SB Nation - Richard Samuel

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

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

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 @ Georgia: Abbreviated Look at the Dogs

Ken Howlett — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:45:16 -0000

More photos » by Wily Low - AP

Will UK fans tear down the goal posts on an opponent's field?

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UK (6-4, 2-4 SEC), coming off a victory at Vanderbilt which secured the 'Cats' bowl eligibility, tackles the 6-4 (4-3 SEC) Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia tonight at 7:45 EST. Kentucky, hoping to improve the chances of playing a bowl game outside the state of Tennessee, haven't beaten the Bulldogs in Athens since 1977, a 33-0 'Cat-washing of the pre-Hershel Walker Bulldogs.

If UK clinches a winning season tonight, this is who they must execute the coup-de-tat against ... after the jump:

Joe Cox -- 6'1", 198 lb senior quarterback: Cox is 150-259 through the air, good for 2,059 yards, 12 interceptions and 18 touchdowns.

Caleb King -- 5'11", 210 lb redshirt sophomore running back: King, who only recently earned the starting spot at running back has rushed for 291 yards on 62 carries (4.7 yards per carry) and three touchdowns.

Washaun Ealey -- 5'11", 205 lb freshman running back: The true freshman has rushed 73 times for 379 yards (5.2 ypc) and three touchdowns. He also caught two passes for 26 yards (13.0 yards per reception).

Richard Samuel -- 6'2", 222 lb sophomore running back: Samuel has rushed 88 times for 395 yards (4.5 ypc) and two touchdowns. He's also caught six passes for 39 yards (6.5 ypr).

Tavarres King -- 6'1", 180 redshirt sophomore wide receiver: King is listed as No.1 on the depth chart at the receiver spot for Georgia even though he has made only 15 catches for 268 yards (17.9 ypr). He's scored one touchdown.

Aron White -- 6'4", 236 lb redshirt sophomore tight end: White has made nine catches for 151 yards (16.8 ypr), good for two touchdowns.

Michael Moore -- 6'2", 210 lb senior wide receiver: Moore is Georgia's leading receiver with A. J. Green out for the contest. Moore has caught 21 passes for 187 yards (8.9 ypr) and four touchdowns.

Orson Charles -- 6'3", 230 lb freshman tight end: Charles has made 16 catches for 284 yards (17.8 pr) and two touchdowns. Charles, along with fellow tight end Aron White will be utilized heavily in passing downs.

Prince Miller -- 5'8", 198 lb senior punt returner: Miller is one of he SEC's leading returners, averaging 12.1 yards per return on 17 punts.

Drew Butler -- Georgia's punter is one of the leading punters in the nation, averaging 49.0 yards per punt (45 punts).

There, folks, you have the high-points.

Thanks for reading, and Go 'Cats!

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!

Week 3: Georgia Preview

Richard Pittman — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:30:35 -0000

More photos » by John Amis - AP

2 months ago: Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green (8) catches a long pass as Arizona State cornerback Pierre Singfield defends during the fourth quarter of their NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, in Athens, Ga. Georgia won 20-17. (AP Photo/John Amis)

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I guess it's time to lighten things up just a little and get back to the routine. It is Tuesday after all, and that means it's time to preview the Georgia Bulldogs, this Saturday's opponent. If you think LSU has been a bit enigmatic, you should check out this Georgia team. Here are Georgia's point totals in their 4 games, in order: 10, 41, 52, 20. There are no patsies in there. Those are all at least somewhat decent teams that Georgia has played, and they lit it up in two games and were anemic in two others, losing one.

Georgia really could be sitting at 1-3 or even 0-4 right now. South Carolina probably outplayed Georgia, but could not get that last score to win the game, thanks to Rennie Curran. Arizona State had a chance to beat the Bulldogs, but couldn't quite get over the hump. Arkansas piled up yards by the armload, but collapsed towards the end as the Bulldog defense finally started coming up big.

The LSU fanbase, which has always seemed to suffer from catastrophe syndrome, is ready to write off this game, but that would be a huge mistake. Georgia has been sloppy, and their defense has been porous. NOPE takes us through the numbers in his FanPost. The situation for the fans has gotten so difficult that it is probably a fortunate thing that this game is being played in Athens. I'm afraid that playing at home could have been a disadvantage for us this week. In fact, Georgia's fanbase is in much the same position ours is in, wondering why their team can't do some of the little things right.

Any preview of Georgia has to start with the guy who is clearly their best player. Wide receiver A. J. Green. Heck, he might be the best offensive player in the conference. He's averaging 6.3 receptions per game, which leads the conference. He's averaging 107 yards per game receiving, which is ridiculous and is leading the conference by 20 yards. He catches everything thrown his way. He has about 40% of Georgia's receiving yards and he's scored about 1/4 of their offensive touchdowns.

That is insane for a wide receiver. Wideouts just aren't, individually, that big of a factor in an offense. They only touch the ball a few times per game, even the good ones, usually. A. J. Green is different. He was one of the 3 best wide receivers last year and he has stepped up game to another level to where he is clearly the best wide receiver in the conference by a significant margin.

Elsewhere in the offense, Joe Cox has admirably replaced the departed Matthew Stafford. He is completing 60% of his passes, averaging almost 9 yards per attempt, and has a TD/Int ratio of almost 2:1. Unfortunately, that includes 5 interceptions, but he has been very productive. His big weakness has been his lack of mobility, as he has -38 yards rushing on the season.

The leading rusher on the team is Richard Samuel, who has emerged as their go-to rusher. He's gotten about half their rushes, and he averages about 4.5 yards per carry. Georgia's rushing game is really not all that productive, much like LSU's.

We mentioned how Georgia's offense has been erratic. Well, let's look at Georgia's defense. Here are their point totals given up, in the same 4 games in which they scored such a strange variety of points: 24, 47, 31, 17. One week they're scoring tons of points and giving up tons of points. The next they're in a pitchers duel. No one has a good explanation for it.

One very big area of worry for the Tigers is that Georgia's defensive line is going to be the best we've seen so far this year. They are led by senior tackle Geno Atkins, who is an All-SEC calibre player. The middle of our offensive line, which has been suspect to say the least, has not had to block a player as good as Atkins. The good news is that Georgia does not get a lot of sacks, only 5 on the year so far. Incidentally, that's the same number of sacks we've had.

The offensive line will also have its hands full with linebacker Rennie Curran, who currently leads the SEC in tackles with 40. This is a Georgia defense that is a little hard to get a read on, and this perhaps explains their weird point totals given up. They don't get a lot of sacks. They don't get a lot of interceptions. They give up almost 250 yards per game passing. They've created only 3 turnovers all year. Yet they have some undeniably good players out there. Rennie Curran's been a beast since his freshman year. Geno Atkins is a serious player. Rashad Jones is an All-SEC calibre safety. The unit just isn't playing well together.

Maybe it has something to do with Willie Martinez. I think Georgia fans would have something to say about that.

This is a crossroads game for both teams. Neither team is playing at close to championship level, but neither team has really suffered a bad consequence for it either. Despite the loss to Oklahoma State, Georgia is still right in the thick of the SEC race, though they are not playing nearly as well as Florida is. LSU, despite not putting together a really good game in any of its previous 4 contests, is still a top 5 polling team, and is still undefeated despite playing 2 conference game and a quality OOC opponent.

Neither team has played great, but neither team has suffered for it. This is the weak where the football gods will smite one of these teams in punishment for its inconsistency and imperfection. LSU can't block and Georgia can't produce a turnover or stop a quality offense. Maybe one of these two teams will solve their problems and fill the holes in their team this week.

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!

Don't Forget About Kentucky's Weapons

Year2 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:15:09 -0000

More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

Randall Cobb has been impressive so far.

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One of the most interesting positions in the SEC is receiver. There are plenty of stars and story lines. You've got the A.J. Green versus Julio Jones debate. You've got Terrance Toliver emerging along side Brandon LaFell at LSU. Ole Miss has some great ones in Dexter McCluster and Shay Hodge. Weslye Saunders is breaking out as a pass catcher from the tight end spot at South Carolina.

One guy that does not yet immediately come to mind is Randall Cobb. But he should.

Cobb was Kentucky's backup quarterback a year ago, and a lot of people not just in Kentucky's fan base but around the conference thought he should have gotten more playing time earlier in the season at the expense of Mike Hartline. In the off season, Rich Brooks made the controversial move to stick with Hartline under center and move Cobb to receiver.

In two games so far, he has blossomed into one of the SEC's best up and coming players. On the admittedly very young season, he leads the conference in catches per game and grabbed the game winning touchdown pass from Hartline in Kentucky's dramatic win over Louisville. Though he's new to the role, having been a quarterback solely back through high school and only getting spot duty there last year, he certainly has looked the part. As a bonus, he's fifth in the conference in punt returns.

As crowded as the SEC is with good receivers, the running back field is perhaps even moreso. Alabama alone has four good ones, headlined by Mark Ingram. Auburn's duo of Ben Tate and Onterio McCalebb have rejuvenated the Tigers' offense. Richard Samuel and Caleb King look formidable at Georgia, and Montario Hardesty and Bryce Brown look equally so at Tennessee. Florida has its lightning quick backs in Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey.

But for all that talent, you may not guess which running back is leading the conference in all purpose yards per game.

It's Kentucky's Derrick Locke. He does it all for the Cats: rushing for nearly six yards a carry, receiving for almost 12 yards a catch, and returning kickoffs, one of which he took 100 yards to the house against Louisville.

The Wildcats definitely missed him after his injury last year. He got knocked out for the season with a knee injury against Arkansas, a blow to an offense already missing Dicky Lyons, Jr. They were 5-2 with him, but just 2-4 without him against an admittedly tougher stretch of schedule.

Thanks in part to Cobb's and Locke's play around him, Mike Hartline has moved up from ninth to sixth in the SEC in passing efficiency on the young season. Hartline also is tied for second in the league in completions per game. We'll see how long the improvement holds up as UK plays some better teams than Miami University and Louisville, but early improvement is certainly better than the alternative.

Whatever the case, expect Cobb and Locke to be the key play makers on offense in Kentucky's quest to make it four bowls in a row. I fully expect Kentucky to cover whatever the ridiculous spread against Florida is (24, last I saw), and these two will be important parts of making that happen.

What the Flu Can Wreak, or Don't Mess With the Ninja

Year2 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:30:18 -0000

More photos » by Danny Johnston - AP

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The flu is a story that will probably linger all season long. We saw it affect 40 Wisconsin players a couple weeks ago, a bunch of Ole Miss Rebels including Jevan Snead and Dexter McCluster during their off week, Colt McCoy against Texas Tech, and even the Florida coaching staff in addition to some of its players.

In the first week of the season, the flu story du jour was Georgia quarterback Joe Cox. He took a separate flight from his teammates to Stillwater and never really looked right in the Bulldogs' tough 24-10 loss to the Cowboys. His line for the game was decidedly lackluster:

Opponent	Comp.	Att.	Pct.	Yards	Average	TD	INT	Rating
Oklahoma St.	15	30	50.0%	162	5.4	1	1	99.69

He hit on just half of his passes, his average was bad, and his rating was mediocre. It was a performance that had some Bulldogs already looking to the bench for the freshman backups. Perhaps the Ginger Ninja's struggles were simply a side effect of the fact that, as we have seen with Chuck Norris, cowboys can learn to fight with and defeat those who participate in martial arts. More likely, a combination of the flu (and the accompanying ineffective practice), first game starting jitters, and a long road trip conspired against him.

However, just look at what he's done in the two following games:

Opponent	Comp.	Att.	Pct.	Yards	Average	TD	INT	Rating
South Carolina	17	24	70.8%	201	8.4	2	1	160.35
Arkansas	18	25	72.0%	375	15.0	5	1	246.15

The game against South Carolina was a picture of efficiency. He was very accurate, but his yardage total wasn't tremedously high and he only threw for one more touchdown than he had interceptions. However, it was exactly what Georgia needed in what unexpectedly turned into a wild and wooly shootout between the Gamecocks and Bulldogs. Cox lead the team back from a 10 point first quarter deficit to take the lead, a lead that his team would not relinquish again.

Even that performance didn't foreshadow what was coming this weekend.

Cox suddenly went from efficient to superstar, torching an admittedly weak Arkansas pass defense for five touchdowns and 375 yards. That yardage total was one that Matthew Stafford beat just once in his career, with his 407 yards in last year's Georgia Tech loss, but Stafford needed six additional completions to get there. The five touchdowns were also a mark that Stafford only reached once, again in that Georgia Tech game.

A lot of people came away from the Georgia-Arkansas game buzzing about Ryan Mallett and his strong arm. That makes sense, because he had some throws that were wondrous. However, it's amazing to me how little recognition Cox is getting for his effort. Even on "College Football Final," much of the game's highlight was spent with Lou Holtz and Mark May bickering about nothing over top of Cox tossing bombs. Rece Davis tried to refocus them on the play of Cox, but they ended up talking more about Mallett.

It's unlikely we'll see Cox have a game like this again in SEC play. There isn't another defense that looks like it will be as soft and malleable as Arkansas' pathetic unit was last night. I don't think any Georgia fans have any delusions of the sort.

However, South Carolina's defense is probably going to end up pretty good when all things are said and done. That game shows more of the realistic blueprint for success for Cox. He didn't put up pinball numbers, but he was accurate and efficient in leading his team to a come from behind win.

Georgia won't be winning any games on Cox's arm alone, but when you combine it with Richard Samuel's solid running so far, it makes for a nice offense that will keep the Bulldogs in games while the defense figures its issues out.

Georgia Bulldogs 52, Arkansas Razorbacks 41

T Kyle King — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:24:05 -0000

I know I am arriving a little late to the party---ESPN and the Griffin District of the United Methodist Church did not get their schedules straight when the former lined up three straight night games for the Georgia Bulldogs on the very same weekends on which the latter arranged for me to attend my lay speaking recertification course for four hours every Sunday---but I appreciate the way everyone has kept the conversation going in the comments and in the fanposts.

Permit me to add a few observations, but please bear in mind that I haven’t had the time to check out any other weblogs or the game day open comment thread, so some of what follows may be repetitive, or redundant, or repetitive:

As the first quarter came to an end, I was very nearly ready to flush the 2009 season and get the guy most likely to start under center next autumn out onto the field to get some playing experience. Needless to say, Joe Cox answered any remaining doubts about his competence in the remaining three quarters. He hooked up on 18 of 26 attempts for 375 yards, a record-tying five touchdowns, and one interception. Although undeniably aided by the amazing abilities of A.J. Green (seven catches for 137 yards and two scores), Cox did a much better job of hitting his receivers in stride. This may be damning him with faint praise, but Cox didn’t throw long and incomplete any more often than Matthew Stafford would have.

I was a bit surprised at how surprised everyone seemed to be at the supposed "emergence" of Michael Moore. When was Michael Moore not clearly the Bulldogs’ second-best receiver following the departure of Mohamed Massaquoi? Why did everyone seem so shocked that Moore caught six passes for 91 yards against the Arkansas Razorbacks when he ended last season by catching six passes for 97 yards against the Michigan St. Spartans in last year’s Capital One Bowl? Who didn’t know already the dude was good?

I have always admired Mark Richt’s willingness to give a player an immediate shot at redemption after he makes a mistake. After Branden Smith’s gaffe in the return game against South Carolina, he was given the opportunity to make up for his miscue on the reverse. Coach Richt’s charges respond well to his confidence in them and usually make the most of their second chances. Tavarres King had a couple of potentially game-changing mistakes in Fayetteville, which were addressed by giving him the chance to haul in a 50-yard touchdown pass. He made good on that opportunity. Kudos to the coaches for letting the young man atone for his error and kudos to King for justifying his coaches’ faith in him.

Lisa Loeb. Tina Fey. Sarah Palin. Now Erin Andrews. I don’t know what it is about librarian-style glasses on good-looking women, but, holy smoking barbecue in a wire basket, that’s a look that works for me. Yowzers!

Although his play-calling sometimes seems strangely streaky, Mike Bobo is better at his job than he generally is given credit for being, and he managed a surprisingly balanced ballgame. The ‘Dawgs ran the ball 36 times and threw the ball 26 times. That demonstrates an admirable commitment to the ground game on a night when your quarterback is hitting almost 70 per cent of his passes. Three Bulldogs averaged four or more yards per carry, Richard Samuel rushed for 104 yards on 16 attempts, and Georgia scored on an 80-yard touchdown run. When that happens at the same time your signal caller is airing it out for a career night, you’re sticking with the running game.

The Bulldogs’ growing pains this year will pay big dividends next year. Ere anyone criticizes Brandon Boykin for a few miscues in the secondary, I have two words for you: Bruce Thornton. In his first year in the defensive backfield, he looked hopelessly lost and was picked on mercilessly by opposing quarterbacks. By the final year of his varsity career, Thornton was as good a defensive back as the Bulldogs had. Boykin shows great promise, on which he will deliver. Be patient.

As hopeful as I am for the future, though, I am worried that we’re going to go through this whole thing all over again a year from now if no quarterback other than Cox gets to run the offense for at least a couple or three series per game. As matters presently stand, Cox’s successor is going to come into the job in 2010 with less live game experience than Cox had coming into 2009, which is nothing short of downright scary.

There was a lot to like out of the Georgia offense last night. The ‘Dawgs answered the Hogs score for score, hung half a hundred on an opponent for the first time since last year’s LSU game, and did it without needing a special teams or defensive score to boost the stats. The Red and Black’s nine scoring drives covered 57, 26, 85, 75, 34, 65, 62, 73, and 17 yards, respectively. Other than the first-quarter drive following the Ryan Mallett fumble and the fourth-quarter game-clincher after the poor punt from the home team’s two yard line, the ‘Dawgs were moving the ball well over long distances.

The defense gave up a pair of one-play drives in the first quarter. A 50-yard Cobi Hamilton kickoff return set up a 48-yard touchdown pass to Jarius Wright and Samuel’s fumble was followed by a 30-yard touchdown pass to Greg Childs. I realize that the special teams and the offense put the defense in bad situations in those instances, but the Bulldogs have to do better on potentially momentum-changing drives. No single aspect of this game makes me more fearful for the future than this indication that the Classic City Canines’ inability to adapt to sudden changes in circumstances is one of the ugly holdovers from last year’s meltdown.

Georgia returned the ball well and kicked field goals well. The Bulldogs turned the ball over too often and drew too many penalties. This is a recording.

I truly have no clue what to make of our defense. Georgia gave up 21 points before the break and 20 points after intermission; so much for Willie Martinez’s ability to duplicate Brian VanGorder’s trademark second-half shutdowns (and, oftentimes, shutouts). Last week’s excuses do not apply; Mallett isn’t half as elusive as Stephen Garcia, and the Bulldog D wasn’t overworked against the Razorbacks, who ran 63 plays to the Red and Black’s 62. Georgia held the ball for almost 32 minutes of clock time, so fatigue should never have been a factor. The Classic City Canines gave up next to nothing on the ground (77 yards on 24 carries) while surrendering 408 yards and five touchdowns through the air, without so much as a single pick. On third down, though, the ‘Dawgs permitted the Hogs to convert just over 20 per cent of the time (3 of 14). What gives?

What makes the Georgia defensive numbers appear even weirder is the fact that Mallett was on fire, then, all of a sudden, he was ice-cold. The Arkansas quarterback completed eight of his first nine attempts in the second half, connecting on a pair of 40-yarders and one 30-yarder that was hauled in by Childs for a first down at the visitors’ eight yard line with fewer than five minutes remaining in the third period. At that point, a false start penalty cost the Razorbacks five yards, and, suddenly, Mallett couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. Starting with the very next snap after the flag (one of eleven against the Hogs, who lost a football field’s worth of yardage to yellow laundry), Mallett went three for 14 the rest of the way. His last 14 attempts picked up a total of 36 yards, Mallett was sacked once, and he did not lead a touchdown drive. Maybe something changed that I was missing, but it didn’t look like the ‘Dawgs were getting a good deal more pressure on Mallett than they had before, yet his aim went from lethally accurate to absolutely off-target for no reason I was able to discern at first glance. Maybe Mallett was feeling the heat more than he had been before, but it didn’t seem like the ‘Dawgs were getting to him so much faster that he should have gone from looking like an NFL starter to looking like Jonathan Crompton so swiftly.

In the course of Coach Martinez’s tenure as Georgia’s defensive coordinator, the Bulldogs have surrendered single-game point tallies of 31 and 38 in 2005; 51 in 2006; 35, 30, and 34 in 2007; 41, 38, 49, 38, and 45 in 2008; and 37 and 41 in 2009. Seven of the last twelve opponents the Red and Black have faced have scored at least 37 points on Georgia. That is all.

The enduring value of Mark Richt’s consistent calm was on full display in Fayetteville. Down 21-10 after fifteen minutes of play, Georgia could have come unglued, yet the Bulldogs remained poised and continued to play their game without panic or desperation. There are a lot of problems which persist from last year, but there are a lot of positives that remain present, as well. What is worrisome is the reality that the ‘Dawgs had to come back and hang on to beat mid-tier league challengers in their first couple of conference outings. What will the Red and Black do when facing a ranked opponent whose SEC pedigree dates back before the early 1990s?

Those are my thoughts, and y’all have done an excellent job of sharing yours. (If I happen to have echoed sentiments I have not yet read, well, I guess great minds think alike.) Keep up the good work, and, as always, don’t forget to savor the win while spotting the flaws. Optimism may be overly extreme, but enjoyment and hope are entirely appropriate.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Georgia Bulldogs 41, South Carolina Gamecocks 37

T Kyle King — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:16:01 -0000

Vince Dooley once described the 1978 tilt between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as one of the best spectator games he’d ever seen. What he meant by that was that, while the game lacked a great deal from a coach’s perspective, it was a fun game to watch because it had a little bit of just about everything. Saturday night’s showdown with the South Carolina Gamecocks was a lot like that.

If I’d told you beforehand that the Palmetto State Poultry would score 37 points on the Red and Black, you’d have told me Georgia would have gotten run out of the building. The reverse would have been true had I told you beforehand that the Classic City Canines would put up 41 points on the Big Chickens. Instead, what we got was a typical Georgia-South Carolina game in terms of margin of victory but an exceptional Georgia-South Carolina game in terms of how we arrived at the final result.

The funny thing is, though, both extreme outcomes came fairly close to occurring. When the Gamecocks went up by ten points with five minutes remaining in what seemed to be the longest first quarter in the recorded history of college football, a home team that had yet to score an offensive point and had barely run an offensive play appeared in danger of being trounced.

Later, when the ‘Dawgs took the opening kickoff of the second half and turned it into seven points to give the Red and Black a 15-point lead, a blowout win by the Bulldogs appeared probable. At every turn, we all should have known better. It was foreordained that the contest would go down to the wire, because, all odds to the contrary, it always does.

Georgia scored its most points against South Carolina since 1995? Fine; then South Carolina would score its most points against Georgia ever, to riddle the scoreboard for a combined 78 total ticks that eclipsed every tally since the two teams collectively put up 86 points in 1970.

Spencer Lanning overcame his placekicking woes to drill five field goals? Fine; then Blair Walsh would answer with a 50-yarder in the second stanza and what proved to be a game-sealing three-pointer in the final quarter. The Gamecocks would incur eleven penalties for 98 yards? Fine; then the Bulldogs would draw 13 flags for 108 yards. (The Athenians lost one more yard on penalties than they gained rushing.)

South Carolina would run the ball 30 times and average 3.8 yards per carry? Fine; then Georgia would run the ball 29 times and average 3.7 yards per carry. South Carolina would pick up 26 first downs to Georgia’s 16? Fine; then the ‘Dawgs would offset them by converting over half of their third downs while the ‘Cocks garnered the necessary yardage on just over a third of theirs.

The game had it all, from Brandon Boykin’s exhilarating 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to a crucial blocked extra point, from a successfully-executed fake punt to a bad snap that went out the back of the end zone for a safety. Heck, Branden Smith exhibited the highest of highs and the lowest of lows all by himself, from foolishly taking out a kickoff that was buried deep in the end zone and setting up a South Carolina score with a fumble to taking a reverse 61 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

Those of us who wondered whether Joe Cox had it in him to be a starting quarterback at this level---and I must count myself among them---received our answer. Although Cox threw an ugly interception while locking on his primary receiver with telegraphed tunnel vision not seen between the hedges since the days of Greg Talley, he nevertheless connected on 17 of 24 aerial attempts for 201 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Likewise, those of us who wondered whether it was worth it for Steve Spurrier to continue to tolerate Stephen Garcia’s shenanigans received our answer when the Gamecock quarterback completed 31 of 53 passes for 313 yards, two touchdowns, and one acrobatic Brandon Boykin interception. Had it not been for Garcia’s ability to extend plays---had the Evil Genius fielded literally any other quarterback who has ever played for him during his time in Columbia---the ‘Dawgs would have won in a rout.

Plus, in the midst of all that, the home crowd gave perhaps the loudest ovation ever offered up in response to a routine touchback on a kickoff. No wonder they played a Dave Matthews tribute at halftime; they needed to mellow us out after all the excitement . . . although the twirler tossing flaming batons didn’t exactly help the crowd calm down. This is a good thing, since the recurring images of Georgia players in the NFL flashed up on the scoreboard clearly indicated that recruits were in the house, and I’m sure they came away impressed by the atmosphere.

It’s also a good thing that Larry Munson retired last year, because, if he had been in the booth for this one, it likely would have caused the Georgia play-by-play announcer to suffer a fatal heart attack. Predictably, the game was decided on a fourth-down play in the final 30 seconds with the Gamecocks trailing by four points and holding the ball on the Bulldogs’ seven yard line when a Garcia pass was batted down by Carolina-killer Rennie Curran. (It’s no wonder Gamecock fans would trade with us to get him on their side!)

Other than being reminded that I have an unhealthy relationship with the quarterback sack (you should not stand too close to me after a Georgia defender has taken down an opposing quarterback behind the line, lest my wild celebratory gesticulations batter you senseless), I came away from this game with my thoughts and emotions as jumbled as you would expect them to be after I spent four hours standing on my feet outdoors on a sweltering late summer night and yelling like a maniac.

I regretted the fact that Logan Gray was a complete non-factor, yet I was glad to see our Cox beat their ‘Cocks. I regretted the fact that Caleb King was sidelined by injury, but I believe we have found our starting running back in Richard Samuel. I was entirely pleased by many aspects of the Red and Black’s special teams play and thoroughly discouraged by some others. I watched an opponent score 37 points on the ‘Dawgs and came away feeling that, despite several head-scratching substitution miscues, the defense actually didn’t perform half-badly, all things considered. (Against a quarterback less mobile than Garcia---and, aside from Tim Tebow, what other quarterback Georgia faces will be as mobile as Garcia?---the Bulldog D would have been something close to dominant.)

I haven’t the first clue how this team is going to perform in Fayetteville next Saturday. I haven’t the faintest notion what to make of the fact that the team that beat Georgia last Saturday turned right around and lost to Houston. I watched the game ebb and flow as the momentum shifted, the breaks broke both ways, and flukes, misjudgments, and lightning strikes eviscerated any claim by either team that whichever squad emerged victorious could have its win attributed to mere luck, all as a game that no one imagined was forthcoming ended exactly in the way we all knew it would.

It was utterly typical and completely abnormal. It was maddening and thrilling. It gave me flashbacks to Steve Taneyhill’s last-second touchdown in 1993 and fell just short of reminding me that 0-2 is twice as bad as 0-1, but it allowed in the sort of sliver of hope that can crowd out doubts and confirmed that 1-1 is only half as bad as 0-1.

The Georgia Bulldogs have a long way to go before they can claim to be a good football team, but it is now possible to believe they have a shot at getting there. It may be worth sticking it out for the 2009 season, after all.

Go ‘Dawgs!