SB Nation - Caleb King

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.

Saturday Lessons: November 28

Year2 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:00:09 -0000

by Phil Sandlin - AP

The farewell was a success.

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"Decaying legend" is the best option for rivalry weekend.

While Alabama and Texas had issues of different sorts against their rivals, Florida had no problem is dispatching Florida State. Tim Tebow had five touchdowns in his victory lap, and Brandon Spikes' defense gave up no points and roughly 110 yards to an otherwise terrific FSU offense before the starters began to get pulled late in the third quarter. It was easily one of the three best performances the Gators have had against BCS teams, up there with the games against Kentucky and Georgia.

It would be tempting to declare that Florida is peaking at the right time. However, FIU is terrible and FSU hasn't played defense in about two or three years. It is true that Florida had much less trouble with the Golden Panthers than the Tide did, but if you're using a September and a November game against a Sun Belt doormat to compare UF and UAT, I don't have words for you. I want to try to make the peaking case in a parallel to 2006, when the Gators struggled a lot of the year but hit their stride in the year's final two games, but I can't really pull the trigger on it.

Alabama showed some cracks and still came up a winner.

The 14-0 first quarter deficit was Alabama's worst since their Sugar Bowl loss to Utah. The seven point second half deficit was their largest since being down five to LSU. Mark Ingram's 30 yards was easily his lowest total of the season, and he eventually went out with a hip pointer. The opponent was coming off of a bye week. Everything lined up against the Tide, and yet with under two minutes to go, they pulled the win out.

Auburn did help some with an extremely puzzling clock management strategy on its final drive, something which amounted to, "let's run off as much clock as we can early and set ourselves up for a 40 yard Hail Mary." Even so, you can't argue with the result as Bama polished off a second straight 12-0 regular season. They stared defeat in the eyes and didn't blink.

We have a nine game winner for the Capital One Bowl.

LSU may not have taken the preferred method for getting to the SEC's best non-BCS bowl, but they got the bid and its accopanying $4.25 million paycheck by edging out Arkansas 33-30 in overtime. Les Miles showed an ability to learn from his mistakes as he managed the clock with aplomb at the end, enabling Josh Jasper to tie it with four seconds to go.

It's been a trying year for LSU, as the Tiger offense finished the regular season in the bottom half of the conference in most offensive categories. They lost to the three toughest teams on the schedule. However, they didn't blow one against a lesser team, and they get to reap the rewards for doing just that since only two other teams in the league managed to avoid that same thing.

Georgia brought home the SEC's marquee non-conference win.

By taking out the ~~Nerds~~ Yellow Jackets, Georgia managed to get the SEC its best non-conference win of the season. Just about no one (myself included) gave Georgia a shot against Georgia Tech, but the Bulldogs not only won but flipped the script. Washaun Ealey and Caleb King each rushed for over 160 yards and combined for 349 on the day while no one on the home team managed more than 41 yards. It's a nice way to cap a disappointing season, but big changes still need to be made.

South Carolina didn't do so bad for itself either.

The Gamecocks made it a clean sweep over the ACC Championship Game participants with their victory over Clemson. It was Steve Spurrier's second over the Tigers in his five years and just the program's third in the last 12 games in the series. C.J. Spiller ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, but the boys from Columbia took over from there, building a 24-7 lead before Clemson even scored again. The Gamecock rushing attack came alive, rolling up 223 yards in total with freshman Kenny Miles leading the bunch with 114. Combined with a bowl win, it could be a good sign for next season.

Your SEC East Runner Up: Tennessee.

It's been a long road since Phillip Fulmer's tearful farewell press conference, but thanks to owning the tiebreaker over Georgia, Tennessee finished second in the SEC East. It's not exactly an emphatic finish since the Vols needed that tiebreaker to do it and are one of four 7-5 teams in the division, not to mention they had to go to overtime to defeat Kentucky. Still, it's better to be second than third or worse, and Jonathan Crompton managed to mostly redeem himself over the course of the season. It will be tough to repeat the circumstances next year without all of this year's seniors and a complete question mark at quarterback, but that's for next year to worry about.

It was an interesting finish in Mississippi to say the least.

I know some cynics probably predicted doom for Ole Miss thanks to Houston Nutt generally not being able to stand prosperity, but I doubt anyone expected Mississippi State to run away with this game. Anthony Dixon and Chris Relf each went for over 130 yards rushing as Dan Mullen's spread attack worked to peak performance. If the Bulldogs find a workhorse to sub in for Dixon next year, State could definitely make some noise.

It's also probably time to assess where the Nutt experiment at Ole Miss is. The Rebels surprised to an eight win regular season last year, and they disappointed to an eight win regular season this year. Maybe it was a bit much to expect them to pass up Alabama this season, but they didn't even finish above LSU despite winning the head-to-head match up and the Tigers having a dysfunctional offense. Can he win the division there at any time despite this year having the perhaps the most talented team he's ever coached?

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!

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!

Ranking the top 25 draft-eligible sophomores

Mocking Dan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:00:12 -0000

by Mike Fuentes - AP

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With a possible record number of redshirt sophomores entering the 2010 NFL Draft, it might be a good idea to start thinking about some of the best.

The clear-cut top third-year sophomores are Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett and Texas strong safety Earl Thomas. After them there is a moderate drop in talent, but the top six in the list could all go in the first two rounds of the upcoming draft.

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!

Too Much Information: Georgia Bulldogs v. Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles

T Kyle King — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:22:25 -0000

If it’s Friday evening, that means the bar is open and it’s time for Too Much Information here at Dawg Sports . . . except that, well, the Georgia Bulldogs are playing the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. Granted, tomorrow’s visiting team boasts better records than the host squad, both overall (5-3 to the Bulldogs’ 4-4) and in league action (4-2 to Georgia’s 3-3), but the Golden Eagles tee it up in the Division I-AA Ohio Valley Conference.

Accordingly, there’s not a whole lot to say that hasn’t been said already, either by Doug or by Lindsey. Nevertheless, I will do my best to bring you not a pinch of perspective or a dash of data, but, rather, to load you up with . . . Too Much Information:

Odds and Ends

Andy Landers, the head basketball coach of the Lady Bulldogs, is a Tennessee Tech alum. Watson Brown, the head football coach of the Golden Eagles, played for the Vanderbilt Commodores (1969-1972) and was the head coach both at his alma mater (1986-1990) and at UAB (1995-2006). During those 21 seasons, Coach Brown was 0-11 against the Red and Black.

The Golden Eagles have been outscored 52-19 in the third quarter this season. The Bulldogs have been outscored 74-42 in the third quarter this season, making the first 15 minutes following the break the Classic City Canines’ worst quarter, both offensively and defensively.

This will be the second series meeting between Georgia and Tennessee Tech. The first came in 1943, a year in which the ‘Dawgs were coming off of back-to-back New Year’s Day bowl wins yet stumbled to a six-win season featuring a close loss to the LSU Tigers and a lopsided defeat suffered at the hands of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Atlanta. Sound familiar? (All right, I’m projecting ahead a little bit on the six-win season and the lopsided loss to the Engineers at Grant Field, but, come on, does anyone doubt the inevitability of both of those outcomes this year?) Gridiron historians have blamed the Bulldogs’ 1943 stumble on the fact that World War II cost the Classic City Canines all of their 1942 starters and forced the Red and Black to field a club made up of freshmen too young for the draft and players who were ineligible to serve in the armed forces because they were declared 4-F, but it’s starting to look more likely that scheduling Tennessee Tech is just plain bad luck. (Along similar lines, any season in which Georgia plays Georgia Southern while expecting to contend for a national championship will end in horrible disappointment for the ‘Dawgs!)

How weak is Georgia’s rushing attack? Fullback Fred Munzenmaier has the same number of rushing touchdowns as leading rusher Richard Samuel. In fact, Munzenmaier has as many rushing touchdowns as Washaun Ealey, Caleb King, and Branden Smith combined. On the plus side, the Bulldogs give what they get where the ground game is concerned: Georgia averages 3.6 yards per carry and has scored six rushing touchdowns, but the Red and Black allow 3.8 yards per carry and have surrendered seven rushing touchdowns.

The last time Tennessee Tech took on an SEC squad, the Eagles lost at Auburn by a 35-3 margin in 2007. The last time Tennessee Tech took on a Division I-A opponent, the Eagles lost at Kansas State by a 49-7 margin on September 26.

A 1998 episode of "Sports Night" was entitled "The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee Tech." This installment of the show was about a fictitious football team in the Volunteer State, and, despite the episode’s title, the make-believe school referred to by the characters was "Tennessee Western University," which supposedly was located in Chattanooga, which is in the southeastern portion of the state, near the northern border of Georgia. When the tenth anniversary DVD box set was released, the episode title had been changed to "The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee," but, if you own the original DVD release (as I do), you know the original title. Presumably, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (a brilliant playwright and scriptwriter, but also a man whose laughable ignorance concerning the South causes his characters from below the Mason-Dixon line to be caricatures more often than characters, the delightful Ainsley Hayes notably excepted) originally wrote the episode thinking Tennessee Tech was his fictional creation and changed it after someone pointed out to him that such a school actually exists.

The Feel ~~Good~~ Bad Stat of the Week

Where, you may ask, is the Feel Good Stat of the Week? There is no Feel Good Stat of the Week. I’m trying something new. Call it the power of negative thinking.

Positive thinking has gotten us nowhere lately. I was upbeat heading into last season, and look at what a disaster that turned out to be. I let all of you talk me into letting Manic Kyle out of the box before previewing the season opener against the Oklahoma St. Cowboys, and that didn’t work out for us. I went against my better judgment and put a positive spin on the stats before the Bulldogs took on the Tennessee Volunteers, and that game was a total train wreck. Finally, I believed a win in Jacksonville was inevitable, only to have the Florida Gators deal the ‘Dawgs a soul-crushing, program-altering beatdown.

No more. The era of good feelings is at an end. It is time to be dour, dejected, depressed, and dispirited. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here as you note well the Feel Bad Stat of the Week:

2009 represents the twelfth season in Georgia history in which the Bulldogs have posted a 4-4 record through eight games. The previous eleven such occasions were in 1925, 1928, 1929, 1936, 1939, 1951, 1955, 1970, 1979, 1990, and 1993. In the ninth contests of those respective seasons, the Red and Black went 4-6-1.

When you expect the worst, your only options are to be proven correct or pleasantly surprised.

The Bottom Line

You know, I know, and the American people know exactly how this game is going to go. The ‘Dawgs are going to play sloppy, lackluster, disinterested football while building up a solid but not overwhelming lead on big plays made by virtue of superior talent rather than sharp execution. The Golden Eagles will give the Bulldogs a few nervous moments in the third quarter, when the home team gets lazy, the home crowd goes quiet, and the visitors make a special teams gambit pay off with a fake punt, blocked punt, fake field goal, surprise onside kick, or big return using a freaky formation.

How do I know this? Because I’ve seen this game every single time a Sun Belt squad or Division I-AA opponent has played between the hedges for the last decade or so. We’ve seen this movie before, and we know how it ends.

My Prediction: Georgia 38, Tennessee Tech 17.

Go ‘Dawgs!

LSU Tigers 20, Georgia Bulldogs 13: "I Am Whatever You Say I Am"

T Kyle King — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:23:24 -0000

Here, in a nutshell, is my summary of yesterday’s loss between the hedges:

A few days ago, Orson Swindle described Tim Tebow’s injury as a Rorschach test, and the same thing appears to be the case with Saturday’s game in Sanford Stadium. The reactions remind me of a debate held by the Phi Kappa Literary Society in the winter of 2002 regarding the war on terror, in which one of the later speakers on the topic took the floor and said something along the lines of this: "It seems to me that most of you are talking about the same things you were talking about on September 10."

So it is with this. Whatever you thought about the Georgia Bulldogs at 3:30 p.m. yesterday probably had been confirmed for you by 7:00 p.m. yesterday. Consider:

Willie Martinez needs to be fired. Georgia held a 7-6 lead inside the final seven minutes and the LSU Tigers were backed up to their own 12 yard line, yet the Bulldog defense allowed the Bayou Bengals to move 88 yards in thirteen plays to score the go-ahead touchdown. In the course of the drive, a facemask penalty on the Red and Black turned second and eight into first and goal. After the home team went back out in front, the ‘Dawgs gave up a 33-yard touchdown run inside the final minute. The offense had the game won twice, but defensive letdowns allowed Louisiana State to escape with the triumph.

Willie Martinez does not need to be fired. During a first half in which the Georgia offense was accomplishing exactly nothing, the Bulldog defense held the Fighting Tigers to a pair of Josh Jasper field goals when the Red and Black easily could have been down 21-0 at the break. (Compare that to the 2003 effort in Baton Rouge, in which the ‘Dawgs should have been ahead 21-0 in the early going, yet they went on to lose a seven-point ballgame under the sainted Brian VanGorder.) Georgia picked off a Jordan Jefferson pass in the end zone, forced two LSU punts in the fourth quarter, and held the Bayou Bengals nearly nine points below their season scoring average. This was "bend but don’t break" at its finest, particularly from a defense that was on the field for more than 33 minutes of clock time.

Mike Bobo is a poor offensive coordinator. The ‘Dawgs earned one first down and scored no points in the first half. Georgia went three and out four times before the break. The Red and Black continued to try to pound the ball up the middle against a defensive front set up to stop just such an attack; the result was 45 rushing yards on 24 attempts for an average of 1.9 yards per carry. Joe Cox had more rushing yards (8) than Caleb King (7). The usual array of baffling and predictable play calls was evident once again.

Mike Bobo is a fine offensive coordinator. When Caleb King and Richard Samuel weren’t getting it done, Coach Bobo found a way to get the ball into the hands of Washaun Ealey and make some things happen. Georgia’s first second-half drive set up what should have been a chip shot field goal. Georgia’s second drive after intermission was a 60-yard, 18-play masterpiece that ate up nearly eight minutes of clock time and culminated in a shrewd fourth-down pass to Shaun Chapas for the touchdown. Georgia’s fourth drive following halftime moved the ball out and allowed the Bulldogs to flip the field. Georgia’s fifth drive of the second half covered 79 yards in under two minutes and featured a terrific touchdown pass to A.J. Green. The former Bulldog quarterback made sensible halftime adjustments that gave his team a shot at victory.

This team has fundamental flaws that simply are not getting any better. In spite of being a senior, Bryan Evans doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing in the secondary. Penalties at critical junctures made a huge, and perhaps decisive, difference in setting up Louisiana State’s final drive. Cox displayed a Greg Talley-like tunnel vision, frequently failed to find the open receiver, and badly overthrew Green on what ought to have been a touchdown pass. The special teams continue to be a weak point and they are finding new ways to foul up, such as the illegal formation penalty on the final kickoff and Blair Walsh’s missed 32-yard field goal. On top of everything else, after Georgia’s last touchdown, several of the players displayed a lack of discipline by starting off the field, even though the ‘Dawgs obviously were in a position to need to go for two.

The problems that have plagued this team are beginning to be fixed. The Classic City Canines lost no fumbles and Cox threw only one interception . . . and even that lone pick required an instant replay to confirm. The defensive line finally brought some pressure and got some sacks. While it isn’t good to get seven penalties for 59 yards, it’s better than it’s been.

This season is going to be a repeat of 2006. Early close calls against weak opponents proved to be a harbinger of close (and not so close) losses to come when scares against the Colorado Buffaloes and the Mississippi Rebels served as the prelude to four losses in a five-week stretch. The season was only salvaged with wins over ranked yet overrated Auburn and Georgia Tech squads.

This season is going to be a repeat of 2007. The first half of the fall featured a close conference loss at home and a defeat by a wider margin in a lackluster effort against an orange-clad opponent on the road. The Bulldogs somehow managed to scratch and claw their way to a 5-2 record following a road win over the Vanderbilt Commodores, and, after a well-placed open date, Georgia finally put it all together, began playing up to its considerable potential, and went on a 6-0 run to close out the season.

The youth on this team is maddening. Rookie mistakes are killing the ‘Dawgs. Brandon Boykin made a spectacular play on his interception at the goal line, but he caught the ball off-balance and his momentum carried him deeper into the end zone. It was foolish for him to bring the ball out when he should have knelt down, taken the touchback, and given the Red and Black possession at the 20 instead of at the two. Those kinds of youthful blunders are hampering this club on a weekly basis.

The youth on this team is encouraging. Every week, at least one underclassman steps up and proves that the recruiting hype surrounding him was justified. Against the South Carolina Gamecocks, Brandon Boykin and Branden Smith caught our collective attention. Against the Arizona St. Sun Devils, Bacarri Rambo and Rantavious Wooten made their presence felt. Yesterday afternoon, Washaun Ealey began to emerge. There is a ton of young talent wearing silver britches, and those players are only going to get better.

In the end, you saw what you wanted to see and you believe what you already believed. Personally, although I came close (twice) to getting the one-point win I predicted, I feel the same way about this game that I believe South Carolina fans ought to feel about the Gamecocks’ loss to the ‘Dawgs: Georgia almost stole a game the Bulldogs had no business being in a position to win in the first place. The lesson of the season thus far is that the Red and Black aren’t quite as good as teams that are in the top fifteen but are a little bit better than teams that aren’t.

In other words, we are who we thought we were.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Georgia Bulldogs 20, Arizona State Sun Devils 17

T Kyle King — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:21:32 -0000

My father will not leave a sporting event early. This dates back to his boyhood, when he rode into town to see minor league baseball games in Cordele, Ga., with a local man who insisted upon leaving at the seventh-inning stretch in order to beat traffic. That is, in order to beat the sort of traffic one encountered when leaving a minor league baseball game in Cordele, Ga., in the 1950s.

Because of that experience, Dad insists upon getting his money’s worth out of a game. As a result, I have spent more than one summer afternoon under the overhang at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium watching rain pelt a tarp during an Atlanta Braves weather delay while thinking, If I were home, I’d be watching Andy Griffith right now. Although I do not quite have Dad’s fortitude in such matters---I left the 1996 Texas Tech game early; Dad stayed in Sanford Stadium to the very end---I have inherited much of his devotion to sticking it out while the game is being played.

Consequently, I was present for the entirety of last night’s game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Arizona St. Sun Devils. I was drenched to the skin by the time the game began, and I hung around ‘til the final horn, teeth chattering and legs weary, while thinking, At least I’m not as wet and cold as I was at the 1993 Florida game.

In a not unrelated item, Doug Gillett and Orson Swindle are total wusses.

I was supposed to meet Doug at his usual tailgate spot at Tent City, and, while a good crowd was there, Doug was not. He had promised to bring Holly Anderson (whom I have never met face-to-face), but, since he didn’t come, she didn’t come, and he also had promised to bring Orson and The Conscience of a Nation, but, since he didn’t come, they didn’t come, either.

I know Holly and TCOAN are women of fortitude and substance who happily would have braved the elements, so I will not disparage them in the slightest, but Doug and Orson are buddies of mine, so I feel perfectly justified (in a good-natured locker room sort of way) in denouncing them as a couple of pansified nancy-boys who melt upon contact with water like witches in "The Wizard of Oz" or major league baseball players. Ignore what they have to say about college football and heed the words of a man who was fan enough (or a fan who was man enough) to stand out in it and shiver and cheer ‘til he was hoarse. These are those words:

My faith that there is symmetry to the universe is underscored by the fact that, on the Saturday following the 25th anniversary of Kevin Butler’s historic last-second field goal to beat Clemson, Georgia won on a last-second field goal in a game in which Drew Butler played well for the ‘Dawgs on special teams.

What appeared to be the case through much of the second quarter in Stillwater appeared to be the case through halftime this weekend: Georgia had the game well in hand, despite the relative closeness of the score, until the Bulldogs started coughing up the ball. Three giveaways a game in each of the first four weeks is inexcusable and will lead inevitably to ruin against teams in the Red and Black’s weight class. As it stands, the Athenians have won three straight nailbiters when, without the turnovers, they’d have won three straight comfortable victories, and maybe even three straight runaways.

Because the foregoing statement is true, it also is the case that you can’t hang this one on the defense. I have criticized the Georgia D’s failure to step up in sudden change situations, a shortcoming which was all too apparent against the Auburn Tigers and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets last year and against the Arkansas Razorbacks this year. Against the Sun Devils, though, the Classic City Canines at least showed some fight following Caleb King’s third quarter fumble. Arizona State took over at the home team’s 37 yard line and required eight plays (including two third down conversions) to score. I wish they hadn’t given up the touchdown, but at least they contested it even when placed in a tough spot. Obviously, the defense stepped up a second time after Jarrell Holman’s interception return to the Georgia 21. The ‘Dawgs pushed the Sun Devils backwards on the drive, which ended in a blocked field goal. The results of those efforts offer at least a glimmer of hope, as does the fact that the defense ultimately adjusted and appeared to figure out how to slow down Dimitri Nance.

Six penalties for 45 yards isn’t good, but I’ll take it. Likewise, while the special teams were far from flawless, they turned in their best performance of the season so far. Please, let it be "so far."

The young and talented Bulldogs are starting to shed the trappings of youth and demonstrate the fact of their talent. This week, Bacarri Rambo and Rantavious Wooten began to emerge from the cocoon of hype and enter the early stages of realizing their potential.

We in the South should abandon all usage of the phrase "SEC speed" in any manner which is other than ironic. That Pac-10 defense looked pretty doggone fast to me. In a related item, although Caleb King was an effective complement to Richard Samuel, this might have been a good game to give Carlton Thomas some carries, as his running style might have been better suited to getting through the Sun Devils' defense.

Sometimes, conventional wisdom gets to be conventional wisdom because it’s correct. Attempts to surprise the other team by handing off to the fullback only work when your frequent use of the fullback in short yardage situations on third down hasn’t caused everyone in the stadium to look for a handoff to the fullback. Georgia has a stable of talented running backs; they should be used in such situations. By the same token, the Bulldogs have to get Logan Gray in for whole drives at the time, not for one snap at a time for plays that are blown up immediately due to their predictability.

Going for it on fourth down was a bad call. It’s fourth and one in the fourth quarter of a low-scoring tie ballgame. You have the ball on the visitors’ 28 yard line, the wind at your back, and Blair Walsh standing on the sidelines. You kick the dadgum field goal.

That said, the final drive following the blocked field goal was well designed and well executed. Joe Cox, who earlier in the game had thrown the ball when he should have run it, picked up three yards when a play broke down and completed four out of five attempts before darting to the hash mark and kneeling to set up a field goal on the final play of the game. Facing overtime as the worst realistic scenario, the Bulldogs had a win virtually assured and made sure to do nothing that would give it away.

Georgia is living on the edge, which justifiably is causing considerable heartburn in Bulldog Nation, but the LSU Tigers look every bit as beatable as the Red and Black in an autumn in which almost every team appears riddled with imperfections. Even if our team doesn’t seem to be particularly good, it may be enough that no one else seems to be particularly good, either.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Beating The Bulldogs: A Georgia Blog's Take

Cory Williams — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:48:16 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

3 months ago: Georgia's Brandon Boykin, top, and Rennie Curran celebrate after Georgia defeated South Carolina 41-37 in an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Browse more photos »

Just like last season, T. Kyle King from the top notch Georgia blog Dawg Sports has agreed to exchange a Q&A. We are grateful for his hard work and insight.

You may read my responses to his questions here, and I recommend joining his blog's GameThread to enjoy a high level of camaraderie with Bulldog fans.

With regard to the Georgia game tomorrow, ASU fans are well aware of the pedigree of the opposition. After the 27-10 thrashing witnessed in Tempe in 2008, Sun Devil faithful can only hope for a strong showing in SEC territory.

After all, it's all about the OOC schedule; with a good game against Georgia on the resume, ASU will find itself confident and prepared to make a run at the Pac-10 crown.

Without further ado, here is the Q&A:

Whom should the Sun Devils fear on offense?

Whom shouldn’t the Sun Devils fear on offense? Last Saturday night, Joe Cox earned national offensive player of the week honors by guiding nine scoring drives against Arkansas, six of which ended in touchdowns and six of which covered at least 57 yards. Orson Charles, A.J. Green, Tavarres King, and Aron White all caught TD passes. Richard Samuel, who had an 80-yard scoring scamper, is being pushed for playing time by newly-resurgent Caleb King.

Granted, all of that came against a suspect Razorback defense, but the Bulldogs tallied four offensive touchdowns against a pretty solid South Carolina D in a game in which Green and Michael Moore each had catches that went for touchdowns and Branden Smith scored on a 61-yard reverse. Right now, the Georgia offense is hitting on all cylinders, and it isn’t just one guy doing everything. The offseason theme in Athens has been that "it’s all about the team." On offense, that’s really true.

Whom should Arizona State fear on defense?

The secondary. Just kidding. As much as I’m hoping it will turn out to be Justin Houston, the answer (with all due respect to Jeff Owens) is Rennie Curran. The junior linebacker opened the campaign with eight tackles and a pass breakup in Stillwater, tied his personal-best 15 tackles against South Carolina (when he broke up a fourth-down pass near the goal line to preserve the win), and led the squad with eleven stops and a fumble recovery in Fayetteville last Saturday night.

Curran, whom The Sporting News identified as the SEC’s best hitter, was a preseason first-team all-SEC selection, and he is on the watch lists for the Lombardi Award, the Lott Trophy, the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Butkus Award, and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy. Eventually, at least one of those honors will be renamed "the Curran Trophy." He’s that good.

More from Dawg Sports after the jump...

What is Georgia’s biggest weakness?

Where do I begin? The Bulldogs commit too many turnovers and are flagged for too many penalties, many of which are of the "rookie mistake" variety rather than of the "playing aggressively" sort. Although the run defense is stout, the Georgia D is fooled by too many play action fakes. The secondary has failed to take away the deep ball, often getting caught out of position, and the middle of the field frequently is left open, much to the delight of opposing tight ends everywhere. The Red and Black have surrendered 37 or more points in seven of their last twelve games. Georgia’s kickoff coverage is a mess and directional kicking often sends the ball out of bounds to give the other team good starting field position, anyway.

Other than those few flaws, though, the ‘Dawgs are playing perfectly.

How are your new recruits working out and what role will they play in deciding the outcome?

Like all rookies at top-tier programs, they are displaying outrageous talent while committing mistakes born of youth. True freshman Branden Smith is a classic example, as he brought out a kickoff that should have been downed in the end zone and committed a costly turnover against South Carolina, but who turned right around and demonstrated his impressive speed on the aforementioned reverse.

The word is that redshirt freshman Sanders Commings, who was effective in the spring scrimmage, will see more playing time in the secondary, but, so far, the breakout star of the 2009 recruiting class has to be Orson Charles. The tight end from Tampa endeared himself to the Georgia faithful forever by shattering the Florida Gators’ 2006 national championship trophy with his behind while on a recruiting visit to Gainesville, but Charles also has shown early signs of living up to the hype. If he has a big game, the Bulldogs will have a big game. Who knows? Maybe Orson will have his big-time debut against Arizona State this year the way A.J. did a year ago. . . .