SB Nation - Demarcus Dobbs

Getting There is Half the Fun: Alabama, Florida clinch and other Week 11 action

cocknfire — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:17:41 -0000

Rashad Johnson hearts Jarrett Lee.

Roll Bama Roll (Alabama) :: And the Valley Shook recap (LSU)
Alligator Army recap (Florida) :: Conquer and Prevail (Vanderbilt)

It is, perhaps, fitting that Alabama and Florida won their way Saturday into the SEC Championship Game in very different ways. After all, these are very different teams: Alabama, the flawed giant that has nonetheless found a way to defeat all challengers; and Florida, the offensive juggernaut that, aside from its inexcusable loss to Ole Miss, has pulverized everyone who has taken the field against them.

Both played to the script this weekend. The only unusual part is that Alabama didn't have its usual post-halftime swoon. The Tide fell behind LSU 14-7 early, tied things before the half, then battled through two more quarters and an overtime to ice the SEC West. The hero was not an offensive player, but rather Rashad Johnson, who picked off Jarrett Lee three times in the latest nightmare outing for LSU's freshman starting QB.

vs Alabama / 11.8.08	Passing					Rushing
	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	TD	Rush	Yds	Avg	TD
Jarrett Lee	13	34	38.2	181	1	1	-3	-3.0	0

To put those interceptions into perspective: Only two of LSU's receivers caught more passes from Lee than did Johnson. (Those two would be Brandon LaFell and Demetrius Byrd, both with four.) Lee threw another pick to Rolando McClain.

Not that John Parker Wilson, the latest player to have his cell phone distributed to LSU fans, was much better. He completed less than 50 percent of his passes, threw an interception and no touchdowns -- though he did run the QB sneak for Alabama's first TD and did it again for the game-ending score. (A moment here: If LSU fans are going to keep doing the cell phone thing, which I think is fine as long as there are no death threats or anything, then the opposing player's phone pantomime should not result in a penalty.)

Wilson didn't make the kind of costly mistakes Lee did, though, and that ended up being the difference. Lee's mistakes resulted in points for Alabama and, in the case of an overtime interception in the end zone, a chance to extend the game.

Taking the field shortly after Wilson's last plunge in Baton Rouge, Florida once again relied on QB Tim Tebow to put the game out of reach early. Tebow ran for 88 yards, pass for 171 yards and a 213.32 rating and accounted for the Gators' first five touchdowns as Florida jumped up to a 35-0 halftime lead. At that point, thousands of Florida fans were likely already logging on to their favorite travel Web sites to book hotel rooms for early December in Atlanta.

Getting to the City Too Busy to Hate, though, is all that really matters. If both these teams get to the SEC Championship Game undefeated, and we all expect them to, then the title match is a play-in for the BCS championship tilt. The other team will most likely end in up New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl, which isn't bad for a consolation prize.

But neither of these teams came this far for a consolation prize. Having punched their ticket to Atlanta, the Tide and the Gators are focused on getting to Miami.

NOT QUITE WHAT WE EXPECTED
Georgia 42, Kentucky 38
Dawg Sports recap (Georgia) :: A Sea of Blue recap (Kentucky)

There's nothing wrong with winning a close game after Kentucky. After all, these are not your father's Wildcats, or for that matter your Wildcats, who for years battled Vanderbilt and South Carolina to be recognized as the worst team in the SEC East. So when Alabama gets by UK, 17-14, the Tide are still in the running for the national championship. When South Carolina manages a 24-17 victory, it's still a significant victory for the Gamecocks.

But when you beat Kentucky's somnambulant offense on a last-second interception after already allowing the Wildcats to ring up 331 yards, 20 first downs and 38 points, there are deep issues on your football team. It might be injuries, it might the rigors of playing a difficult schedule, it might be a hangover from being dissected by Florida the week before, but Saturday added a flashing siren to the "WARNING" sign already hanging on the Dawgs' season.

Fortunately for Georgia, they still have one of the most talented offenses not quarterbacked by Tim Tebow in the SEC. Matthew Stafford threw for 376 yards, Knowshon Moreno ran for 123 yards and Mohamed Massaquoi continued having a breakout season during his 17th year in the SEC. The Dawgs also have the schedule on their side: a visit to Auburn this weekend and, in two weeks, a rivalry game against resurgent Georgia Tech, which is probably still a step or two behind. A trip to Orlando still appears to be in the cards for Georgia.

Kentucky is bowl-bound, but to which bowl is still an open question. One that will likely be answered when Vanderbilt comes to Lexington on Saturday. Tennessee is a likely win, so victory over the Commodores would get the Wildcats to eight wins and put them in strong contention for a Peach Bowl berth, or even a trip to the Outback if South Carolina stumbles against Clemson. Not bad for a former doormat.

YOU PUT ONE QB IN, YOU TAKE ONE QB OUT ...
South Carolina 34, Arkansas 21
Garnet and Black Attack recap (South Carolina)

Both South Carolina and Arkansas used more than one quarterback to get through this one, but only one team chose to do so. Again, the head coaches for these teams are Steve Spurrier and Bobby Petrino. You can guess who chose to rotate his signal-callers on nearly every play.

Yes, Spurrier played the QB hokey pokey with Stephen Garcia and Chris Smelley, to limited effect. The two combined to go 13-for-30 for 219 yards, two touchdowns and an interception -- which gave them two fewer picks than Casey Dick, who came out of the game for brother Nathan following a potential concussion. The Gamecocks also continued their recent we're-going-to-run-even-if-it-doesn't-work play calling, managing 132 yards rushing on 34 carries, a 3.9 ypc average.

But with Ellis Johnson's defense, South Carolina is usually going to win with 351 yards, even against a high-octane offense like Arkansas. Johnson tied the Hogs down, allowing just 54 yards rushing and 309 total.

Are the Gamecocks worth their Top 25 ranking? We'll see. A respectable loss to Florida and a win over Clemson should keep them in the rankings until their bowl game, where they can seal their first season-ending spot in the Top 25 since the 2001-02 season.

For Arkansas, the longshot dreams of a bowl game probably died in Columbia. Sure, the Razorbacks can probably win at Mississippi State on Nov. 22, but will likely be heavy underdogs against LSU in the season-ender the day after Thanksgiving. There will be better days for Petrino and Co., likely when Casey Dick isn't the quarterback coming out with a concussion.

ELSEWHERE

Wyoming 13, Tennessee 7 :: Rocky Top Talk recap (Tennessee)
Not much more can be said at this point about the Vols. When your head coach has been fired and fans are openly debating whether this is your worst season ever, the year is officially beyond repair. This not the way Phil Fulmer, a man who cried as he gave up his job to avoid dividing the Vols fan base, deserved to go out. But this is exactly how he exits: Thoroughly defeated and tarnishing his legacy more with each passing loss.

Auburn 37, Tennessee-Martin 20 :: Track Em Tigers (Auburn)
This game could prove to be a Rorshach test for Auburn fans. Some will observe that it could have been worse -- Auburn could, after all, have lost to the Skyhawks. Others will say it could have been a lot better, and this is not a convincing case for Tommy Tuberville to keep his job, even if it does give Auburn's flickering bowl hopes a faint pulse. In the end, the future of the program will be decided in the Iron Bowl: Defeat Alabama and Auburn will go to a bowl game having potentially derailed the Tide's national title hopes. Anything less might not do it.

Georgia Bulldogs 42, Kentucky Wildcats 38

T Kyle King — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 03:20:31 -0000

All right, let’s start with the good news.

The Bulldogs started strong by leaping out to a 14-0 lead on the road, converted 40 per cent of their third downs, averaged almost five yards per rush, rolled up 520 yards of total offense despite holding the ball for barely 25 minutes of clock time, incurred only five penalties for 58 yards, and scored 42 points on a Kentucky defense that had given up more than 24 just once all season long.

Matthew Stafford had statistically his best day as a Bulldog, completing 17 of his 27 pass attempts for 376 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Knowshon Rockwell Moreno averaged 5.6 yards per carry, rushed for 123 yards while hauling in three passes for 40 yards, and found the end zone three times. Mohamed Massaquoi snagged eight passes for 191 yards and a touchdown, A.J. Green went up and grabbed the game-winner in the back of the end zone, and Michael Moore once again proved reliable in the clutch with two catches for 68 yards.

Also, the Bulldogs won.

So we’ve got that going for us.

That brings us to the bad news.

The Wildcats, who are as injury-riddled as the ‘Dawgs (if not more so), held the ball for nearly 35 minutes, converted eight of 17 third downs (usually in short yardage situations) and two of three fourth-down tries, and scored 38 points, all with a wide receiver at quarterback. Randall Cobb---no, not Randall "Tex" Cobb; we’re playing S.E.C. football here, not searching for Nathan Arizona’s baby---ran the ball 18 times for 82 yards and three touchdowns while hooking up on 12 of his 20 passes for 105 yards and, mercifully, one crucial interception.

Of course, the fact that the ‘Cats did all this to the ‘Dawgs while amassing only 331 yards of total offense is more than a little telling. Due to the increasingly ludicrous offense-boosting kickoff rules, the Blue and White began their first scoring drive from their own 40 yard line after Blair Walsh’s kickoff went out of bounds. The second quarter possession on which Kentucky tied the game began at the home team’s 33 yard line when the Red and Black turned the ball over on downs.

The Wildcats’ third quarter field goal was set up by Tony Dixon’s 28-yard kickoff return out to the U.K. 35 to begin the second half. The home team took the lead when Danny Trevathan blocked Brian Mimbs’s punt to give the Bluegrass State Felines custody of the pigskin at the Georgia nine yard line. Mimbs’s next punt went just 18 yards, setting up Kentucky at the Bulldogs’ 29 yard line. The ‘Cats scored three plays later.

I’m not picking on Mimbs, I’m just saying. (Associated Press photograph by Mary Ann Chastain.)

After Georgia scored to reclaim a 35-31 lead, Winston Guy broke a 96-yard kickoff return to set up another three-play touchdown drive. The Red and Black’s next two drives appeared promising until Massaquoi fumbled in U.K. territory, but both turnovers could be classified as what appellate courts call "harmless error": Kentucky took over on Georgia’s 49 yard line and the Wildcats’ 38 yard line, respectively, yet those two first and tens turned into a fourth and 15 at the Kentucky 46 and a fourth and eleven at the Georgia 35, producing no points.

From there, Massaquoi atoned for his earlier miscues by taking Stafford’s first pass on the Bulldogs’ final drive for 78 yards to the U.K. seven yard line. A foolish (albeit apparently accidental) facemask penalty on what otherwise would have been a game-sealing fourth down stop by the Georgia D gave the Wildcats new life, which Demarcus Dobbs proceeded to snuff out with the pick that at long last ended all doubts as to the final outcome in the final minute.

Kentucky moved the football more than they should have, but they seldom had to move it much. As was the case in Jacksonville last weekend, the initial blame for the opposition’s unsightly point tally must be laid at the feet of the offense that gave the ball away and the special teams that set the other team up with good field position. There is plenty for which to blame the defense, but, when a new U.K. quarterback who hasn’t put a lot on film is set up with field position ranging from good to great in his home stadium all afternoon, even a solid defensive effort is going to be made to look bad.

Consequently, I’m more concerned about the kicking game than I am about the defense. The Wildcats began three of their five first-half drives at or in back of their own 30 yard line; that trio of possessions produced no points and, on average, lasted four plays apiece and generated fewer than 20 yards each.

I don’t have Willie’s back, necessarily, I’m just saying.

Kentucky never had to drive the length of the field. The Wildcats’ longest drive was 67 yards. Only two of their 13 possessions went for more than 50 yards. Just four U.K. offensive series covered as many as 35 yards of real estate. Had the Blue and White started in the neighborhood of their own 25 or worse as often as the ‘Dawgs did, Georgia would have won the game by at least two touchdowns.

As I noted earlier, the last two Saturdays have borne a disconcerting resemblance to the middle years of the 1990s, when beatdowns by the St. John’s River and shootouts in the Bluegrass State were the norm. I have to admit that it starts to look more like the rule than the exception when three straight opponents hang 38 or more points on the Bulldogs, but a couple of asterisks have to be appended to those tallies: Alabama hung 41 points on Georgia at home and every one of them accurately reflected the prowess of the opposing offense. The last three games were played in Baton Rouge, Jacksonville, and Lexington, and, in every one of them, the numbers artificially were inflated by garbage time yardage after the game was decided (at L.S.U.) or by offensive and special teams miscues (against Florida and at Kentucky).

There are problems in need of correcting; maybe there even are changes that need to be made among the members of Mark Richt’s coaching staff. Right now, though, we in Bulldog Nation have more immediately concerns. The Red and Black are 8-2, with two games remaining in which they may earn a New Year’s Day bowl berth, a top ten ranking, and a sixth ten-win season in a seven-year span.

Considering all of our lofty preseason expectations, that might not sound like much for which to play. I suspect a similar sentiment was heard in Tallahassee near the end of the 1992 season that was Florida State’s sixth straight ten-win campaign with nary a national championship to show for it . . . until the ‘Noles, with Mark Richt as their quarterbacks coach and later offensive coordinator, proceeded to finish No. 1 in the nation twice in the next seven years.

Forget about all that for now, though. Next Saturday, the Bulldogs will renew the Deep South’s oldest football rivalry when they travel to the so-called Loveliest Village to face an Auburn team that was tied with Tennessee-Martin---not Tennessee, but Division I-AA Tennessee-Martin---with just over six minutes remaining in the third quarter. Now, as ever, there is nothing wrong with being a Georgia Bulldog that beating Auburn can’t fix.

Go ’Dawgs! Auburna delenda est!

Georgia 56, Central Michigan 17

T Kyle King — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:20:15 -0000

Now, that was more like it!

It’s not that last week’s performance was bad; quite the contrary. It’s just that the win over Georgia Southern seemed to fall somewhat short of the hype. Saturday’s victory between the hedges, though, represented both a step up in the weight class of the opposition and a step-up by the Bulldogs, who looked yesterday like what they will be on my BlogPoll ballot tomorrow . . . namely, the No. 1 team in the nation.

From the booth, Mike Bobo called one of the best games of his brief career as his alma mater’s offensive coordinator, methodically building a 21-0 lead before Demarcus Dobbs’s 78-yard interception return appeared to break the game wide open. After the Chippewas clawed back to within two touchdowns on their first drive of the third quarter, Georgia did not hesitate to go for the kill; two plays, 62 seconds, and one 52-yard Knowshon Rockwell Moreno run later, the Red and Black had resumed a comfortable 35-14 lead.

From there, it was all Bulldogs. Central Michigan managed only a 30-yard field goal as the Classic City Canines pounded out three more touchdowns. An inopportune fumble on a poor center-quarterback exchange to second-stringer Joe Cox probably deprived Richard Samuel of his second score of the game, but that was one of few flaws exhibited by the ‘Dawgs on this day.

On the other hand, one of the flaws exhibited by the officials was their apparent ignorance of the fact that this is holding.

Much-ballyhooed double-threat signal-caller Dan LeFevour got his passing yards because Willie Martinez gave them to him in a swap the Georgia defensive coordinator was happy to make in the course of holding C.M.U. (Coach Martinez’s last stop on the road to Athens, incidentally) to 59 rushing yards and 2.7 yards per carry. Matthew Stafford, not hitherto known in these parts as the second coming of Fran Tarkenton, ran for more yards (25) than LeFevour (19), including a 22-yard scamper on third and long deep in Bulldog territory to sustain a scoring drive.

Stafford’s run produced one of 25 Red and Black first downs and represented one of the nine conversions the Athenians managed on a dozen third-down tries. The Chips, by contrast, saw their high-powered offense limited to 17 first downs and a mere half-dozen conversions on 15 third downs. Four of Central Michigan’s first five drives failed to produce so much as a single fresh set of downs.

The Bulldogs racked up 552 yards of total offense and demonstrated impressive balance in the process, throwing for 289 and rushing for 263. Moreno could do no wrong, averaging over nine yards per carry, collecting 168 yards and three touchdowns in 18 rushes, and at one point causing me to wonder whether Larry Munson was up in the booth yelling, "He’s jumping over people!" Moreno added 30 receiving yards on three catches for good measure.

Samuel made the most of his eight touches, racking up 44 yards and a score . . . which, based upon the third-string tailback’s reaction to the late turnover, was one touchdown too few in his book. When Caleb King’s 4.0 yards-per-carry average brings up the rear among the Bulldog backs, the ground game has had a good day.

(Obligatory shot of Knowshon Rockwell Moreno.)

Let’s not slight the passing attack, though. Cox came into the game late and the offense barely missed a beat. The backup quarterback threw five passes for five completions and 76 yards. Aside from a drop by Kris Durham over the middle, the ‘Dawgs looked sharp through the air all day. A.J. Green and Mohamed Massaquoi lived up to their billing and both Michael Moore and Israel Troupe had good games.

No, the game wasn’t flawless. Georgia was set back 70 yards on nine penalties, although much of Central Michigan’s limited success came on some questionable no-calls by the officials. The special teams were not as strong as we have come to expect, as the directional kicks Blair Walsh has been instructed to make yielded more and bigger returns than are acceptable. I agree with the always insightful SG Standard: if we can put it out the back of the end zone, why don’t we?

These, though, are decidedly minor quibbles. Georgia closed the deal in dominant fashion, producing a game which was fun not only for the fans but (judging by the dancing on the sidelines during a T.V. timeout and by the good-natured ribbing dished out by Dobbs during the postgame show) also for the players.

On a day on which Southern California and Louisiana State both took the afternoon off (the latter, by necessity; the former, by design), Ohio State struggled mightily with overmatched Ohio (Ohio) in the national game of disinterest, and Florida led depleted Miami (Florida) by six points after three quarters before classlessly leaving Tim Tebow in the game to tack on trash (and trashy) points at the end, there appeared to be no genuine challengers to Georgia’s standing atop the sport outside of a couple of strong performers in the Big 12. (No, Texas and Texas Tech, I’m not talking about you!)

Nothing personal, coach, but . . . a 28-13 halftime lead over U.T.E.P.? Really?

Beyond that, here are a handful of other random observations regarding the Saturday just behind us:

I have attended both games this season as one-half of a father-son outing, but, because I went to the Georgia Southern game with a five-year-old and to the Central Michigan game with a 65-year-old, I was able to stay all the way to the end this time. When the Redcoat Band struck up "Krypton Fanfare," I was reminded how right my wife is when she says that, rather than own the fourth quarter, she would rather own the first, second, and third quarters and leave the fourth period to the scrubs. Better that than sleepwalking through the first 15 minutes or more and needing to turn it on late like some teams I could name.

Speaking of the Saurians, does Tim Tebow not see the cognitive dissonance between being the sort of football player who writes Bible verses on his eyeblack and being the sort of football player who plays for Urban Meyer? Can the Gator Golden Child quote me chapter and verse on the part where Jesus said, "Blessed are they who leave their starters in during the final minute of the fourth quarter so they can run it up, for they shall inherit the earth"? Who knew that Florida would one day hire a coach that made us long for the graciousness and dignity of the Steve Spurrier era?

While we’re on the subject of running it up, I hope no one thinks Georgia did that by hanging half a hundred on the Chippewas. As I pointed out earlier, breaking 50 on C.M.U. is hardly novel for a B.C.S. conference team playing at home and the fourth-quarter offense was pretty much straight up the middle; it only got out of hand because Samuel came to play (which is to his credit) and there’s only so long Michiganders can be expected to hold up in Georgia humidity. Here’s how much the ‘Dawgs weren’t trying to run it up . . . by the end of the game, we had a ~~white guy~~ "possession-type receiver" out there returning punts!

Here’s how the postseason coaching dominoes are going to fall: Tommy Bowden will be fired; Bobby Johnson will replace Coach Bowden at Clemson; Skip Holtz will replace Coach Johnson at Vanderbilt; Steve Spurrier will replace Coach Holtz at East Carolina. Hey, it’s bound to yield better results than the last time he replaced a Coach Holtz at a directional Carolina.

No, I’m not talking trash to South Carolina. The Gamecocks always bring their best game to the confrontation with Georgia, and they will have two extra days to prepare, a strong incentive to right the ship after losing to Vanderbilt, a very stout defense, and a home field advantage that no Bulldog fan could deny is genuine and daunting. The good news is that this is likely to be a defensive struggle in which the first team to 20 wins. The bad news is that, the last time the ‘Dawgs scored 100 or more points in a two-game span was against Vanderbilt and Kentucky in 2002. The next week, Georgia lost to Florida by a 20-13 final margin. The Red and Black will have to be extremely wary heading into Columbia.

I always enjoy seeing national championship Georgia squads from other sports being honored at halftime of a football game, but it’s a little odd to see what other Bulldog teams look like. The men’s tennis team looked like any eight guys selected at random from a fraternity block of seats in the student section and, as a guy sitting in front of me pointed out, the equestrian team must be second only to the football team as the Georgia squad having the most members. "There’s 40 girls out there," the fellow in the row before me noted, "and that means there’s got to be 40 horses, too."

I was disappointed in the presentation of the football lettermen holding their reunions. The groups were introduced by team year without further embellishment. Between the 1998, 1988, 1983, 1978, 1968, 1958, and 1948 teams, there were some accomplished squads out there, but only the "Wonderdogs" received special mention. There were two S.E.C. championship squads, a ten-win Cotton Bowl championship squad that narrowly missed out on a national title, and Vince Dooley’s final team out there. Those guys deserve more credit than they were given on Saturday.

I was mildly nonplussed that the televisions in the Tate Center were showing Boston College-Georgia Tech and Auburn-Southern Miss before the game. At the time, Ohio State was locked in a real battle with a M.A.C. team nowhere near as good as the one the ‘Dawgs were getting ready to throttle. We need to start thinking of ourselves as a national program. The Tate Center televisions ought to be showing us the Buckeyes’ and the Trojans’ struggles. Do you think U.S.C. fans are following U.C.L.A. games more intently than, say, L.S.U. games?

In week one, the preseason favorite to win the A.C.C. was manhandled by an average or slightly above-average S.E.C. squad on a neutral field. In week two, the successor squad to take over the position of A.C.C. frontrunner needed a last-second 41-yard field goal to avoid being upset on its home field by a below-average S.E.C. squad. Is the S.E.C. that good or is the A.C.C. that pitiful? Is it fair to treat the A.C.C. champion as this year’s "B.C.S. buster"?

If you even thought about being impressed by Florida’s 26-3 home win over Miami in a game in which the Gators managed seven offensive points in the first 45 minutes of play before cheaply pouring it on at the end, I would remind you of the following outcomes from the Hurricanes’ previous dozen outings: Oklahoma 51, Miami 13; Virginia 48, Miami 0; Virginia Tech 44, Miami 14. Pouring it on in the fourth quarter to beat the ‘Canes at home by 23? Please. The only thing remotely impressive about last night’s game in Gainesville was Erin Andrews.

It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog.

Go ‘Dawgs!