Bulldogs Beat Tech 38 - 0

The Georgia Bulldogs beat Tennessee Tech Saturday by a score of 38 - 0. To be cliche, the game was not really that close, nor should it have been. A win is a win, but once again there were several "coach-able moments".

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="305" caption="Washaun Ealey runs in for his second touchdown. (Brant Sanderlin, bsanderlin@ajc.com)"][/caption]

Perhaps the biggest positive of the day was seeing the coaching staff yank players out of the ballgame for committing penalties. Hope this trend continues, for that will make the next delay of game penalty interesting.

The penalties that preceded those yankings were the biggest negative. Logan Gray failing to take advantage of his opportunity was another sore spot for me. Bacari Rambo did not start.

The defense dominated an inferior opponent. Regardless of opponent, Montez Robinson and Cornelius Washington both looked great,

On offense we were able to run at will, racking up over 300 yards. Pretty much everything Mike Bobo dialed up was working. There were a few execution problems, notably with the blocking from our fullbacks.

Joe Cox did not throw an interception. Drew Butler made the most of his light workload. Braden Smith is about as fast as a human can be. Wow. It was also good to see another team struggle to cover a tight end, both Orson Charles and Aron White had nice days.

All in all it was a good day to be a Georgia Bulldog, 38 for the good guys, goose egg for the bad.

Enjoy it, Dawg Nation, for Auburn is coming Saturday night. Get your hate on!

A Look Around the Dawg Webs

I don't care to make any predictions about tomorrow's game, except to say we will not be wearing black.  In the mean time, let's take a little surf through the Dawg webs.

I certainly hope Scott over at "Stuff of Legend" continues to share his thoughts with us regularly. I enjoy his calm, rational take on the Dawgs. He has been a virtual shaman to me throughout this trying season.
The Stuff of Legend: What passes for a Florida recap these days...

Now, for the promised announcement: I don’t know how much “Dawg” blogging I am going to be doing in the near future. Don’t get me wrong…I still love this team, will be pulling like mad for 9-4, and I still live and die with this bunch.

Bernie shares with us the bright side of tomorrow's cozy gathering, watching Wooten is at the top o'da list.
Bernie's Dawg Blawg: Who's That Comin'... (yawn..) Tenn Tech

I'll be there to see what the intensity is like, how Wooten and Brown do withGreen in street clothes, what Logan Gray does when not thrown to the wolves, what the rotation is like in the secondary, some more sick kicks by Blair and Drew...and to show my little girls once again the awesomeness that is Sanford Stadium.

Buck Belue gives us his insight into how he handled the '79 season. He somehow fails to mention the turning point of that season. I think we ended up starting a freshmen quarterback.
Buck's Blog: How to Handle The Criticism

You really do circle the wagons and insulate yourselves from all the negativity. The focus is to fight your way out of it. Work harder. Study harder. Practice harder. You know, grind. Losing sucks. Nobody has any fun. I felt bad for the seniors, who had put their hearts and souls into that season, only to see it spiral out of control.

"Can you say 'embattled'?  Good, I thought you could."
Georgia roundup « Get The Picture

In lieu of a Tennessee Tech preview (seriously, should there be anything more to say than “don’t get hurt during the Dawg Walk”?), I thought I’d toss out a few unrelated items for your consideration.

David Hale talks with Mark Richt about his other best friend on the staff, Coach Van Halanger. My guess is Kevin "Chappy" Hynes is next in line to draw fire from the faithful.  More important to me, however, is Richt's statement that Baccari Rambo will not be starting, and it doesn't sound like there is anything he can do to move ahead of a senior.
Bulldogs Blog: Notes: Richt Downplays Conditioning Concerns

For the past month, Georgia’s coaches have given redshirt freshman safety Baccari Rambo increased playing time and have been pleased with the results. But despite the struggles of starters Reshad Jones and Bryan Evans in coverage against Florida and Tennessee, Richt said it’s unlikely Rambo will move past either veteran on the depth chart.

“I don’t know if he’ll move into the starting lineup but he’s earned playing time and he’s playing well,” Richt said. “He’s continued to practice well, and that’s good, good for us."

C&C get right to the point with regard to Coach Richt's selective accountability.
Catfish and Cornbread: Accountability

Earlier this week, we heard from CMR that Washaun Ealey won't start Saturday because he missed a block against FL that led to one of our 4 interceptions on the day. Richt wants to hold #24 accountable for his missed assignment and give Caleb King the start this Saturday. That sounds great and I like the players dealing with consequences for their actions on and off the field.....

But, where the hell is the accountability for the rest of the team??? How many times have we seen our senior safety and senior CB get burned for TDs this year? How about holding our 5th year senior QB accountable for flinging 2 passes towards the sidelines and not getting the ball out of bounds when he could have just eaten the sack (once against UT and then against FL on Ealey's missed block)? How about sitting our whole offensive line for not opening up a single hole all year long (minus Samuel's long run vs. ARK)? How bout firing Willie's ass for letting our defense become progressively worse every single year since he took over the defense 5 damn years ago? If we are going to start holding everyone accountable for mistakes, we can't start and stop with Ealey.

A few thoughts from a Hunkered Down Dawg.
Hunker Down Dawg: Predicting a Dawg Victory

Without a dominating defense, you can't win with mediocre QB play. You definitely can't win with poor QB play. In our losses, QB play has been medicore to poor. However, to be fair, Joe played great against SC (minus the pick six) and Arkansas. I hope he has a few more of those type of performances left - namely against Auburn and Tech.

For all you basketball fans, be sure to subscribe to Daugman's Chronicles, where it is always basketball season.
DaugMan's Chronicles: Sundiata Gaines Selected #15 in D-League Draft

The D-League held their annual draft today. Sundiata Gaines was picked at #15 by the Idaho Stampede.

Based on the FEI, Georgia Ranked 51st

We all know the Georgia Bulldogs are not a very good team right now. The record speaks for itself. Do you want to know just how bad they are?

No need for you to break out the ole spreadsheet. The guys over at Football Outsiders list some very "Innovative Statistics" and have done the number crunching for us.

Georgia comes in at 51st. That is just plain awful, but not as bad as our rankings in penalties/game, yards/game, turnovers, total offense, scoring offense, total defense and scoring defense. So cheer up Dawg Nation, things are not as bad as they look, on paper at least.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | FEI COLLEGE FOOTBALL RATINGS 2009

The Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI) considers each of the nearly 20,000 possessions every season in major college football. All drives are filtered to eliminate first-half clock-kills and end-of-game garbage drives and scores. A scoring rate analysis of the remaining possessions then determines the baseline possession efficiency expectations against which each team is measured. A team is rewarded for playing well against good teams, win or lose, and is punished more severely for playing poorly against bad teams than it is rewarded for playing well against bad teams.

Georgia Bulldogs Rankings are Rank

The Georgia Bulldogs are not in the top 25 polls. In fact, the Dawgs are not in the top 25 of anything positive. RSD over at Sic'em Dawgs has some quantitative data on just how the Dawgs really stack up.

Gametime: Tennessee Tech at Georgia

Controversy is swirling around the Georgia program after a 4-4 start and big losses to Tennessee (45-19) and Florida (41-17). Hopefully, the Dawgs can put the pieces together and win at least 2 of their 4 remaining games to become bowl eligible.

Inside the numbers:

* Mark Richt’s overall non-conference record is 35-4.
* Georgia is ranked 118 out of 120 schools in penalties allowed per game.
* Georgia is ranked 115 in penalty yards per game.
* Georgia is ranked 119 schools in turnover margin.
* Georgia is ranked 97 in total offense.
* Georgia is ranked 73 in scoring offense.
* Georgia is ranked 68 in total defense.
* Georgia is ranked 89 in scoring defense.

From the Arena to the ER

I am beside myself with how poorly the faces of the Georgia Bulldogs are handling our four and four condition. First, Mark Richt attempts to disenfranchise those of the Bulldawg faithful that haven't tasted SEC sod. Second, Richt cites statistics on the direction of ball bounces and it's delta to Georgia players. Now our starting quarterback, he of five years on campus, compares our criticism of him to his crticism of a doctor.

Perhaps he should forgo his nearing coaching career and give public relations a shot!

BULLDOGS BLOG: Practice Notes: Cox Copes With Criticism

“Anybody can get on that and talk about sports,” Cox said. “That’s like me going on WebMD and talking like I’m a doctor and telling these guys what they should be doing in hospitals. That’s the least of my worries.”

To Bowl or Not to Bowl

The Georgia Bulldogs are four and four with four to play. Two is the magic number. The Bulldogs have to win two in order to become bowl eligible.

The schedule reads Tennessee Tech, Auburn, Kentucky and the propeller heads. Winning two, unfortunately, is no given at this point.

Given that the ball "hasn't bounced our way" and our coaches are not tracking how the ball bounces as a statistic, I am quite concerned. With so much riding on how the ball bounces, I am afraid the randomness of it all doesn't bode well for us.

Seriously, when a staff is citing stats on the direction of bouncing footballs, the same staff that calls for directional kicks, what are we to think?

Black pants and hats are needed to fire a team up to play their biggest conference rival. Huh?

Perhaps the most consistent offensive player no named AJ Green is benched for missing a block. The quarterback that is zero for sunlight and has thrown a pick in every game, three against Florida, is set to take the field on what is sure to be a sunny day this Saturday. Make sense?

Baccari Rambo did not start and was not in the game for either of Florida's first two possessions. Florida's first punt was ironically on Rambo's first defensive series. Coincidence?

None of this inspires much confidence. Especially with so much riding on these final four games. Yes, Auburn and the Hex Heads are two of our biggest and oldest rivals, but six wins is everything at this point. We must get bowl eligible.

The Dawgs need the practice. Our young quarterbacks needs the practice. Without those weeks of bowl practice, the Georgia Bulldogs will get a month less preparation for 2010 than our rivals.

Maybe I am already moving on to 2010, perhaps it is best this way. I look at these last 4 as an opportunity to get another month of practice. That is the prize.

Failure to win two only gives us an extra month a ball bouncing analysis.

Think Before you Tweet, Bulldog Nation

The Georgia Bulldogs' football team loses a game. Some in the Bulldog Nation lose their mind.

If you want to fire Mark Richt, I say you are crazy, but that type of criticism comes with the multi-million dollar contract. It is the nature of the beast.

If you, however, feel that losing a game entitles you to publicly ridicule our players via Twitter, mentioning their twitter account to ensure they see it, well you are a twisted individual and should find a new team to support. We don't need you, and Jeff Owens, Mike Moore, Rashad Jones, and all of the players with the guts to tweet about their experience as Georgia Bulldogs sure as hell don't need you.

To those of you that feel it is your place to make yourself feel a little better by tearing down a college student on Twitter please ask yourself a few questions.

What have you ever done in your life to garner so much public attention?

How many people really care about your performance?

In the grand scheme of things, do you really matter?

Would you have done any better?

If you are honest, the answers are: nada, nada, nope, nope.

Not Just a River in Egypt

I am in a state of denial. I cannot bring myself to express how disappointed I am in the Georgia Bulldogs football program.

Losing I can handle. Being the best everyday out is a rare feat few have ever enjoyed. The best team doesn't always win, fluke things happen, a player has the game of their life, whatever. Sometimes you just get beat and you have to tip your cap to your opponent and get 'em next time.

The way we are losing is really getting to me. The debacle that was Stillwater has become our identity.

We are a mess, and we are a mess in important places. I am trying to be positive and I will not single any of our kids out. For the life of me, I cannot recall a game this year where we looked like the better coached team. Can you? Can you name one game where our guys we better coached than their guys?

Outside of quarterback, our talent stacks up with most anybody. We have had a talent edge in most games we played this year. Okie State may have had us a quarterback. Florida's defense is stacked. But what does that have to do with preparation?

Were we the better coached team in Nashville? Fayetville? Did we out coach Erickson and his crew?

I swear the defense we watched in the first quarter is the same defense we had watched the first quarter of seven prior games. A soft zone that just gives you ten yards if your qb is capable of throwing it that far without having it batted in his face. We haven't faced many of those this year, have we?

Where am I wrong? Which game were we the better prepared team for? Which game was coaching a push?

Mark Richt is swimming in denial. Mark Richt needs to undergo that evaluation we have all faced or will face. The times are changing and we have to adapt. We have to be proactive (if it is not too late) and find new and better ways. "Well, that's the way we have always done it" is not translating into wins in Athens or Tallahassee.

Evolve or parish perish.

Look Like Grambling, Play Like Grambling, Time to be Georgia

The Georgia Bulldogs attended their own funeral Saturday and dressed for the occasion. The black no longer serves as inspiration, it serves as a symbolic metaphor foretelling the day's outcome. In fact, with the amount of yellow being thrown the Dawgs way, one could easily mistake this team for Grambling. The differences between the Georgia football team and Grambling's are small and shrinking.

I have no idea what, if any, effect the black had on the players, but I can assure you if did not elicit a positive reaction from the more seasoned fans. The students appeared to like it. The rest of us had an eerie feeling Coach Richt had just shoved us "all-in" and the deck was stacked against us. There was no getting away from this one. Fifty years from now, Gators will be talking about the "black hat" game.

I love the University of Georgia and will never be embarrassed by it. No flags were lowered by this Dawg. Surrender is not forthcoming.

I am disappointed, to be sure. More disappointment may be coming with four games remaining. Auburn and Tech have yet to take their shot at the Bulldogs. Kentucky will take any win they can get against us, there will be no asterisk indicating it was against the "black hat" team. We will get the Wildcats' best effort. Thankfully, homecoming is against Tennessee Tech.

Winning two is a must in order to go to a bowl game. I do not care which bowl game, but I am certain we must go to a bowl game. Missing a bowl game is more than money for the program, it is much needed practice time for the younger players, the very players we are counting on to pull us out of this tail spin.

We have seen much promise from these young pups. We have talent. Unfortunately, we lack experience at the most important position on the field. Bowl practice is needed now more than ever.

Failing to secure a bowl game will place the Georgia Bulldog football program behind the eight-ball. I don't even want to consider recruiting. The stakes are high in these final four games. More than the pride of rivalries, the very essence of our football lives is at stake.

Despite the unis, I saw glimpses of good Georgia football Saturday. Despite the turnovers and penalties, there were moments of sound football played by the Dawgs. The "coach-able moments" were once again plentiful. This time some of those moments were positive, a foundation to build on.

We ran the ball pretty well against a very good defense. Our defense was victim to some big plays and several penalties, but showed some moxie. Walsh and Butler are simply brilliant. Let's build on it and make something of these last four games. Let's turn them into five!

Go Dawgs!

Man Up and Blitz Blitz Blitz

The Georgia Bulldogs must have a man assigned to Tim Tebow every play. We are going to have to play 11 on 11. Tebow must be accounted for on every play. He must be hit, and hit hard, on every play.

Willie Martinez would be smart to take a page out of Mark Fox's defensive play book. Play them man up, treat Tebow like a point guard and punish him every time he tries to penetrate.

I suggest assigning Bryan Evans to Tebow. Bring Evans up to the line of scrimmage and bring him every down. First of all, this will go a long ways towards ensuring his man does not get behind him. Secondly, Evans is fast enough and physical enough to handle Tebow.  Bringing him off Tebow's blind edge could result in some nice shots on Timothy.

Outside of Tebow's running, Florida's most reliable weapons are Hernandez at tight end and Cooper at wide-out. Demps and Rainey are the most dangerous Gators and they line up primarily in the backfield. This is a problem for everybody that plays the Gators.

We do not want linebackers covering Rainey and Demps for any length of time. We have to get pressure on Tebow. That means bringing more men than they have blockers.

Play-action and boot-leg has given us fits all year. So let's scrap the read and react. Assign every Dawg a Gator and have them go whip their man. If your only job is to whip your man, the mis-direction should be mitigated.

I attempted to time Tebow's release, but the batteries in my stop watch kept dying before he could get ride of the ball. If we commit ourselves to bringing the heat, the sell-out blitz, we will get there. Willie cannot coach this thing conservative, there can be no playing it safe.

I can think of no better way to get after the Gators than having Evans lay the wood to Tebow on every play. Let's use Evans' aggressiveness to our advantage and stop having it used against us.

What Florida Means to Me

Growing up in the deep south, you have to choose, and you have to do it early. Most choose based upon family affiliations. My family is a Florida State bunch. My father was still a student at Florida State when I was born. The first few years of my life were lived in Tallahassee. I chose the Noles.

It is not enough to choose your team, your team has to have an enemy. Enter the Florida Gators. Around my house all that mattered was the Noles winning, and the Gators losing.

Bobby Bowden had yet to arrive in Tallahassee back then. The chances of enjoying a Gator loss was far greater than a Seminole win. Thus began my fascination with SEC football and eventually the Georgia Bulldogs.

Florida always had great football players, Nat Moore was a favorite of mine when he was with the Dolphins. But the Gators always seemed to under achieved. And they cheated, a lot. I assume everybody was cheating back then, but Florida was really bad at it. They always got caught.

In those days, the Gators didn't win a ton of games, but they could beat just about anybody. They had the talent to beat anybody, but they couldn't beat the Georgia Bulldogs.

Vince Dooley and his Dawgs, with their cool helmets and those silver britches, flat out owned the Gators. Vince went 17 wins, seven losses and one tie against the Gators. From an emotional standpoint, many of Vince's wins against the Gators should count twice.

The more that was riding on the game, SEC Championships, undefeated season, winning season, whatever it was, if Florida had a lot riding on it, Vince would beat their eyes out. I loved Vince Dooley. Vince Dooley could make a Gator sad for a month.

By this time I had fallen in love with Georgia. They had this cat named Herschel back then. Herschel had the Dawgs on television every week, and that meant something back then. My family moved, as luck would have it, to Georgia in time for me to begin high school in 1982.

My cousin enrolled in Athens that same fall of 1982. I would follow years later.

My first Georgia-Florida game was 1986.  The season had not been great, we had lost earlier to Clemson and at LSU and barely survived in Columbia. A victory over Florida would make our season. The Dawgs lost 31-19.

Florida had done to me what I had watched Vince Dooley do to them so many times. As I watched Boston College whip us for Christmas in Tampa, I could not take comfort from the sprinkler game in Auburn, or the win over Tech. I was fuming over the Gators.

Coach Dooley would win the next two and retire. Ray Goff gets the job. I was a Ray Goff fan. I fell for the narrative about the Georgia boy leaving Moultrie for Athens and never returning, yada yada, yada.

Goff would win his first against the Emmit Smith led Gators. He would not win another. Steve Spurrier returns to coach the mighty Gators he once led as a Hiesman winning quarterback. Not only did things change, things got ugly. 52 - 17 in Athens ugly!


Donnan takes over in 1996. He beats the Gators in 1997 behind Mike Bobo's arm and Robert Edwards' legs. Donnan would lose the next three ushering in the age of Mark Richt.

Richt has started our two and six. All I really want from Coach Richt is to win 16 of the next 17. I am only half kidding.

Go ahead, scoff. This is serious business. My original attraction to Georgia had nothing to do with the school, the beautiful campus, or the wonderful people. For me, part of being a Georgia Bulldog is kicking Gator ass.

My contempt for the Gators is not new. It is not a product of ESPN or CBS. My scorn for the Gators began is not the product of three wins in 19 years. It's the product of a lifetime. The record is 19-21-1 in my lifetime. Take 3-16 and blow it out your 19 year old ass. 46-38-2 is great and all, but "my" lifetime record is what matters to me.

This is no knee-jerk reaction. The passion with which I hate Gators is eclipsed only by my love for the Dawgs. One feeds on the other.

Saturday night my love of the Dawgs and Hate of the Gators collide once more.

Another chance to settle the score.

Go Dawgs!

They Love Herschel in Florida

Herschel Walker the Receiver

Gators Suck!

Florida Week is Here

Let's hope it looks this way when the clock hits zero!

The Georgia Bulldogs appear to have bounced off the bottom that was Knoxville. Did the Florida Gators bottom in Starkville, or will their unimpressive trend continue?

With The Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide occupying the top two spots in college football the only thing we can be certain of is that the Southeastern Conference has a vested interest in protecting these two flawed teams.

I am not going to get into the replay on Florida's touchdown against Mississippi State except to say, even a replay will not deter the SEC from making bad calls that favor the "chosen".

When the Dawgs and Gaytors tee it off in Jacksonville it will be eleven against eighteen. Close calls will break the Gaytors way. There will be flags thrown for reasons unknown outside of the conference offices in Birmingham.  Apologies will come on Monday.

So be it. Accept this, Dawgs. Know it. Use it as motivation. Understand nothing but the most complete effort, physical and mental, will get the job done.

The Gators have a very strong defense and a big play offense. However, the past two straight weeks, they counted on the other team losing, they counted on the officials, they did everything but win the game for themselves.

Will we beat ourselves? Will we allow the officials to steal another from us?

Sure Tebow can be counted on to pick up four plus one from the spot, almost every time he runs it. But the blows he suffers are taking their toll. His decision making gets worse with every hit hit receives. If we keep hitting him, he will give us the ball.

Yep, Rainey and Demps are fast, but Smith and Boykin can match their speed. Riley Cooper is wily, he cheats and he gets away with it, but Reshad Jones can handle him. Moody is a fumble waiting to happen.

The key will be the tight-end. The name does not matter, it hasn't mattered all year. Every tight end we have faced has hurt us. Willie Martinez and John Jancek must figure this out for it is the only match up we have not displayed an answer for.

The Gators defense is tough. We are going to have to find a way to sustain drives. We have the big play potential to score, but we have to find a way to control the ball. Patience will be the key. Patience with the running game. The patience needed to shorten the game and keep our defense fresh.

Special Teams will be a factor and we must not overlook them. Special Teams have been a huge factor in the Gators unblemished record. We must be "special" in this phase of the game, every aspect of it.

The Gators can be had. I have a great feeling about our chances. What do you think?

Dennis Dodd Tells Dawgs and Hogs what to Eat

BUI wonders if Dennis Dodd would be so calm had one of these calls cost Jim Tressel, Pete Carroll, or, heaven forbid, Urban Meyer a ball game. I have to think he would be leading the calls for accountability in that event. But, as he knows, that will never happen.

Just like the "ESPN.com mea culpa", what were we to expect from CBSSports.com? More towing of the company line.

All eyes will scrutinize officiating as nation overreacts - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com

Now it's up to the nation, not just SEC Nation. Let's everybody calm down. Take a deep breath and have some more pork chops (Arkansas), barbecue (Georgia) and Tums (Mike Slive).

Mark Richt the Recruiter

There are many reasons high school football players commit, and remain committed, to the Georgia Bulldogs. Chief among them, Mark Richt, a man whose word is his bond.

There are coaches in the SEC that will offer anybody and everybody, only to later rescind their offer as signing day nears. To these coaches, see Houston Nutt, these young men are nothing more than commodities, raw assets to be plugged into their football factories and discarded when their usefulness has been spent.

That is not the case at Georgia. When a recruit signs with Georgia, he joins a family. As head of that family, Mark Richt serves as the father and invest himself in these young men. The dividends paid to the Bulldog Nation extend far beyond the football field.

Many of us, especially yours truly, should keep this in mind as we debate his handling of the coaching staff.

Case in point:

Benedict's injury doesn't cool Bulldogs' interest | Jacksonville.com

Despite a season-ending knee injury, Bolles offensive tackle Brent Benedict still has a college home with the Georgia Bulldogs.

Benedict, ranked by Rivals.com as the 41st overall player in the nation, has been assured by the Georgia coaching staff that the Bulldogs are still happy to have him.

"They called and told us not to worry, that his scholarship was still good," said Ed Benedict, Brent's father. "They said it's not even a consideration, so don't give it any thought."

Benedict suffered the non-contact injury while running down the field to celebrate a touchdown in Bolles' 68-0 win over Yulee last Friday.

He tore his anterior cruciate ligament, his posterior cruciate ligament, meniscus and hamstring.

To relieve pain caused by pressure on a nerve from swelling, Benedict might have two surgeries to correct the injury. He is scheduled to meet with noted orthopedist James Andrews on Thursday in Pensacola.

Win Over Commodores Calms Bulldog Nation

The Georgia Bulldogs got back in the win column yesterday against Vanderbilt by a score of 34-10. They may have even found themselves in the football desert of Vanderbilt's campus. The Dawg's last scoring drive was a thing of beauty, something we have not seen since the opening drive of the season.

With a bye-week, the win was crucial for morale, but it was not the kind of dominating performance Georgia's talent level should provide. Plenty of coachable moments will present themselves in today's film session.

The defense played a very strong game. Vandy was able to expose our weaknesses at times, such as their first possession of the second half. Overall, when the right personnel was on the field, the defense was sound and respectable.

Offensively, Georgia is still finding their way. Joe Cox continues to throw into coverage, whether that is a product of poor decision making or Joe just trying to give his guy a chance to make a play is anybody's guess. I certainly hope, no matter how talented Orson Charles is, that Joe will not be throwing into triple coverage in Jacksonville.

The running game got going in the second half. Regular readers will know that I attribute this to sticking with the run. Bobo kept calling running plays and we eventually wore down the Commodores. Just as important were the types of runs. We ran right at them mroe than we have. There were still too many running plays from the shotgun for my liking, but the Dawgs lined up in the I-formation more than they have in previous games and imposed their will on Vandy.

With the exception of the kick out of bounds late int he first half, special teams were great. Okay, add Logan Gray's return to the out of bounds kick on the negative side. Vandy blocked a 57 yard field goal attempt but was flagged for cheating (illegal jumping) and Walsh hit the 42 yarder. With those three exceptions, special teams were in deed special.

Overall, a win is a win, and this win takes a little heat off going into the bye-week and the Cocktail Party.

Bobo to the sidelines
I liked the move. Mike Bobo seemed to have his troops a little more focused and a lot less confused. Perhaps he realized he had been throwing too much at them and was forced to simplify. There were also no drives where the sole purpose was to attain balance. There was, however, a down side, AJ Green only touched the ball three times.

3 receptions for AJ Green
He may have only had three receptins, but they all further demonstrated just how special AJ really is. The last 2 were beautiful 15 yard outs that went for first downs. You can watch football all day Sunday and not see a receiver run that route any better. AJ's first catch was the one everybody will be talking about. He took a hitch route and imposed his will on the Vandy defense for the next 65 yards with only the goal line capable of stopping him.

More Rambo?
Like  a broken record, Mark Richt has repeated his claim thge Baccari Rambo deserves more playing time. I may be wrong, but Rambo didn't really play that much in the first half. It was noticeable everytime Vandy was moving the ball.

Princely on punt returns
Prince Miller was fantastic on punt returns. He was so good that I suggest he be rested more. Coach Martinez needs to sacrifice some of Prince's playing time at corner for the good of the return game. Who knows, it may also help to produce more punts by the opponent.

It was Vandy
From the "All Things Are Relative" department comes this report card piece by Roger Clarkson. Roger hands out all "b"'s and a "b-" for the passing game. I am happy to get the win, but I don't believe that was a legitimate "B" performance. I believe Mr. Clarkson's standards have slipped in the last month.

What might have been
For 57 minutes of the Arkansas-Florida game, the Razorbacks at Florida on the ropes. Enter SEC Officials, yes the same SEC officials that protected LSU in Athens, and Florida escapes with a three point win on a field goal with 15 seconds to play.  Florida's game tying drive in the 4th quarter was added by to unbelievable calls. Mike Slive is the Don King of college football. That is all I am saying.

Had Arkansas held on (not been jobbed) Georgia would be in control of their SEC destiny this morning. I have said it before, and I will say it again. If you buy your insurance fram an SEC official, get a new agent!

Remember the Speech Mark Richt Gave the Basketball Team?

With the Georgia Bulldogs opening basketball practice Friday at 5:00 p.m. I was reminded of the inspirational speech Mark Richt gave the hard court Dawgs. Coach Pete Herrman had just taken over the squad following the dismissal of Dennis Felton. The Dawgs were winless in conference play and going nowhere fast. Enter Mark Richt.

Following the speech from the football coach, the basketball Dawgs proceeded to whip the Florida Gators in Athens. It was a singular bright spot in a truly dismal season.

In relative terms, the football team is where the basketball team was then. In need of a spark, an emotinoal lift. A players only meeting was called (and quickly reported to the press). Will that prove to be the spark?

Given our history of playing down to Vanderbilt and our apparent lack of killer instinct when playing lesser talented teams, we could use any emotinal advantage we can get.  Simply having more talent has not gotten the job done.

Perhaps Coach Richt should give the football team the same pep talk he gave the basketballers. He may even want to give Coach Mark Fox a shot.

Offensively Obscene

The Georgia Bulldogs' offensive problems are many. In fact, there is no dimension in the Bulldogs' offensive game that can be deemed reliable. It is time to start over.

Times like these call for getting back to basics. Re-establishing a foundation. It is time to commit ourselves to running the football.

Practice time must be devoted to the most basic of plays, the I-formation isolation play. Long a staple of the Georgia running game, it has vanished. I can only imagine the amount of time currently being devoted to these gimmicky spread plays in an attempt to get the ball in the hands of Branden Smith or Rantavious Wooten. Today, however, no such time can be spared.

Until you have mastered the basics you cannot graduate to the advanced. There is a reason academic courses have pre-requisites. Football is no different, and in football it all starts with the running game.

It appears to me, we have abandoned the power running game, opting instead to find production through fancy scheming. While coaches are paid to come up with winning schemes, the primary function must be to teach the basics. More often than not, the more fundamentally sound football team will beat the team with a good scheme without solid football fundamentals.

Sure, traditional running plays have been called, but there has been no commitment to it. We have treated the Iso play, one of the games safest, as the deep bomb. We run it, if it works great, if not, we simply resort to trickery.

Joe Cox was recently quoted as saying a Quarterback needs to develop a rhythm. Well, the running backs, and the running game as a whole, need to develop a rhythm as well. Just as Joe doesn't think it makes sense to alternate quarterbacks, it doesn't make sense to alternate offensive philosophies from series to series, play to play.

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the Iso play was a priority. If an opponent was stopping it, we did not abandon it, we simply altered our blocking strategy at the point of attack. A trap would be added from either side, the fullback would be given a different blocking assignment. Seemingly subtle changes to the blocking would be utilized until the defense would be foiled. The ISO was a must.

Defenses always force adjustments. Historically, for Georgia, those adjustments were subtle, tweaks if you will. Today, we resort to radical changes. These radical changes appear to leave our players second guessing themselves, appearing as though they really do not know what to do. The result has been three and outs, lots of them, and Drew Butler in danger of leg fatigue from punting so much.

Identities are not searched for, they are chosen, they are dictated. Despite all of the passing numbers during the Richt era, everything was predicated on the ability to run the football. We ran the football and threw it out of running formations, with or without play-action. 

This year, we have not only abandoned the running game way too early in games, we have essentially abandoned running formations. You do not have to be Monte Kiffin to know what Georgia is going to do. Given formation and personnel, the average Georgia fan can tell you what play is coming. If we can do it, I bet Vandy can do it.

I am not at practice. I cannot say what they are and are not working on. I can make an educated guess. I can guess that these fancy formations with reverses and specifically designed plays to get the ball into player "x"'s hands take a considerable amount of practice time. Practice time that should be invested in the foundation of your offense, a running game.

If we had a reliable passing game, I would temper my argument. If you are just as likely to go three and out throwing the ball, doesn't running it make more sense. You chew up clock and eliminate the interception. Yes, the running game may produce fumbles from time to time, but as we have seen, so has the passing game.

In short, the coaches need to get back to coaching the fundamentals and quit trying to be scheming wizards. You recruited this talent, now it is time to coach it up. Teach the fundamentals and force their execution. Master the basics then build off of them.

There has yet to be a press conference that has cited a "lack of execution". Well, coaches, you better get back to the basics our players are capable of executing. For, without change, the execution we are talking about this off-season may very well be your own.

If You Don't Have Something Nice to Say...

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Go Dawgs!

A Poll for You Dawg Nation: Who Stays, Who Goes?

Bulldog Nation, here's the question, coach by coach, if left up to you, who stays and who goes?

Questions in the right hand margin.