacks Garcia's natural talent and has less in-game experience than Garcia. Usually, I'd say that means that Garcia has the advantage, but Garcia was hardly impressive in some of his appearances last year. Although he showed promise at times, he has plenty to prove this time around.

Verdict: Push

Running Backs

While Moreno leaves big shoes to fill, Georgia is uncommonly deep at the running back position, with several highly recruited players waiting to become the next Moreno, Garrison Heart, or Herschel Walker. The one most likely to become a household name is Caleb King, a speedy home run threat who rushed for over 200 yards last year as Moreno's primary backup. However, Richard Samuel will also get plenty of touches, and the two backs may form something of a Thunder and Lightening duo. I'd say UGA has a slight advantage over us here; while I like our stable of backs and expect us to field a much improved running game in the fall, both King and Samuel could start at any school in the nation. These guys are monsters and, while we might get the 'Dawgs during a transition period while UGA tries to figure out how best to divvy the caries, I doubt UGA will miss a beat without Moreno this year.

Verdict: Slight advantage Georgia

Offensive Line

UGA returns a seasoned, talented offensive line led by tackles Quintin Sturdivant and Clint Boling. Sturdivant's preseason injury last year caused this unit to underperform last year, but if Sturdivant is able to return close to full strength, this should be a very good unit. I would give them a slight advantage over our line. While I expect much-improved blocking from our guys this year and the play in the spring gives us every indication that that's what we'll get, we simply lack the talent possessed by Georgia at these positions.

Verdict: Slight advantage Georgia

Wide Receivers and Tight Ends

Georgia returns phenomenal receiver A. J. Green (yep, the same Summerville star that screwed his home state's flagship university by committing to a bitter rival) but loses the aforementioned Massaquoi, and so far it's unclear who will be the second receiver. That could be problematic for Georgia, as Cox could use the benefit of a slew of targets. At TE--a position that hasn't been featured in recent UGA offenses but may be this year--UGA loses ball-dropping machine Tripp Chandler but brings in the highly recruited Orson Charles and Arthur Lynch. Charles is a big, fast player receiving end somewhat out of the Jared Cook mold, while Lynch is more of a traditional end. Either will be a significant improvement over Chandler. I'd call it a push at these positions; after losing Kenny McKinley we don't have anyone like Green on our team, but what we lose in that contrast we gain in better depth.

Verdict: Push

Defensive Line

The 'Dawgs return a very strong couple of players at tackle in Geno Atkins and Jeff Owens. However, they appear to lack a dangerous pass rusher, especially as they'll be without end Justin Houston, who is suspended for the first two games, when they play us. If Ladi Ajiboye plays in this game, I think we have a slight advantage here. While I like Atkins and Owens a bit more than Ajiboye and Nathan Pepper, UGA lacks the sack threats at end that we have in Clifton Geathers and Cliff Matthews.

Verdict: Slight advantage South Carolina

Linebackers

UGA and Carolina each return one of the nation's best linebackers in Rennie Curran and Eric Norwood. UGA, however, also returns Daryl Gamble, another quality player, whereas Carolina will still be in the process of breaking in Rodney Paulk and Shaq Wilson as Norwood's partners in crime. UGA gets a slight advantage here.

Verdict: Slight advantage Georgia

Secondary

Georgia returns star safety Reshad Jones as well as corner Prince Miller but is a little more uncertain at the other two starting spots. This puts them in a similar spot to Carolina, who returns Chris Culliver, who came into his own as a future star late last season, and Darian Stewart but, after the departure of Emanuel Cook, Captain Munnerlyn, and Stoney Woodson to the NFL, will have to fill the other spots with a host of freshmen and returning lettermen like Addison Williams who haven't always been the best around. I'm calling this one another push.

Verdict: Push

Special Teams

UGA returns a pretty good placekicker in Blair Walsh. However, their return units were a liability last season, and they'll have to prove they can improve in those areas this year. Carolina has similar questions and lacks the returning kicker, so I'll give UGA a slight advantage here.

Verdict: Slight advantage Georgia

Head Coaches

Although he's yet to win a national title, Mark Richt has been one of the most consistent coaches in the SEC while at Georgia and has one of the highest winning percentages in school history. In a way, that makes him a lot like Steve Spurrier at Florida before Spurrier won the national title in 1996, as Spurrier had up until that point been a coach that won lots of games and often got his team in position to compete for national titles but usually ended up dropping a game he should have won. My thinking is that Richt will put together that perfect season one day; a coach doesn't put his team in the top 10 as consistently as Richt does without finally having a season when the ball rolls his way. In terms of comparing the two, you can put me in the camp that believes that Spurrier still has his coaching chops, but the fact that Spurrier hasn't managed to really do much since he left Florida in 2001 means that advantage here has to go to Richt, who still appears to be at the height of his powers.

Verdict: Slight advantage Georgia

Overall

We and our coach tend to be at the top of our game when facing the 'Dawgs. However, Georgia does have more talent than us at most positions. They also have more depth than us, although I think the gap has closed somewhat and, at any rate, depth shouldn't matter too much in the second game of the season. All of that means that a victory in this game, especially considering it's in Athens, would be an unqualified upset. I think the game will be close and that we'll have a chance to win it late, but I can't bring myself to predict a victory at this point. After we've seen how these two teams play in their season openers, maybe we can revise that.

Prediction: Georgia wins by a touchdown

2010 NFL Draft rankings: Strong safeties

Mocking Dan — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:18:02 -0000

Today starts the unveiling of the 2010 NFL Draft rankings. Here's how it's going to work. Because juniors won't declare for quite some time, the junior and senior rankings will be separated.

And because most of 2008 was spent watching players who would be in the draft, some of these won't be huge lists. For instance, the strong safety rankings feature six seniors and four juniors. Conversely, the defensive end senior rankings will have 20 seniors listed. After all the positional rankings are revealed, a top 200 will be put out.

Find the strong safety rankings here and feel free to talk about them and add suggestions in this thread.

House Of Sparky Interviews Kyle From Dawg Sports About The Georgia Bulldogs

Cory Williams — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:44:20 -0000

In the spirit of enhanced sharing of information and the free flow of the internet, Dawg Sports and House Of Sparky have interviewed each other to find out if the grass really is greener on the other side of the Mississippi.

T Kyle King is a very respected blogger, and Dawg Sports is the best Georgia blog out there. Without further ado, lets get to the House Of Sparky Hot Seat, where Kyle has agreed to answer all our burning questions. As for my answers to his questions, they are located at Dawg Sports.

Georgia showed a lot of guts against South Carolina on Saturday, but failed to impress fans of college football who saw it as a less than dominating performance. This is also shown by their slide from #2 to #3 in both polls, as the voters were disappointed in the closeness of the game. Take your Georgia hat off and discuss the team's performance, and then put the hat back on and give us your biased take.

First of all, I don't fault the voters on this one. I voted Georgia No. 3 on my BlogPoll ballot, as well, although this was due to the fact that Southern California and Oklahoma looked extremely good rather than because the Bulldogs looked particularly bad. An SEC game that ends 3-2 is hallmarked by inept offense; an SEC game that ends 14-7 is an old school classic.

I certainly can understand how, from a neutral perspective, the Red and Black's accomplishments so far this season appear comparatively meager. Georgia Southern is a Division I-AA team, Central Michigan has a penchant for giving up gaudy point totals to BCS conference teams on the road, and South Carolina has lost seven of its last eight games, including six conference contests in a row. Given the closeness of Georgia's game against the Gamecocks, I won't fault a neutral observer for dinging the ‘Dawgs in the rankings.

Nevertheless, I believe any doubts about Georgia are premature. 80,250-seat Williams-Brice Stadium is a tough place to play and close, low-scoring defensive struggles historically are the norm between the Bulldogs and the Gamecocks. Half of the Georgia-South Carolina games played in the last 20 years have been decided by a touchdown or less, including six of the last eight. The Classic City Canines always get the Palmetto State Poultry's best game and Georgia found a way to win with three stout defensive stands at the end.

Many elite teams seem to have that one opponent with whom they struggle despite routinely having a marked talent advantage. Even when the Irish have been good, Notre Dame has found it difficult to beat Michigan State in South Bend. Texas always seems to need a furious second-half comeback to beat Oklahoma State. Vanderbilt often gives the Gators a scare. For Georgia, the game that annually seems more challenging than it should is the early-season outing against South Carolina.

Even so, the closeness of the Bulldogs' tussle with the Gamecocks is seldom indicative of the quality of the Georgia squad. The ‘Dawgs had to overcome a 16-0 deficit to pull out a 20-16 win in Columbia in 2004, but that Georgia squad went on to beat Louisiana State and Florida to finish with ten wins. The Red and Black lost to South Carolina at home last season, yet the Bulldogs were as impressive as any team in the country during the second half of the year.

The bottom line is this: Georgia beat South Carolina by margins of 7-0 in 1966, 21-20 in 1968, 20-12 in 1976, 13-10 in 1980, 13-7 in 2002, and 17-15 in 2005. The Bulldogs won six SEC titles and one national championship in those half-dozen seasons. There's no reason to think a close call against South Carolina means anything at all.

To find out more about the Bulldogs, continue reading...

Safety Reshad Jones appeared susceptible against South Carolina, failing to help cover on Moe Brown's 34 yard touchdown and giving up big penalties at bad times. Does his performance, game-ending interception notwithstanding, worry you at all, or is this just a case of a talented young player developing on the field?

Hopefully, it's the latter, although the secondary (outside of Asher Allen) is the biggest area of concern for the Georgia defense. Heading into Tempe, all of us among the Georgia faithful are acutely aware that the Sun Devils lead the Pac-10 in pass offense and pass efficiency, and that Rudy Carpenter stands atop the league in passing yards per game, quarterback rating, and total offense.

It's reasonable to suppose that a player as talented as Reshad Jones is, like Alyssa Milano on "Who's the Boss," simply going through growing pains in the public eye. Jones came out of high school rated as the country's top defensive back by PrepStar and he was named the team's most improved defensive back at the end of last spring's drills. The penalties definitely need work, but his game-sealing pick was no fluke; he narrowly missed getting the interception one play earlier.

I have confidence that Willie Martinez, who is Georgia's secondary coach as well as the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator, ultimately will develop Jones into the next Bruce Thornton, who looked confused and out of place in his first year in the defensive backfield but eventually matured into a Red and Black stalwart. Until Jones turns that particular corner in his development as a player, though, I take solace in the knowledge that, while the ‘Dawgs rank eleventh in the SEC in pass defense, they have given up just two touchdown passes in the last six quarters.

3. Georgia hasn't traveled this far west in many, many moons. We know now that UGA fans are going to travel very well to this game, and they have purchased plenty of ASU season tickets just to get into the stadium. Just how big of a deal is this game to Georgia fans?

I have to provide a bit of context before answering that question. Vince Dooley spent 25 years as Georgia's head football coach (1964-1988) and 25 years as Georgia's athletic director (1979-2004). Coach Dooley was and is a beloved figure in Bulldog Nation, but he was not perfect and Vince didn't like to travel. He became the head coach in 1964, he took his team to Ann Arbor for a previously-scheduled showdown with the Wolverines in 1965, and, after he won SEC titles in 1966 and 1968, he was in a position to have a greater influence over Georgia's slate. He used that influence to keep the ‘Dawgs closer to home.

To be fair, there were extenuating circumstances. Georgia Tech left the SEC in the mid-1960s, so the Bulldogs now had to face a full conference slate plus an in-state out-of-conference rivalry game with the Yellow Jackets at the end of the year. South Carolina (which would not join the SEC until 1992) and Clemson also were longstanding rivals from outside the league, with whom the Bulldogs clashed very nearly annually throughout Coach Dooley's tenure.

Nevertheless, Georgia had built up a national reputation by traveling during the 50 years between 1916 and 1965. After the Bulldogs went undefeated in 1920, the team's coach and the school's athletic director, Herman Stegeman, was able to use his national connections to line up dates with the major powers of the day. Throughout the 1920s and ‘30s, the Red and Black regularly went on the road to face the likes of Fordham, Harvard, Holy Cross, NYU, and Yale. Georgia even went to Los Angeles three times to take on the Trojans, who have never come to Athens.

In short, the Bulldogs have a long tradition of scheduling nationally, which helped to establish the program in the early days but which was squandered during the 40 years in which Vince Dooley oversaw Georgia's non-conference slate. Fortunately, when Damon Evans took over as athletic director, he immediately made moves to restore that lost element of our heritage, setting up home-and-away series with Arizona State, Colorado, Oklahoma State, and Oregon while trying to schedule such schools as Cincinnati, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Oregon State. While he was at it, he arranged a trip to Louisville and got Clemson back on the schedule, as well.

How big a deal is this game? A win would put an end to such silly statements as Stewart Mandel's declaration that Georgia is not a national power and the simple fact that the game is being played represents a restoration of a long-dormant practice that more schools are following, and ought to follow. When the Bulldogs take the field on Saturday, it will represent the first time in our current athletic director's lifetime that Georgia has played a regular season road game outside the South; put differently, this will be the first instance since 1965 that the ‘Dawgs have crossed what ceased to be a national boundary in 1865. This has been a long time coming.

The last time the SEC invaded Tempe, LSU shocked ASU with an incredible 4th quarter comeback that was against all odds. How do you view the Pac-10 as a conference this season?

That's hard to say, particularly after such a rough weekend for the league. Obviously, some of it had to do with mismatches (Oklahoma at Washington), some of it had to do with the difficulty of winning on the road outside your own region (Cal at Maryland, Oregon at Purdue), and some of it had to do with looking ahead to the next opponent (well . . . you know).

Last Saturday's struggles aside, the Pac-10 is a deep league from top to bottom. While other leagues have their perennial cellar-dwellers (Duke in the ACC, Iowa State in the Big 12, Temple in every conference they've been in), Stanford in the Pac-10 and Vanderbilt in the SEC have shown the ability to leap up and bite the big boys often enough to demonstrate that there are no easy Saturdays on the West Coast or in the Southeast.

I will grant that some of the respect afforded the Pac-10 from some of the folks in my neck of the woods is grudging, but it is respect. Such results as those from USC's Arkansas and Auburn series and Tennessee's trips to take on California and UCLA speak for themselves. The Pac-10 is a solid and deep football league, one weekend's worth of aberrational outcomes notwithstanding, and it is to the conference's considerable credit that, when the twelve-game regular season was made a permanent fixture of the college football landscape, the Pac-10 used the extra outing not to pad the member institutions' slates with patsies, but to return to the true round-robin conference schedule that temporarily went by the wayside when Arizona and Arizona State were added to the old Pac-8.

Besides, at a time when even the boys at Berkeley are forcibly removing hippie demonstrators so they can cut down trees to build new athletic facilities, we in SEC country (many of whom think "Easy Rider" had a happy ending) can relate to Pac-10 partisans as kindred spirits. Y'all are all right by us.

We know that quarterback Matthew Stafford claims to be 100% after his apparent injury on Saturday. What do you expect to see from him this weekend, and is it possible that his mobility will be affected?

Unless the extent of his injury was undersold considerably, I don't expect him to be hobbled. A couple of nice runs against South Carolina aside, Matthew Stafford is not by nature a mobile quarterback, so his wheels aren't much of an issue, and every appearance is that he will be at full strength on Saturday. Now let's just see whether his receivers catch the ball . . .

Finally, are there any Georgia Bulldogs that Sun Devil fans haven't heard much about yet? What can you tell us about them?

If you're not yet familiar with Rennie Curran, you're about to be. The sophomore linebacker earned SEC defensive player of the week honors in Columbia by registering six tackles, a sack, two quarterback pressures, and a forced fumble. So far this season, Curran holds the league lead in sacks among linebackers and tops the team in tackles and tackles for loss. The frequency with which Curran helps Carpenter up off the ground will have a lot to say about which way this game goes.

Offensively, true freshman A.J. Green looks like what Georgia has not had truly or consistently since at least the days in which Eric Zeier was lining up under center instead of broadcasting from the booth . . . a game-breaking wide receiver. To be fair, the 6'4" South Carolinian has not yet entered the same territory that caused Larry Munson to exclaim of Herschel Walker, "My God, a freshman!" Nevertheless, Green led all Bulldog receivers with three catches for 61 yards against the Gamecocks and he trails only senior flanker Mohamed Massaquoi as the most prolific Georgia receiver this fall.

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Thank you very much, Kyle! Best of luck this season.. after Saturday, of course.

Georgia Bulldogs 14, South Carolina Gamecocks 7

T Kyle King — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 03:31:02 -0000

Well, I was right about the seven-point margin of victory, even if I gave both teams too much credit for offensive firepower. The Red and Black’s 45th series victory over South Carolina and Mark Richt’s 75th career win came in a game that was too close for comfort, although victory by the visitors never seemed to be in doubt.

The Georgia receiving corps had its usual bout with the dropsies, the Bulldog offensive line acquitted itself less well in its first real test than any of us would have liked, and the speedy Gamecock defense allowed next to nothing around the edge.

Both teams went five for 13 on third- and fourth-down attempts, with the Palmetto State Poultry holding the advantage over the Classic City Canines in first downs (20-17), total yards (289-252), and yards per pass (6.8-5.8). While the South Carolina secondary took away the perimeter, the Georgia defensive backfield surrendered far too many receiving yards, particularly up the middle and at the seams, to the tune of 271 passing yards allowed.

Despite having his best receiver sidelined by injury and having distinguished himself previously chiefly through not being Tommy Beecher, Chris Smelley completed 23 of 39 attempts, including a 34-yard touchdown pass to Moe Brown to cap off a 62-yard drive on which the South Carolina quarterback was three for four for 56 yards.

To top it all off, the ‘Dawgs were assessed 112 yards in penalties. In short, it was far from a flawless effort and many areas of concern were highlighted as the Bulldogs head into the meat of their schedule. You know what, though? I feel great.

Yes, there was a lot not to like about this afternoon’s outing in Columbia, and the ‘Dawgs had better be prepared to address some of the weaknesses which were exposed in Williams-Brice Stadium if they have serious designs on contending for an Eastern Division championship, much less any higher prize. However, let’s not overlook the positives:

Under greater pressure, Matthew Stafford looked less sharp, but, despite that (and the fact that some quite catchable balls went through the hands of his receivers), the Georgia quarterback still hooked up on 15 of his 25 tosses for 146 yards. Stafford has never thrown a touchdown pass against the Gamecocks, but, this year, for the first time, he didn’t throw a pick, either. Stafford also tacked on a 30-yard run for good measure.

As anticipated, South Carolina committed to stopping the run, yet Knowshon Rockwell Moreno still managed to rush for 79 bruising yards and the game-winning touchdown while the Georgia D limited the Gamecocks to 18 rushing yards.

The Bulldog defense also came up big when it mattered most. In the fourth quarter, as the visitors clung to a 14-7 lead, the home team mounted a nine-play drive on which a pass interference penalty gave the Gamecocks a first down at the Red and Black’s two yard line. Mike Davis was stuffed for no gain on the next play and, on Davis’s ensuing carry, Rennie Curran forced the fumble that Asher Allen recovered for a touchback.

On South Carolina’s next possession, a Smelley pass to Freddie Brown for eight yards set up second and short at the Georgia 32. The ‘Dawgs held and the ‘Cocks turned the ball over on downs. The Palmetto State Poultry’s final drive made it as far as the Bulldog 17 after a pair of pass interference penalties. Reshad Jones very nearly picked off Smelley’s first-down pass and he succeeded in intercepting the South Carolina quarterback’s second-down throw to close the deal.

What hitherto had been a high-flying Georgia offense went on the road and, facing a South Carolina defense that had given up 12.0 points per game in its first two contests, scored fourteen. A Gamecock O averaging 25.5 points per game was held to seven ticks on the scoreboard by a Georgia D that had given up double-digit point totals in each of its first two outings.

There are, of course, issues in need of addressing, as invariably there are. Lest anyone be overly concerned, though, let me put your mind at ease using a few data outlined in a couple of comments from this afternoon’s game day open comment thread. Consider these scores:

7-0. 21-20. 20-12. 13-10. 13-7. 17-15.

Those are the scores by which the Bulldogs beat the Gamecocks in 1966, 1968, 1976, 1980, 2002, and 2005, respectively. The ‘Dawgs won Southeastern Conference championships in each and every one of those campaigns.

For the game against Georgia Southern, I set a high standard for judging the contest a success, and, although the Red and Black satisfied my previously stated criteria, I still wasn’t altogether satisfied. Against South Carolina, I knew that a win was a win was a win.

The Gamecocks always play Georgia tough. The whole goal of the contest from the Bulldogs’ perspective is to go in, get the W, and get out with no major injuries. This the ‘Dawgs did. Don’t worry about whether it was pretty; it wasn’t, but, against those guys, it never is. Georgia’s record remains unblemished and the team’s goals remain fully intact. That’s all that matters. The Gator faithful know this and so should we.

The Bulldogs did what they had to do. They may not have done even one whit more, but they did enough. Find whatever fault you will with 14-7, but know that, if nothing else, it’s a darned sight better than 16-12.

Go ‘Dawgs!