SB Nation - Joe Cox

LSU In Review - Week Five Vs. #18 Georgia

BSD — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:00:18 -0000

by John Bazemore - AP

2 months ago: LSU receiver Terrance Toliver (80) is stopped by Georgia's Bacarri Rambo during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Athens, Ga., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

View full size photo »

Final - 10.3.2009	1	2	3	4	Total
LSU Tigers	3	3	0	14	20
Georgia Bulldogs	0	0	0	13	13

Complete Coverage >

In week five the LSU Tigers traveled to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in a game that would go a long way toward sorting out the SEC race. LSU had not won between the hedges since 1987, and Les Miles had never beaten the Bulldogs who came into the game with a #18 ranking despite an opening day loss to Oklahoma State.

If you fell asleep right after kickoff and woke up midway through the fourth quarter, you didn't miss much in this game. It was basically more of the same from what we saw out of the Tigers the first four weeks of the season. The defense smothered their opponent for much of the game while the offense did just enough to get by. Then there was a flurry of activity at the end with LSU somehow pulling out a win.

Georgia went three-and-out in their first possession giving LSU the ball at their own 37. The Tigers drove down the field largley on the back of a 34 yard pass from Jordan Jefferson to Brandon LaFell. But on 3rd and 4 at the Georgia 9 yard line, Jefferson threw a pick in the endzone to kill the drive.

Georgia ran the interception out of the endzone and got tackled at the two yard line. They puckered up with their back to the endzone and ended up punting from the five. A 14 yard return by Trindon Holiday set up the Tigers with a first down at the Georgia 43 yard line. By the way, did you hear that Holiday won the NCAA 100 meter dash championship? I'm sure the Capital One Bowl announcers will only remind us of that every time he touches the ball just in case you forget.

LSU drove down the field to get a first and goal at the Bulldog 9. But Charles Scott got blown up on a screen pass on second down for a one yard loss. Then Jefferson sailed a pass over the head of Terrance Toliver and the Tigers were forced to kick a field goal.

On the ensuing possession, Georgia strung together a few first downs and managed to flip the field position, but they had to punt and LSU took over at their own 20. To spark the team a bit, Miles put in Russell Shepard at quarterback, and he gained 26 yards on the first three plays from the Wildcat. The drive ended at the Georgia 22 when Charles Scott got stuffed for a two yard loss on 3rd and 1. Perhaps showing a little sign of redzone desperation, Les Miles tried a trick play on fourth down where LaFell jogged toward the sideline like he was coming out of the game but then lined up in formation. A slight delay in placing the ball by the officials allowed Georgia to spot him and run a man out to defend him. LSU was forced to call timeout, and then kicked the field goal to take a 6-0 lead.

After another Georgia three-and-out, LSU took over at their own 26 and made another nice drive down to the Georgia redzone. But another gaffe would cost them points. Again showing frustration with the redzone problems, Miles elected to go for a first down on 4th and 1 at the Georgia 9. With the play clock running down, Jefferson decided to hurry the snap rather than call another timeout. The quarterback sneak failed, and Georgia took over on downs.

Though LSU completely dominated the first half, they had to be disappointed that the first half ended with them only up by six points.

In the second half it was the Georgia defense that came out determined to dominate. LSU's first possession went backwards as Jefferson was sacked on three straight plays. The Tigers were forced to punt from their own two yard line giving the Bulldogs the ball at the LSU 44 yard line. But Georgia would later miss a 32 yard field goal to cut the score in half. LSU's next possession went three-and-out, and the third quarter would later run out with the Tigers only running six offensive plays.

Georgia took the ball at their own 40 yard line and finally got some mojo. An 18 play drive that consumed nearly eight minutes off the clock ended when Joe Cox found Shaun Chapas for a touchdown pass on 4th and goal at the 1. The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game at 7-6 just as the fourth quarter began.

Both teams traded punts over the next four possessions, and then LSU began a drive at their own 12 yard line and went the length of the field in 12 plays. The drive ended when Scott smashed through the line for a 2 yard touchdown. A two point conversion attempt failed when Jefferson was sacked, and LSU took a 12-7 lead with 2:53 to go in the game.

Georgia responded with a drive of their own. An LSU defensive breakdown allowed a 46 yard pass to Tavarres King to get the Bulldogs in the redzone. Then Cox found A.J. Green who leaped over a defender to make a catch in the endzone. Georgia failed on their own two point conversion when LSU broke up a slant pass, so the Bulldogs took a 13-12 lead with just over one minute to go.

But Georgia shot themselves in the foot with an unsportsmanlike conduct that forced them to kick off from their 15. Holiday returned the kick 40 yards, and another Georgia penalty tacked on another five yards to give LSU the ball at the Georgia 38. Two plays later Scott slashed through the line and took it to the house for a 33 yard touchdown. Then in what appears to be typical SEC tradition, LSU drew an unsportsmanlike conduct making them kick off from the 15. But Georgia's final drive ended with an interception by Perry Riley, and LSU escaped with another ugly win.

It was another game where LSU dominated defensively but couldn't put their opponent away. They outgained the Bulldogs 368-274 in total yards and 154-45 on the ground. Jefferson finished the day 18-of-27 for 212 yards, but he was intercepted once and gave up six sacks, many of which were from him holding the ball too long. Charles Scott was the offensive hero on the day with 95 yards and 2 TD on 19 carries. But remember that 33 of those yards came on the winning touchdown. The two quarterbacks combined for 56 yards on 22 carries for the rest of the yards LSU gained on the ground.

Drive Chart

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Quotes From The Game

"I think our guys wanted to rush the football and certainly prepared last week to do so. I think it’s hard work. I think it’s attitude. I think it’s something that this team pointed at and achieved."

- Les Miles -

"I think our offense has confidence in Charles Scott. I think our offense has confidence in the ability to run the football. We just needed to do it and put it together. I think that’s a piece that we can’t lose. We can’t lose sight of it, and it must continue to grow, but I don’t know that Charles needed that. I can tell you that his team needed him to have that day."

- Les Miles -

"I would like to get some production in the sack area. I like, again, the position that our defense puts our team in and the opportunity to win a game on the road at Georgia. For me to say I need more sacks, I like the pressure that was put on. I like the opportunity to get turnovers. I like the opportunity to stop the rushing game. I thought our defense played well. Yes, I would like to have some more sacks but not at the cost of overall production."

- Les Miles -

"Part of me is tempted to say that Jordan Jefferson had a weak game. He certainly made some critical mistakes, and continues to struggle running the option. He just does not run it authoritatively. He gets too far into the backfield, and too close to the pitch man, making it easy for one defender to cover both him and the pitch, which defeats the whole purpose of the option. In the passing game, he would hold the ball too long, and would end up getting sacked when he could have thrown the ball to an open receiver or at least thrown the ball away to avoid a big loss."

-And The Valley Shook-

Independence Bowl Preview: How the Georgia Bulldogs and the Texas A&M Aggies Each Fared Against the Arkansas Razorbacks

T Kyle King — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:22:59 -0000

In the days leading up to the anticlimactic (yet deeply satisfying) SEC championship game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Florida Gators, Team Speed Kills did an outstanding job of comparing the two combatants by calling attention to the seven opponents common to them both. On a much less impressive level, and to a much more limited extent, I would like to subject the Independence Bowl contestants, the Georgia Bulldogs and the Texas A&M Aggies, to a similar analysis.

Georgia’s and Texas A&M’s schedules featured only a pair of shared teams, the first of which we will look at this evening. Here is how the Bulldogs and the Aggies stacked up against the Arkansas Razorbacks:

Category	Georgia	Texas A&M
Game Number	3	4
Score	W 52-41	L 47-19
Passing Yards	375	345
Rushing Yards	155	113
Total Yards	530	458
Passing Yds. All.	408	271
Rushing Yds. All.	77	163
Total Defense	485	434
Third Downs	38.5% (5 of 13)	38.9% (7 of 18)
Third Down Defense	21.4% (3 of 14)	41.7% (5 of 12)
Turnover Margin	-2	+1

I think I’ll start by going out on a limb here and declaring that the gridiron battle in Shreveport will not be a defensive struggle. Both the Bulldogs and the Aggies gave up a boatload of yards and more than 40 points to a Razorback offense currently ranked first in the SEC in scoring offense (37.3 points per game) and second in the league in total offense (439.3 yards per game).

Measured against Arkansas’s season-long figures, Georgia had more or less an average day against the Razorbacks in points permitted and Texas A&M had almost exactly an average day against the Hogs in yards allowed, but those numbers were padded by Arkansas’s dates with Division I-AA Missouri State, Eastern Michigan, and Troy. Those three opponents between them conceded 167 of the 448 points the Razorbacks have tallied this season. Against BCS conference opponents other than Georgia and Texas A&M, Arkansas averaged 27.6 points per outing, and only one team from an automatically qualifying league other than the Bulldogs and the Aggies gave up more than 20 points to the Hogs prior to November 7. Arkansas has a good offense, but that reality should not be allowed to mask the fact that neither Georgia nor Texas A&M sports a good defense. (That may be why Georgia’s entire defensive staff was fired and Texas A&M fans are debating whether to replace the Aggies’ defensive coordinator.)

That said, the two Independence Bowl invitees exhibited different strengths (or, perhaps more accurately, different weaknesses) against the Razorbacks. The Aggies surrendered more than twice as many rushing yards to the Hogs as the ‘Dawgs allowed, yet the Red and Black gave up more than a football field’s worth of yardage more than Texas A&M did through the air. To some extent, this is due to the different types of games the two teams played against Arkansas---Georgia engaged in a shootout with the Hogs while the Aggies had to play catch-up after trailing by 20 points at the break---but those statistics are not misleading: Ryan Mallett dropped back to pass five times on the Razorbacks’ first three drives against Texas A&M, and the results were three incompletions and two sacks.

On the opposite side of the ball, both Independence Bowl signal callers aired it out against Arkansas. The Aggies’ Jerrod Johnson connected with eight different receivers while going 30 of 58 for 345 yards and two touchdowns while the much more efficient Joe Cox (how often do you hear that phrase?) completed 18 of his 26 attempts for 375 yards and five TDs.

Georgia and Texas A&M succeeded in converting third downs at virtually identical rates against an Arkansas outfit ranked in the middle of the SEC in third-down conversions allowed (36.0%), but the Bulldogs’ third-down defense was markedly better against a Razorback unit that moves the chains 36.2 per cent of the time in such situations.

The red flags for the Red and Black are to be found on the lines labeled "passing yards allowed" and "total defense," although those numbers deserve a closer look. After taking a ten-point first-quarter lead, the Aggies gave up eight scores on a dozen Arkansas possessions, with six of those marches ending in touchdowns. The Hogs’ first three series of the contest ended in punts, after which the SEC West squad went on drives of 77, 38, 26, 73, 70, 63, and 73 yards, with an 85-yard Jerry Franklin fumble return for a touchdown thrown in for good measure. Only a second-quarter interception, a three-and-out to start the second half, a fourth-quarter fumble, and a kneeldown in the closing seconds prevented Arkansas from putting up points each time the Hogs touched the ball after their initial jitters.

The Bulldogs’ game against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville followed a very different pattern from that seen in the Aggies’ neutral site outing against Arkansas at Arlington seven days later. Instead of leaping out to an early lead, the ‘Dawgs were down 21-10 at the end of the opening period. Georgia mounted nine scoring drives, six of which covered at least 57 yards, and what happened to Mallett late in the game was even more bewildering.

The Razorback quarterback was on fire to start the second half against the Red and Black. Mallett completed eight of his first nine attempts and three of those passes went for 30 yards or more. Inside the five-minute mark in the third quarter, though, he was shut down, connecting on three of his last fourteen aerials for 36 yards. During that span, Mallett took a sack but did not guide a touchdown drive.

If the Bulldogs’ and the Aggies’ respective performances against the Hogs are any indication, there ought to be yards gained and points galore in Shreveport. Texas A&M probably is better against the pass and Georgia probably is better against the run, but neither plays much defense. The Big 12 South club has a greater propensity for takeaways yet the SEC East squad has a superior penchant for comebacks.

Of course, we are talking about a pretty small data set here, so we are not yet in a position to draw any ironclad conclusions. For that, we will need to turn to the other common opponent both Independence Bowl contestants share, the Oklahoma St. Cowboys.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Thursday Night Dawg Bites: Charlie Strong Moves On, a Congressman Makes Georgia Proud, and Clay Travis Breaks a Table (Metaphorically)

T Kyle King — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:54:39 -0000

You all know where my focus has been this week, but there has been much afoot elsewhere in the blogosphere and I wanted to direct your attention to the best of it in case you might have missed some of the more noteworthy nuggets. For your edification, these are they:

". . . And to the zoo with Georgia Tech?" I hate it that the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are going to ~~a good~~ any bowl game, but at least they’re facing the Iowa Hawkeyes, which means they’re being subjected to the righteous and hilarious wrath of the guys who started an Iowa weblog because they thought what Orson Swindle’s sense of humor lacked was a sufficient appreciation for the sublimely profane and hysterically absurd. Take it away, Black Heart Gold Pants!

There’s a joke from the movie "Airplane" about how Louisville likes its coffee to be made here, but I’m not going to make it. Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but Charlie Strong is the new head coach of the Louisville Cardinals. Speaking as someone whose alma mater’s offense has spent the last decade or so being stymied by the defenses fielded by Coach Strong at one SEC East rival or another, I can say this day is long overdue, and say so both selfishly and appreciatively. U. of L. got itself a quality head coach, and, while we have to think the Florida Gators (who lost a step after losing their offensive coordinator to the Mississippi St. Bulldogs, and who likely will lose another after losing their defensive coordinator and Tim Tebow in one fell swoop) are due to fall back to the pack a bit in 2010, I don’t like the fact that both we and they are looking to hire defensive coordinators at the same time.

Kid Rock plans to steal this headline for his next album. Speaking of new head coaching hires, the SB Nation headline of the week clearly was the one atop Gobbler Country’s report on the hiring of Mike London by the Virginia Cavaliers. You just don’t get enough Warren Zevon references anymore. By the way, if I ever come up to the plate for an at-bat in Turner Field, I will have them play "Lawyers, Guns, and Money" over the PA system. The foregoing sentence contains the single most useless piece of information I have ever shared with you, and that is saying something.

Where Lane Kiffin blows smoke, there’s fire. Don’t get me wrong; Clay Travis is a friend of mine, at least according to Facebook. However, when he undertook to demonstrate the ephemeral nature of the allegations against the Tennessee Volunteers in a detailed twelve-point exegesis, it seemed to me---and also, apparently, to C&F---that he protested too much. (Also, the headline was a bit sophomoric. If you’re going to go suggestive, why not go with "NCAA Suggests Term ‘Hostesses’ Ends With Six Superfluous Letters"?) Clay is a graduate of Vanderbilt’s law school, so he is familiar with this axiom: "When the law is against you, argue the facts; when the facts are against you, argue the law; when both are against you, pound the table." We are now taking donations to buy Clay Travis a new table, because he just reduced his old one to kindling.

Giving a player I root for an award named for a guy who coached at Auburn, Clemson, and Georgia Tech is like giving David Frum an award bestowed by Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. Who should win the Heisman? The better question is, "Why should you care?" The answer is: "You shouldn’t." This has been a public service announcement.

Here’s a hint: the best candidate was once the victim of an inadvertent ethnic slur from the mouth of Jill Arrington, back in the pre-Erin Andrews days when Jill Arrington was the hottest thing stalking (or being stalked on) a sideline. If you haven’t yet voted for David Pollack as the defensive lineman of the decade, do so right now. If you want to bring along a few recently deceased citizens from Telfair County in alphabetical order, more power to you.

I have a hard time believing Aaron Murray wouldn’t have done at least as well. I was impressed with this at first, but then I realized that there’s nothing worthwhile about being third in any category in which Jonathan Crompton ranks fourth.

As a believer in limited government, I once supported the election of a horse to the legislature, secure in the knowledge that he would vote "nay" on everything. I have abandoned politics (except as it relates to football, of course), so, in the spirit of bipartisanship that can only arise from the ambivalence of a former political science major who now recognizes that there is a reason why the Sugar Bowl happens four times more frequently than the Iowa caucuses, I am pleased to add a second name to the list of Georgia Congressmen whom I endorse. (Oddly enough, this happens at the same time that objective journalists are endorsing my candidacy for the U.S. Senate, an office I am not seeking.) You already knew that Representative Jack Kingston (R.-Ga.) was a great American; now you know that Representative John Barrow (D.-Ga.) is one, too. As their distinguished colleague, Representative Corrine Brown (D.-Fla.), would have put it, Congressmen Barrows and Kingstey are superb to all other legislator.

Why they didn’t wait on the bloggers’ ballots before computing the final BCS standings, I have no idea. The final regular-season BlogPoll has been posted and the Alabama Crimson Tide squeaked by with 77 of 78 first-place votes to become the nation’s new No. 1 team. I received some gentle chiding in the "Wack Ballot Watchdog" rundown and was the runner-up for the designation "Mr. Bold," which went to the one guy who voted for the Texas Longhorns in the top spot.

In closing, I would like to recount a conversation had between two friends of mine as we walked to Sanford Stadium for the 1997 Georgia-Auburn game. It was not the coldest Georgia-Auburn game I have ever attended---1995 still takes the top spot in that competition---but it was plenty cold and one of the fellows had been drinking heavily. The one who had been drinking heavily said he was warmer because he’d been drinking heavily. The one who hadn’t been drinking said, "Actually, alcohol doesn’t make you warmer, it just makes you feel warmer." The one who had been drinking heavily gave the one who hadn’t been drinking a hard time over that statement, and he has continued to do so in the twelve years since, but I believe it applies here as well; viz., this posting may not have made you more well-informed, but it should have made you feel more well-informed. In a season of looking at the glass as half-empty, that ought to suffice.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Ags Headed To Independence Bowl

miketag — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:08:18 -0000

Texas A&M has accepted an invitation to play the Georgia Bulldogs on December 28th in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA. This was probably the toughest possible matchup that A&M could get, but I think in the long run it will be good for the program. If A&M is to return to the level of success that we all expect, we need to learn how to play with and beat the most talented teams in the nation. Playing a very talented UGA team will help get us to that level. Our freshmen need to see what kind of effort is needed to compete with and beat the Oklahomas and tu's of the world; beating Navy would do nothing to help in that area. Some may argue that a bowl win can do wonders for momentum in recruiting, but I would argue that developing the current players on our roster takes precedence. If we want to be a championship team, our defense needs to improve by leaps and bounds. Practicing for a month against the triple-option, as we would be if we were to play Navy, is not going to help develop our defense for next year.

As I previously stated, we have already won because we have an extra month of practice for our young team to get better. I expect some of our redshirting freshmen to make great gains during these December practices. Preparing for an offense with the athletes that UGA has will help our defense next season against Arkansas and the rest of the Big 12. Playing a defense with the size and speed that UGA has will help our offense perform at a higher level.

On a related note, three members of the UGA coaching staff have decided not to coach in the bowl game. This is suprising to me on many levels. I assumed the defensive coaches would use this game as an audition for future coaching positions. I was somewhat concerned because desperate coaches would likely use an aggressive gameplan in order to catch possible suitors attention. I have no idea how UGA will handle coaching the defense for the bowl game.

On offense, UGA definitely has the athletes to compete with any team in the country. They have a big RB in Caleb King who was nationally ranked coming out of HS. While he has failed to live up to his prep billing, he has had a solid season with 534 yds rushing and 5 TDs on 5.4 yds per carry. He is the type of big back that A&M has struggled to stop the past few seasons. Those of you who were there when we played Tennessee in the 2005 Cotton Bowl may have flashbacks to Gerald Riggs. Washaun Ealey leads UGA in rushing with 639 yds and 3 TDs (5.7 per tote) but has battled injuries. UGA's best offensive weapon and our defensive nightmare is WR A.J. Green. While Julio Jones was the number one rated player in the country in the '08 class, Green has been just as good or better since they both arrived in the SEC. Green had 47 receptions for 751 yds and 6 TDs. The triggerman for the UGA offense is journeyman QB Joe Cox. Cox completed 56 percent of his passes for 2426 yds and 22 TDs with 14 picks. Cox is a mediocre college QB. Unfortunately our defense can make even mediocre college QBs look like world beaters. If we can put consistent pressure on Cox, we can control their passing game and force some turnovers. We will need to win the turnover battle if we want to win this game.

The UGA defense allows 328 yds per game. They give up 200.6 passing and 127.8 rushing. Obviously they have not met expectations since half the defensive staff was fired. Statistically the player that stands out the most is sophomore DE Justin Houston who has had 15 TFLs on the year with 7.5 sacks. We need to contain him if we want to win the game. It should be interesting to see how our OL matches up with the athletes that UGA lines up after having faced Arkansas, OU, and tu this year. Our OL has improved as the season wore on. This game will be a great test and a great opportunity for A&M; hopefully we will be up to the task.

Postseason in the the SEC

Acid Reign — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:00:21 -0000

3rd team All-SEC?

War Eagle, everybody. The postseason of 2009 is on us, and the regular season is over. This time last season, I think most folks were glad it was over. Of course, December 2008 would turn out to be a terribly tumultuous month! We ran a head coach and staff off, at a cost of a cool $5 million. We hired a 5-19 replacement as the new head coach. The program was quite frankly in disarray! We were the laughing stock of the SEC, hands down.

A year later, how'd that work out for us? Against long odds, Auburn's football team won more than they lost, and they won the hearts of the fans. I don't think ANY of us are ready for the season to be over! In just one season, Auburn has vaulted to a New Year's Day bowl, and a winning record. A tremendous recruiting class seems to be in the making. There are 5 other 7-5 SEC teams, and I don't think they are laughing now!

This season, the SEC will send a record ten teams to bowl games. There are some tough challenges facing the SEC. I think most of the nation would love to see the SEC fall off its high-horse and lose big this bowl season. Texas will be a tough test for the SEC Champion, and the loser of the SEC title game will have to lick their wounds and get ready for another rough test. The Sugar Bowl is likely to match unbeaten Cincinnati against the SEC runner up, and if Cincy loses, then undefeated TCU. Penn State will be an extremely tough test for offensively-challenged LSU in the Capital One Bowl. Auburn's sometimes leaky defense will be tested by Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. Might be a record for points scored in that bowl! The Cotton will be a dangerous bowl, as both Ole Miss and Oklahoma State had hoped for much bigger things, this season. Likely bowl opponents in the second tier are Virginia Tech, North Carolina, U Conn, Texas A&M, and the Houston Cougars. SEC teams need to be on their games to match the success of the past three seasons. The SEC has won 19 of its last 26 bowl games.

The net yards per pass prizes, and ruminations on the SEC Championship Game, after the jump!

At the beginning of the season, I examined the net yards per pass of the projected starters in the SEC. Now that the regular season is over, let's see how they did:

SEC Eastern Division	Record	Record	Starting	Net Yards per pass	Net Yards per pass
Team	SEC	Overall	Quarterback	End of Season	Preseason
Florida	6-0	8-0	Tim Tebow	8.1	8.6
Tennessee	4-4	7-5	Jonathan Crompton	5.5	3.8
Georgia	4-4	7-5	Joe Cox	5.7	6.6
South Carolina	3-5	7-5	Stephen Garcia	5.8	3.5
Kentucky	3-5	7-5	Mike Hartline Morgan Newton Will Fiddler	3.4 4.1 3.3	3.9
Vanderbilt	0-8	2-10	Larry Smith Mackenzi Adams	3.4 3.8	3.4 3.8

SEC Western Division	Record	Record	Starting	Net Yards per pass	Net Yards per pass
Team	SEC	Overall	Quarterback	End of Season	Preseason
Alabama	8-0	12-0	Greg McElroy	6.8	8.1
LSU	5-3	9-3	Jordan Jefferson	6.1	5.1
Ole Miss	4-4	8-4	Jevan Snead	4.9	6.3
Arkansas	3-5	7-5	Ryan Mallett	8.4	4.6
Auburn	3-5	7-5	Chris Todd	7.0	4.4
Mississippi State	3-5	5-7	Tyson Lee Chris Relf	3.4 3.2	4.9 1.4

Only three quarterbacks managed to finish at 7.0 or above, but every bowl eligible SEC team finished with a quarterback over 4.0 yards per pass. Those that did not attain 4.0 are sitting home for the holidays. It's been an odd year, in that most of the very experienced returning quarterbacks actually had statistically worse years in 2009. Tim Tebow's numbers are still good enough for second place, but he's down a half yard. Mike Hartline and Tyson Lee declined, too. Jevan Snead plunged from pre-season All-SEC 2^nd team to 9^th place in the league. Snead paced the SEC with 17 interceptions. Long-time backups Joe Cox and Greg McElroy both saw their stats shrink, thrust into starting roles. The winners in the improvement department are Ryan Mallett, Chris Todd, Stephen Garcia, and Jonathan Crompton. Crompton survived a HORRID September, to finish with a respectable 5.5 net yard per pass.

Ryan Mallett performed well enough to cause All-SEC voters to do some head-scratching. Who IS the best SEC quarterback? If you were arguing on strictly an MVP-type basis, you'd have to give the award to Mallett. Without him, Arkansas easily finishes in the West cellar. Looking at what each quarterback brings to the field, Tim Tebow ALONE makes Florida two-dimensional. However, is Arkansas' one dimension better than Florida's two? Total yards tell the tale: Mallett has 3387, and Tebow has 2962. Comparing the teams, Florida put up 5416 yards, and Arkansas 5272. To me, it's a tough comparison. I think if Tebow has a good game in the SEC title match, he'll win the All-SEC quarterback sweepstakes. If Bama's defense makes Tebow look human, it's Mallett's prize. Number three in the league HAS to be a surprise to everyone: Chris Todd. In this context, he's had a pretty amazing season.

I don't have a strong opinion on who is going to win the SEC title game. Both teams sport awesome defenses and good depth. I think Florida is a little better on offense, and a little better on special teams. And, I think Florida has the best player in the league calling the signals. I see another close Florida win, but it's certainly not carved in stone. The DUI arrest of defensive end Carlos Dunlap could be a distraction factor for the Gators. Alabama received a serious wake-up call in the Iron Bowl against Auburn. It could play out differently on the field, than on paper. I can remember ten years ago, a heavily favored Florida team was dismantled by a more motivated Bama group, 34-7. There have been surprising SEC Title game results this decade, to be sure! There was LSU's stunning 31-20 win over UT in 2001, The 34-13 LSU blowout of UGA in 2003, and Georgia's blowout of LSU in 2005. I'll watch this one for fun, as just a fan of the game! And yes, I'd rather see the West win. But I can't bring myself to say the "RT" words...

Monday Morning: Facing the Reality

Winfield Featherston — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:00:21 -0000

At least the car looked good. And Joe Cox is still an ugly ginger.

View full size photo »

So here it goes. An attempt at postgame thoughts. The sky is not falling and the world is not ending. However.....

Saturday night straight up sucked. Right now it seems like it was just a bad dream and I'm wondering if the game was even played. Then I see the newspaper, the latest bowl ranking and that ugly crooked number 2 and uggh, it happened alright.

It was my last home game as a student, my final rideout at BDS@HGF. The day could not have been better on Saturday; it will easily be one of my favorite and proudest days to be part of the Georgia Tech community. I had the Reck out and about earlier than ever (12 miles around campus and 1/2 a tank of gas), hit more tailgates and socialized more than I had ever done. The pregame feeling is something I don't want to forget. However, the game leaves a sour taste in my mouth as we come quickly to the end of what should be regarded as a successful season of football. Without a doubt, I know the question to "Would you rather beat georgie or win the ACC?". The answer is simple: Beat georgie. Because ~~if we~~ when we win the ACC, we can look and say "ACC Champs (but couldn't put away the 4th best team in the SEC). I am quickly hating these conference rivalries.

I continue to struggle listening to fans who lose and think they can still talk crap to fans just yelling out. We lost. Can't do anything about it. No "Well, I'm still smarter than you" is going to fix it.

The play-calling is a subject of confusion for me all-around. Defensively, from their first drive it was obvious that they weren't going to let Joe Cox ruin the game for them. We saw that as they promptly ran down the field putting together an impressive play for a 7-0 lead. They forced us to prove to them that we could stop the run and we couldn't. Our defensive line continued to get manhandled as the running backs ran all over us and amassed 339 yards of RUSHING YARDS. The injury to Ben Anderson completely changed up the flow for our defense and the mess continued throughout the game.

For the first time this year, the offensive play-calling gives me a big, blank, question-mark. Did it seem relatively conservative to you all? From my point-of-view, it seemed their D-Line was keying in on Dwyer and we either we didn't adjust the option or continued to misread but I don't see why we took it to the outside more. Was it conservative play-calling because we couldn't risk injuries and the potential of losing in Tampa? More than one person thinks that as a possibility.

Lastly, the final 4 downs, the biggest "WTFs" of them all. First, if we complete those passes, CPJ is a genius and is lauded like no other. Unfortunately, the passes were dropped, overthrown, or caught out of bounds. I don't know if I'll ever understand why we made those calls and refused to "dance [more] with the one who brought us."

I'll end in a positive, though a frustrating one. No matter how bad we played, we were in the position to win last night. We were in the process of that mythical "game-winning drive" and then it was snatched away. But nevertheless, we had that chance to take the game back. To Hell with Georgia!

This will be my last post on one of the biggest games I want to erase from my memory. Tomorrow I look towards Tampa and Clemson, the only other team in the country who could relate to us right now.

Georgia Bulldogs 30, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 24: Our Willie Outdistances Their Johnson

T Kyle King — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:18:26 -0000

At first, I did not believe.

I saw such upsets as the South Carolina Gamecocks’ win over the Clemson Tigers and the Mississippi St. Bulldogs’ win over the Mississippi Rebels, and I saw such near-upsets as the Alabama Crimson Tide’s close call against the Auburn Tigers and the Texas Longhorns’ close call against the Texas A&M Aggies, and I said, In each of those, the underdog had the advantage of playing at home.

I saw the Georgia Bulldogs go 74 yards in ten snaps---all of them running plays---for the opening touchdown at historic Grant Field, and I said, We looked good on the opening drive against the Oklahoma St. Cowboys, too.

I saw the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets held to three first-half points (and even those only after a Red and Black turnover at the visitors’ 40 yard line), and I said, The Engineers are a second-half team and Paul Johnson will make the halftime adjustments that allow him to out-scheme Willie Martinez.

I saw Demaryius Thomas break a couple of 2008-style arm tackles and take a third-down pass from Josh Nesbitt 76 yards for a touchdown on the opening series of the second half, and I said, I told you so.

Then I saw Caleb King go 75 yards for the score that put Georgia back out in front by two touchdowns on the very next play from scrimmage, and I said, This may happen.

As I indicated last night, I generally am pretty jaded where the Ramblin’ Wreck is concerned. I understand that the Yellow Jackets are our in-state rivals, but I was born in 1968, more than a decade after Theron Sapp broke the drought and a couple of years after Bobby Dodd retired. I have never seen a conference game between Georgia and Georgia Tech, but, in my first 40 years of life on this planet, I saw the Bulldogs beat the Golden Tornado 29 times. From 1991 to 2007, Georgia went 14-3 against Georgia Tech and 14-3 against the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Then came 2008.

Since that time, I have had a Georgia Tech fan make a derogatory comment to me about Georgia while I was holding a piece of bread and she was holding the cup of juice into which I was waiting to dip the bread while receiving communion at church; I have had Georgia Tech fans in that same congregation who had not previously spoken to me in the entire time I have been a member there come up to me for the sole purpose of telling me how Coach Johnson had ended one winning streak and started another; I have had a Georgia Tech fan see my year-and-a-half-old daughter wearing a Georgia cheerleading outfit and say to her, "Are you ready to watch Georgia get their butts beat on November 28?"

These are the comments I’ve gotten from the Georgia Tech fans I like.

Accordingly, I feel safe in saying that no Georgia victory over Georgia Tech in my personal experience and my conscious memory has been quite so satisfying as last night’s was. This is so, in part, because of the level of sheer unmitigated obnoxiousness exhibited by Georgia Tech fans in the last year---a level unmatched by any fans of the Florida Gators, Tennessee Volunteers, or South Carolina Gamecocks I have ever encountered; a level unmatched by any Southern football fans I have ever encountered who were not fans of the Auburn Tigers (which is why I hate Auburn)---but also, in part, because Paul Johnson is an exceptional football coach who has molded the Yellow Jackets into a solid football team that will be an ACC contender for the foreseeable future. Georgia Tech is no pushover, nor will the Golden Tornado be during Coach Johnson’s tenure, which I expect to last for the remainder of his career. For the first time in my lifetime, we have ourselves a rivalry again.

That set of circumstances makes special a win that was not a fluke. Georgia led Georgia Tech in first downs (21-17), total offense (415-340), and rushing yards (339-205). It was a virtual dead heat in terms of penalties (each team drew five flags, with the Bulldogs being assessed 39 yards and the Yellow Jackets losing 35 yards) and time of possession (Georgia held the ball for 30 minutes and three seconds). At long last, the Classic City Canines came out ahead in turnover margin.

Joe Cox attempted only fourteen passes, but he completed eight of them to Red and Black receivers and none of them to Gold and White defenders. Caleb King and Washaun Ealey each averaged 9.2 yards per carry, with King gaining 166 yards on eighteen rushes and Ealey amassing 183 yards on 20 touches.

Georgia Tech had two weeks to prepare after running a late-season gauntlet of poor teams, while Georgia was playing without its best offensive player, A.J. Green, and (arguably) its second-best defensive player, Bacarri Rambo. Nevertheless, the Bulldogs stepped up, with four Georgia receivers posting double-digit receiving yardage.

For most of the game, it looked like the Red and Black won the coin toss and Mark Richt opted to have Paul Johnson call the visitors’ offensive plays while Mike Bobo handled those responsibilities for the home team. (Four straight incompletions to end the game? Really?) The Athenians ran the ball 44 times in 58 snaps and averaged 7.7 yards per rush to take the pressure off of Cox. To some extent, this was merely a happy fringe benefit of facing a questionable Georgia Tech defense, but it was nice to see the Bulldogs run the ball, with the result that the Classic City Canines won a game in which they never trailed.

Since tankertoad asked, I must say I agree with him on the third down call on the Bulldogs’ last meaningful drive. On the first six snaps of the series, Georgia ran the ball five times, all for positive yardage. The running game was working, picking up yards and running off clock. I’d have run the ball on third and four; had the play only picked up two yards---and every other running play on that drive had picked up at least two yards---Georgia would have faced the choice between a 49-yard field goal and going for it on fourth and two near the Georgia Tech 30 yard line.

I’m not going to criticize Coach Bobo too much for the pass play, though, because the first seven drives he directed produced three touchdowns and three field goals, and because sending Blair Walsh on to attempt a 55-yard field goal isn’t sheer lunacy, given his past accomplishments. Also, while we’re on the subject of the Georgia specialists, for all I can tell, Drew Butler may have spent his Saturday evening in Atlanta at the Cheetah with Kevin Butler. All right, he probably didn’t, but isn’t it nice to know our all-world punter was an arrow we were able to leave in the quiver?

Finally, to top it all off, the Bulldogs got the win without saving Willie Martinez’s job in the process. Georgia surrendered 21 points after intermission and was outscored in the second half, which demonstrates that, even though Coach Martinez came up with an effective game plan, his inability to make in-game adjustments remains a problem.

In short, I’m not happy with 7-5, and neither are you, but 7-5 is what I predicted back in the spring and it’s at least somewhat satisfying that, even in a down year, the ‘Dawgs can finish tied for second place in the SEC East and beat two of their three traditional rivals. Moreover, last night’s victory puts the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry into a new context.

Before, Yellow Jacket fans could claim---erroneously, yet with a straight face---that the hiring of Paul Johnson at the Flats marked a break point in the series, analogous to the hiring of Vince Dooley in the Classic City in 1964. Now, Bulldog fans can counter that, but for an ill-timed Richard Samuel fumble last year, we’d be sitting here today talking about Georgia going for a tenth straight series victory over the Ramblin’ Wreck in 2010. All of a sudden, "sea change in the rivalry" has dissolved and been replaced with "a lot of guys have won one in a row."

The best part of last night’s game, though, was Coach Richt’s anger after the Powerade bath and his terse insistence upon no smiles until the clock showed a trio of zeroes. In that moment, Mark Richt may well have found the happy medium he has been seeking.

What this program needs is not Evil Richt and not Hip Richt, but, rather, Righteously Indignant Richt. The adverb attests to the innate human decency and steadfast moral uprightness that cause us to admire Mark Richt and take pride in calling him our head coach, but the adjective indicates the hard-edged demand for discipline, execution, and performance that has earned men like Paul Johnson, Urban Meyer, and Nick Saban national championship rings.

Last night, in the image of Mark Richt victorious over a top ten team on the road, dripping wet, and hopping mad, we may have beheld the Coach of New Year’s Future, and the earliest inklings of the glory yet to come under the best head coach we have ever had. Mark Richt, like all Christians, isn’t perfect, but he’s working on it.

Go ‘Dawgs!

A Football Preview: Cornered Mongrel Edition

BirdGT — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:00:14 -0000

First, let's start by understanding the history of this rivalry. Read this article on wikipedia. I find it particularly interesting that the worst acts ever committed in the rivalry were by Georgie fans yet they claim they don't care about the rivalry. We belittle them in our fight songs but they question our patriotism in parades, throw rocks at our football team, and stab our mascots. There's a difference between supporting a good, old fashioned rivalry and poor behavior. Historically, Georgie loves to cross the line.

So let's look at some numbers from history that pertain to this coming Thanksgiving game:

1. When Georgie loses the week before Tech, they are 19-19-2 all time against Tech.
2. When Georgie loses to Kentucky in the regular season, they are 5-5-1 all time against Tech.
3. When Georgie travels to Atlanta, they are 30-23-4 all time against Tech.
4. When Georgie has a worse winning percentage than Tech in the regular season, they are 7-30-3 all time against Tech.
5. Combining all of the conditions, Georgie is 0-3 in seasons where they've lost to Kentucky, had a worse record than Tech, and traveled to Atlanta. Those seasons were 1947, 1949, and 1977.

Why has Georgie lost 5 games?
I'd say most Georgie fans would say that Georgia cannot hold on to the football. Looking into their turnover margin indicates a pretty desolate group of statistics. In I-A losses, the bulldogs had a -2.6 turnovers/game. In I-A victories, it was only -0.8 turnovers/game. So the bulldogs are making a lot of mistakes in winning and losing efforts.

Another talking point for bulldoggies is the play of their quarterback, Joe Cox. However, I'm not really buying the hate. Joe Cox is the second-best rated QB in SEC games this season just behind Chris Leak's backup. Bulldog fans came into this season knowing that Joe Cox was a career backup thrust into the limelight due to an early departure. They shouldn't have been expecting the second coming of Eric Zeier. Mark Richt can only recruit for what he does and doesn't have. You can't tell high school kids, "Oh that Matt Stafford will be gone by junior year." Sorry, that's not how it works.

The lack of a legitimate running back has limited Georgie big time. Their rushing attack is sporadic at best averaging 139 yards in I-A wins and 109 yards in I-A losses.

A look at the division of carries based on down and distance shows that UGA really doesn't have a primary back. Different guys have played in different games. There's a little more confidence in Ealey concerning play calling as he's getting more first down carries but for the most part plays are called the same no matter the guy in the backfield. To me, that means there's no game breaker back there if Richt and company haven't settled on a solid running back.

And honestly, putting all of the blame on a particular SA's shoulders is pretty lame. I'm a Blame-Pat-Nix-man so whenever my team's offense struggles, I blame the person directly responsible for game preparation, quarterback coaching, and overall offensive philosophy.

The Bobo Effect
I wanna attack Bobo's play calling like I broke down CPJ's earlier (I, II, & III). Due to limited time, this'll be slightly truncated.

If you look at Georgie's playcalling on the season, it's like a 10 year old losing in a video game. There's frustration when little yardage is gained on first and second down and the run is completely abandoned on 3rd down. Georgie passes 74% of the time on 3rd down. People call us unbalanced. At least we have an offensive identity. Bobo's idea of play calling is simple: run fail, run fail, pass, repeat.

The interesting thing about Paul Johnson's offense is that the offense is simply meant to gain yardage. If a defensive player misses a tackle, it's a touchdown. In passing offenses similar to Bobo's, plays are designed to achieve a certain amount of yardage thus limiting your play makers. A "pro-style" offense limits your playbook based on yardage and personnel. Hence, we see interesting trends in Bobo's pass play calls:

Looks are pass attempts to a certain player either completed, incomplete, or dropped (all kept by uga game stat keepers, blame them for mistakes). I was kinda amazed at the relatively low numbers for A.J. Green. It seems he's only really getting the ball on 1st down or in short yardage situations. I guess it makes sense that uga goes to A.J. or Orson Charles for those short yardage plays. I guess I just find fault in not utilizing your ONLY good offensive player more. Here's some perspective - Calvin Johnson caught 42% of GT's 2006 completed passes while A.J. Green has only caught 28% of uga's this season. The talent level disparity from 2006 Calvin to James Johnson is not that much different from A.J. Green to Michael Moore or Tavarres King this season.

Note (11/27 1:15 pm): FTRS reader Howell asked to see a breakdown of the progression of carries that the main running backs of georgie have received YTD. Well, Howell. Ask and you shall receive! It seems with Samuel's absence, both King and Ealey have seemed to have been told to pick up the slack.

Conclusion
I think GT will struggle against Georgia's passing offense but hopefully some Joe Cox misfires and sacks will keep GT's rushing attack consistently on the field burning clock. I'm worried about this being an FSU-type affair. Hopefully, Dave Wommack realizes people are really scrutinizing his defense these next couple of weeks. That means do your homework. Learn your opponents' tendencies, plays, etc.. Focus your defense. Now is not the time to give up 250-300 yards passing. Our common opponent, Vanderbilt, ran it up and down on us yet Georgie's lamented D handled them. Wommack, it's on you to stop Georgie.

Predictions

Bird: The combined scores from point #5 for those three wins are my prediction of Tech 30, uga 13.
Winfield: It is time to tell the mutts that we are in control. Make them piss themselves and make them leave Bobby Dodd early because of our celebrating. To Hell with Georgia. It's time to wipe them off the face of the Earth. 54-10 Jackets. TO HELL WITH GEORGIA!
Dane: We spot them a few, for a grand finale of 31-10.

Bulldogs vs Yellow Jackets coverage

SEC Power Poll, Week Twelve

mlmintampa — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:02:45 -0000

Our SEC Power Poll ballot. Final results at Team Speed Kills on Wednesday.

1. Alabama: The biggest difference between Bama 2008 and Bama 2009 is that Mark Ingram is an improvement over Glen Coffee. Through 11 games, Ingram is averaging 127 ypg (5th nationally) with 12 touchdowns. Coffee was averaging 99 ypg and 8 touchdowns.

2. Florida: Between Alabama becoming a popular upset pick, Notre Dame again trying to chat up Urban Meyer, and a Big 12 quarterback securing the Heisman, 2009 is looking a lot like 2008 for the Gators. Aside from the offense sucking, of course.

3. LSU: Even my 13 year-old sister was screaming at Les Miles Saturday night. Granted, I have a sister who chose seeing "The Blind Side" over the Twilight movie last weekend.

4. Ole Miss: Proud weekend at Ole Miss; they defeated a division rival and shouted down racist cowards who tried to hijack a beautiful football weekend.

5. Arkansas: They've won four in a row and are scoring in buckets (8th nationally in scoring offense). But three of their four losses were on the road and they will visit LSU on Saturday.

6. Kentucky: If Morgan Newton can keep the train on the tracks and the ball in the bellies of Derrick Locke and Randall Cobb, they will hang with Tennessee. If the defense can force four turnovers like they did against Georgia, they will easily win and complete an epic turnaround after being 2-3 in mid-October.

7. Tennessee: Maybe Kiffin should find some women's basketball players to fill in his defensive roster.

8. Georgia: You know Georgia is having a bad season when they get sympathy from a Gator fan. Although, that's because their dog died, not because Joe Cox sucks.

9. Auburn: The Iron Bowl is going to be a long day for the Tigers. Ingram is going to run all over them.

10. South Carolina: Why is it that they are so terrible late in the season? Is something in the water in Columbia? Are they too focused on their mistress in Argentina?

11. Mississippi State: Beating Ole Miss Saturday in Starkville will make Dan Mullen Year One a huge success.

12. Vanderbilt: At least the season is over.

Kentucky Wildcats 34, Georgia Bulldogs 27: Chicken Little Was an Optimist

T Kyle King — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:42:50 -0000

Two weeks ago, my son was under the weather. Last week, my daughter caught what had ailed her big brother. This week, I took ill, and I felt worse and worse throughout the day on Saturday, leading me ultimately to the conclusion that I should eschew the season’s final home game and watch the clash in the comfort of my living room. Needless to say, that was a good decision, despite the fact that it forced me to listen to Bob Davie’s insipid commentary, in which he actually said, "We’ll get back to the game in a second" as a play got underway.

What is there to say about last evening’s sorry display between the hedges? In a night game at home, the Georgia Bulldogs held a two-touchdown halftime lead on the athletically overmatched and injury-riddled Kentucky Wildcats, who had not won in Sanford Stadium in more than three decades. The Red and Black should have won in a walk. Instead, the Classic City Canines failed in every phase of the game after intermission, repeating a litany of errors that has become so commonplace as to be comical in the course of losing a game that should have been put out of reach on the Bulldogs’ first possession of the second half.

Statistically, Kentucky never should have been in this game. The Bulldogs outperformed the Wildcats in passing yards (291-137), rushing yards (196-123), first downs (22-15), and time of possession (33:13-26:47). That ought to be a recipe for success, particularly for a team that has home field advantage on its side. The usual suspects reared their ugly heads, however, as two interceptions, two lost fumbles, and five fifteen-yard penalties, almost all of them at the most inopportune times imaginable, doomed the ‘Dawgs.

(Incidentally, while this game certainly cannot be blamed on the officiating, an out-of-place umpire greatly aided on one Wildcat score and the conspiracy theorists were given additional grist for their mill on Randall Cobb’s third-quarter touchdown, which did not draw an unsportsmanlike conduct flag despite his having noticeably and needlessly altered his stride en route to the end zone. Does anyone doubt that a Georgia player who did exactly the same thing would be penalized?)

Virtually every number indicates a Georgia victory. Joe Cox threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Washaun Ealey and Caleb King amassed 77 yards apiece, with each doing so on fewer than twenty carries. Tavarres King rose up in the absence of A.J. Green to make three catches for 109 yards, while Orson Charles and Rantavious Wooten both caught touchdown passes.

It was as though the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets---who had the week off, and who most assuredly were watching last night’s game unfold---had their voodoo dolls handy and asked themselves, "What is the most painful way we can cause the ‘Dawgs to lose?" They could not have done much better than giving Georgia a two-touchdown halftime lead, beginning a Keystone Kops-like second half with a fumble on the opening kickoff, and letting the contest unravel gradually with a game-tying 60-yard pass to Derrick Locke on which the Kentucky tailback zipped past several flailing would-be tacklers and scampered to paydirt with nary a Georgia defender near him, a ten-play Georgia drive covering 67 yards and nearly five minutes that ended in a fumble at the Wildcats’ one yard line, and a first-down interception on the Bulldogs’ last desperate possession.

The Classic City Canines were outscored 28-7 after intermission by a team that hadn’t scored more than 26 total points in any previous conference outing. The 34 points conceded to the Blue and White by Georgia put the Bulldogs in the same category with Louisville (which gave up 31 points to Kentucky), Louisiana-Monroe (36), and Eastern Kentucky (37). This is the state of Red and Black football.

This isn’t the worst season in Georgia gridiron history; it isn’t even the worst of my lifetime, or of my conscious remembrance. However, the ‘Dawgs could equal the seven losses sustained by the Red and Black in the disastrous 1990 campaign and no one who is not a partisan homer would suggest that the Bulldogs have any chance of avoiding embarrassment (much less of winning) next Saturday night at historic Grant Field. Our team is going to limp into the postseason at 6-6 to play in a meaningless game that has the potential to do as much psychological harm as physical good.

The last sixteen games, during which the ‘Dawgs have gone 9-7 and conceded 34 or more points eight times, have set this program back fifteen years. Our team hasn’t played four consecutive quarters of solid football in all three phases of the game since January 1, 2008. In the last four years, Georgia has gone 2-2 against Kentucky. We are where we were in the mid-1990s and we face a massive rebuilding job, one which will require replacing at least some of the contractors and masons currently assigned to the task.

In short, the loud thump heard in Athens last night was either the sound of the bottom falling out of Georgia football or the sound of Uga VII rolling over in his grave.

Go ‘Dawgs!