Happy Friday, Miss State O vs. UGA D

So now we get to face the spread offense of Miss State-the offense of choice for Urban Meyer. Dan Mullen brought the spread with him from Florida when he took the job at state and has had some success-although I think have read, other than Ole Miss, has yet to be another opponent from the SECw. That means when he gets SEC wins they are against the SECe. Last season they were 4-4 in SEC play, wins over Ole Miss, UGA, Florida and Kentucky. So, after two early SEC losses this year to west teams Auburn and LSU, I am sure MSU probably feels like they have a great shot to win Saturday. Honestly, they DO have a shot to win, I mean they have already played on the road at AU and played a very good game there-almost went to OT with a chance to win it matter of fact. But, back to the spread, State has Chris Relf as QB and he is a Cam/Tebow type kid especially when it comes to size.  He is 6-4 245, he ran all over us last year and is tough to bring down. He is not the best passing QB but he hurt us last year with the pass as well. If you look at the stats from last year, we actually had more first downs, more yards, course some of those yards were late when the game was already decided. We had crucial turnovers, the worst being the Ealey fumble at the goal line, I firmly believe if we score there, we win that game going away-that was a BIG turning point of that game. Miss State also has a big solid running back in Vic Ballard. Relf had 109 yards rushing against us last year, Ballard 64. So, 173 rushing yards, they only had 314 total yards against us last season.

I would suspect Miss State believes they can and will run the ball on us and they will start that early, in an attempt to set up some passes to torch us as the game goes along. They have a pretty explosive WR in Chad Bumpis, but to this point, the State passing game hasn't been that spectacular this season. We have been vulnerable to the outside run, everyone pointing out what Lattimore did to us. Well, I can see that point being made BUT I will also add, there is not a back left on our schedule BETTER than Lattimore. Bottom line is, I think our run defense-interior especially, is much improved this year because we have the big boys in the middle (coupled with State having some young guys up the middle on the OL). I think we have a player in Jarvis Jones that is going to be very effective in stoping this spread offense. Between he and Washington, I am pretty happy with our OLB. Getting hopefully Christian Robinson back in some capacity will also help a lot this week. I look for our D to continue its stellar work this season and hold this offense down to under 20. Here is a look at the State starting offense.

OT-James Carmon 6-7 320 SR
OG-Gabe Jackson 6-4 320 Soph
C-Dillion Day 6-4 295 FR
OG-Q Saulsberry 6-2 300 SR
OT-Addison Lawrence 6-4 300 SR
TE-Marcus Green 6-1 240 SR
WR-Chad Bumpis 5-11 200 JR
WR-Chris Smith 6-2 205 JR
WR-Arceto Clark 5-10 180 JR
RB-Vic Ballard 5-11 220 SR
QB-Chris Relf 6-4 245 SR


So as for my prediction on this game, I have to say this game provides those watching Coach Richt and thinking about his future, a great test. This is a game we SHOULD win, and we should win by double digits. Miss State is not a bad team, far from it, certainly a step up from Ole Miss. But, that being said, we are at home and we have far too many offensive weapons for this team. Our D has proven to me thus far, they can do the job for the most part. This Miss State offense is no where near the caliber of Boise or SCarolina. The D did allow some rushing yardage to Lattimore but he is a special back-and remember, it was the offensive turnovers and a fake punt that led to many of the SCarolina points. I probably will be wrong for making this prediction but here goes. This is a statement game for UGA and a game I feel propels us much like it did for Miss State last year. UGA should do a much better job controlling the lines of scrimmage this year, we have a better RB than a year ago, we have a stronger D, UGA wins this game 31-17.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Some cool weather is coming in tonight and tomorrow in Athens will be very nice. I think high of no more than 70 degrees, with some wind gusts as strong as 20 mph. That could making our kicking game, already shaky, a little bit of a concern but I hope we are getting TD's this week instead of settling for FG's. The 7 year old Grayson Rams take on the Shiloh Generals tomorrow-yep, that is where David Pollack played his ball. A crucial division game that we need to win. SO, Go Dogs and Go Rams!

Miss State D vs. UGA offense, another two leaving the program

Ok, so still recovering from the series choke that just happened in the ATL, I LOVE the Braves and always will but geez, that was bad. Now that they are out, I can 100% focus on football, except I will be cheering for anyone playing the Phillies. Great club but they certainly did everything in their power to knock the Braves out, leaving starters in the game etc. Compare that to the Yankees against the Rays. Like I say, it would be very fitting if the team the Phillies helped make the playoffs ends up beating them-I would LOVE IT!!!

Two more UGA players are leaving the program and neither are that big of a suprise. CB Derek Owens, who played mostly on special teams and Ken "Boo" Malcome, the RB that could never seem to stay healthy. I think both figured they had very little chance to see any playing time and decided to move on. A lot of UGA faithful, or maybe I should say some, think this is not a good sign. I say, nonsense. If the kids don't want to stay and compete for a spot, we don't need them. What it says is they see guys in front of them that are younger players and BETTER players and thus they see the writing on the wall. Such is life when you have such a great recruiting class. And, let's not kid ourselves, the dream team class IS most certainly to this point living up to his billing-and could be even better in time. You have two of our best offensive talents in Crowell and Mitchell, Jenkins is seeing a lot of time at the nose, Herrera is making good progess at LB, Swann was making a big push at nickel before his injury. A couple OL have been able to provide some depth, Ray Drew figures to make a difference at some point or another. Here is a list of players per the AJC that have left the program in the last year-if you notice, besides Benedict and Logan Gray, all have transferred to small schools, left for the NFL or medical reasons. Gray went to Colorado where his brother attend school and is much closer to home there. Benedict, well, obviously he would be getting PT with us but because he didn't like the way JT was running the strength program he bailed. Bottom line, with the kids listed below, I think the program is overall better off now and this just means without question, class of 2012 will have a full 25 and if Richt can turn the ship around we have all the makings of another great class.

1. OL+Brent Benedict+RFr.+Transferred to Virginia Tech
2. LB+Marcus Dowtin+Jr.+Transferred to North Alabama
3. TB+Washaun Ealey+Jr.+Transferred to Jacksonville State
4. FS Jakar Hamilton+Sr.+Seeking transfer
5. TB+Caleb King+Jr.+Academically ineligible
6. WR+Logan Gray+Jr.+Graduated w/ eligibility, transferred to Colorado
7. WR+A.J. Green+Jr.+Early entry into NFL draft
8. FS+Jakar Hamilton+Sr. +Transferring. Destination unknown.
9. OL+A.J. Harmon+Jr.+Transferred to Alabama State
10. LB+Justin Houston+Jr.+Early entry into NFL draft
11. DE+Jeremy Longo+Jr.+Medically disqualified
12. RB+Ken Malcome+RFr+Seeking transfer
13. CB+Derek Owens+So.+Seeking transfer
14. OL+Tanner Strickland+Sr.+Graduated with eligibility remaining
15. OL+Trinton Sturdivant+Sr.+Knee injury, career over
16. DB+Nick Williams+Jr.+Transferred to North Alabama

Ok, so now we take a look at the Miss State D against our offense. First of all, last year Miss State pushed us around on both lines of scrimmage. Also, the DC was Manny Diaz, who many thought was a strong candidate to take our job because Richt knew him from his Florida State days. The guy did a great job last year at Miss State and moved on take the DC job at Texas. Miss State lost a lot of starters from last year-including several on the DL, and all 3 starting LB's. The secondary returned pretty much intact and all those guys are good players, especially the corners. State runs the standard 4-3 D but many times will shift into a 3-3-5 alignment.

DE Sean Ferguson 6-3 255 SR
DT Josh Boyd 6-3 295 JR
DT Fletcher Cox 6-4 295 JR
DE Kaleb Eulls 6-4 280 FR
LB Matthew Wells 6-2 215 FR
LB Cameron Lawrence 6-2 230 JR
LB Brandon Wilson 6-1 240 SR
CB Jonathan Banks 6-2 185 JR
S Charles Mitchell 5-11 205 SR
S Wade Bonner 5-10 195 SR
CB Cory Broomfield 5-10 180 JR

Stats wise, this D falls in the middle of the conference for the most part. They appear to be slightly better against the pass than the run. Thanks to the 41 that AU put on the board, their scoring D is not as good as it might-but they did hold LSU to 19 points a couple weeks back. Last week they didn't play their best against LaTech but found a way to win-course that they had to got to OT to beat a team that was 1-2 entering the contest, only win against Central Arkansas, that is enough to have fans of both schools wondering what is up with Miss State.

I expect UGA to be able to move the ball on this defense but balance is going to be the key. I suspect more of the same from last week in regards to using the TE. Miss State doesn't have LB's or safeties capable of covering our TE's, simply put. This is a D that likes to play aggressive football-take some chances, make things happen. They have a solid secondary that has 5 picks in 4 games, but they also have giving up some passing yardage, especially the last couple weeks. Their DL is a bit undersized and they have a couple FR starting on the D. I expect that Crowell has the potential to have another solid game-maybe not quite on the level of last week but we should be able to move the ball, IF we can be balanced and keep them guessing. Interesting stat, Miss State is 14-0 in games under Mullen where they win the turnover battle but only 2-13 in games where the tie or lose in turnovers. As we found out against SCarolina in our previous home SEC game, turnovers can wreck your chances to win a game, regardless of how well you might play otherwise. So, to me the name of the game this week more than anything, balance, limit or eliminate turnovers, and we should score in the mid to upper 20's in this game, possibly reach up to the 30's.

Tomorrow I look at the UGA D against the Miss State O.

A win is a win-especially considering the last couple years

Oh yeah, you bet I was frustrated watching the UGA game on Saturday. Why, because we were driving on the Rebs all day long but had to settle for 5 FG attempts-Walsh making only 2 of them. That simply can't keep happening or we are going to lose some tough games. It was pretty obvious we had a big talent advantage over Ole Miss. It was certainly encouraging to see our D hold someone under 200 yards, only 8 first downs for the game-especially considering this was game 2 without our best two middle linebackers. It was encouraging to see Crowell run the ball 30 times although I will say, he was NOT the same back in the second half as he was in the first half. Conditioning might very well keep him from being on the Lattimore level this year-then again, Crowell actually has more yards through 4 games of his FR season than did Latt last year I do believe (CONFIRMED, Crowell so far this year, 77 carrries, 411 yards, 5.3 per carry and 2 TD's while Lattimore last year, 84 carries, 366 yards, 4.4 per carry 6 TD's). I continue to be impressed with Mitchell at WR-he has some talent as does Michael Bennett. Of course this game we also got both our TE's involved, with Charles leading the way with 5 receptions. Bobo MUST continue to use these guys, both likely are gone after this year and no LB or safety can cover them. I thought Cornelius Washington had his best game of the year, he came up with a couple sacks, he was in the backfield most of the day. I also thought Rambo continues to impress-he seems to be in the right place at the right time. The secondary in general played well but, let's not forget, this Ole Miss offense is truly DREADFUL. I do think our D looks much better overall this year, they didn't play that bad even in the losses, but they are still not quite to elite level just yet. The offense, well, let's just say the ingredients are there for our offense to score 30+ EVERY week. Keep in mind our supposedly best WR-TKing has really not done all that much thus far. Still waiting on him to have a breakout game-SCarolina he was pretty decent. Course, teams are aware of him coming into the season and not aware of Mitchell-I think that is changing now-and that should help King. I think we now can see why Troup simply doesn't get much playing time, even as a SR. He dropped an easy pass right to him on Saturday. We need to get Marlon Brown and Wooten back into the rotation-hopefully both are back this week (injuries). Same goes for Christian Robinson-I don't think he is the most talented LB we have but he is a leader and having him back this week (hopefully) will help our overall D.

Now, as we look back on this game, there are some things to be really concerned about as we move forward. One is special teams-we have given up a punt return for TD, had a fake punt go for a TD, gave up a HUGE punt return against Boise that set up a pretty easy score. Our FG kicker who has been nearly automatic for three years, suddenly can't make kicks that used to be routine for him. He missed a long one at the dome-but certainly within his kicking distance. He missed one against SCarolina-a chip shot, he missed one against Coastal but a penalty wiped that one away. He missed 3 against Miss, thankfully it didn't cost us. Special teams was an area that I strongly believed we would win nearly every week (if not every week) of the season but we have lost the special teams battle EVERY week save the Coastal game when it didn't matter anyway. This really is troubling to me but hopefully we will get Walsh squared away soon. Of course the fact we are having to settle for field goals is another issue which to me goes to playcalling. I was NOT impressed with the playcalling on Saturday. We would have one series of almost exclusively run, then switch almost to 100% pass. It was like, ok guys, when Crowell needs a break, we will pass the ball. Murray threw one INT but Orson Charles had both hands on it, and it bounced around with the Ole Miss guy grabbing it before it hit the ground. I think Murray threw the ball too hard but I think Charles should catch it. Murray had a pretty good day overall throwing the ball, yes, we were missing two WR's and Crowell was running the ball well, but we should be able to make plays to score TD's in a game like that. Our time of possession advantage was HUGE, we had that D tired and yet we still could not punch in TD's. This leads me to another part of the game that irriated me. Mark Richt NOT going for a 4th and 1 on the Ole Miss 30 or 31 with us up by 11 points. Try a 48 yard FG which Walsh of course misses. Later in the game, from our 44 or 45, he elects to go for it again up by 11. In both cases, I totally disagree with him. The way our D was playing-only giving up one TD on a reverse pass off a wildcat formation, why not go for it at the Ole Miss 30. On the flipside, up by 11 on your side of the field, why give Ole Miss potentially a short field where they can pull out more trick plays and maybe make the game really tight. Punt the ball and try to pin them deep coach. Sometimes I really wonder what his thought process is. I am still not happy of course about the bowl game decision. He should be really thankful Samuel fought for that extra yardage on the 4th down play. Miss had him stopped behind the line but he surged forward to BARELY pick it up.

I predicted this game would be around 11 points last week, both here and on UGA message boards. Why? Because this is typical UGA football under Coach Richt, really under Dooley as well. Rare is it that we really throttle teams in conference-it has happened, don't get me wrong but typically we play games much like Saturday. You watch the game, and think, we SHOULD have beat them by more. I tend to adopt the attitude of, a win is a win whether it be by 31 or 1, and considering our program the last couple years, I will take this win and say, NEXT. Think about last year, first it was SCarolina on the road-at that time SCarolina was, well, SCarolina. We lost that one, then the Miss State game-they were not well thought of and we found a way to lose that game, then the game at Colorado-we moved the ball well in that game and had that game in prime position to get a win late, of course then FUMBLE-and the fact the game was that close was frustrating. Of course the UF game last year, had that game won but then couldn't make a key INT in regulation while UF made a big play in OT. Then the UCF game, another dud. My point being, this team has made a living out of finding ways to lose games, let's celebrate all the wins we can get, even if frustrating at times. We have a soph QB, freshman RB, freshman WR, no depth on the OL, a D that appears on the way up, still playing without our top two middle backers, plenty of positive to build on.

Now comes the Imposter Dogs as I call them. We are the real Dogs, not them. Many folks in the UGA fan base really love Dan Mullen, I have mixed feelings on him. I think this game on Saturday, has the potential to be the swing game of 2011 for both these teams. Last year, it was a BIG swing game for both teams. Let's go back and look at it, last year Miss State opened with a huge win against Memphis. Same this year. Last year, week two against Auburn, close loss at home (this year hearbreaking loss at Auburn). Week 3 tough hard fought loss at LSU (this year tough hard nosed loss at home vs. LSU). We played them next and they beat us. But, they were 0-2 in conference when we played them, same as this year. We of course were likewise 0-2 in conference after the tough losses to SCarolina and Arkansas. That game was 7-6 State at half, but they exploded to score 17 fourth quarter points to secure the win. We outgained them in yardage, had more first downs, slight edge in TOP, also had 2 turnovers to only one for State (crucial one was early when Ealey fumbled on the goal line, also had 9 penalties). The QB for State really killed us, Relf, and he is back leading the way this year. I will preview the game later this week but this will be a game where if we can stop/limit the big QB, we likely can contain that offense. They have a brusing RB in Ballard as well.  They were very fortunate to beat La Tech in OT. They scored on an 82 yard punt return, La Tech committed 3 turnovers to only one for Miss State, they were outgained by La Tech in total yardage as well. My point is, just as was the case last year entering this game, I feel like this is a game we SHOULD win and if not, I think it really begins to put doubt in my mind about Richt's future. Every game moving forward will be closely watched, but this one is one that we simply must have before heading on the road for two weeks. Go 3-2, 2-1 in the SEC preparing for our two week trip to Tenn, that is what we MUST do.

On the local front, TOUGH weekend for the Braves and Falcons, WOW, Braves very close to choking away the wildcard and that is just not acceptable-I would give it 50-50 odds at this point but the ship is taking on water and might be headed down. The Falcons, just like UGA, turnovers and sacks will KILL your chances of winning a football game. The 7 year old Rams, another win but much like UGA, should have won by a much larger margin than the 26-12 final.

Game 4 is almost here, UGA D vs. Miss O

Hard to believe we will have already completed one third of the football season after Saturday. The weather is getting cooler (thankfully) and we are now starting to get full force into the conference battles, week in and week out. Many good games around the SEC this weekend, the best probably being the Arkansas at Alabama game. LSU plays a non conference game at West Virginia, Florida plays at Kentucky and Vandy plays at South Carolina. Few other non conference games, Fla Atlantic at AU, and our opponent next week Miss State hosts La Tech.

Yesterday when I was talking UGA offense, I failed to mention the health of the OL. It now appears Kenarious Gates will return to action this week, but Chris Burnette "tweaked" his knee in practice on Wed, he is making the trip but how much he is able to play remains up in the air. Kolton Houston continues to be held out due to "NCAA issues"??? I am more than curious to know what a reserve lineman could be involved with that would be a NCAA rules violation, hopefully this situation will be resolved soon. We could use a little more depth. The two FR lineman, Andrews and Dantzler got some snaps last week so it does appear they will be able to at least provide a little depth. Considering we lose Jones, Anderson and Glenn after this season, I think it is important that we find some playing time for Dantzler, Andrews, Austin Long (if he can stay healthy), Hunter Long (I am surprised he is not redshirting honestly) and Houston if he regains his eligibility. Of course the big boy from Bolles that is already committed to us, Theus, is likely to have a shot to start right away, just as Sturdivant did when he arrived-only difference, Sturdy was an early enrollee. Still, considering the QB, RB, and WR's we will have next fall, the OL will be a HUGE issue for us in 2012-in fact I believe if that unit can play well, next year could be a nice year for us as we have so many folks coming back on both sides of the ball.

As I mentioned yesterday, as bad the Miss D is, the offense might be worse. Ole Miss is last in total offense in the conference, they average 252 yards a game-keeping in mind who they have played, that is NOT impressive at all. They are 11th in both passing and rushing offense, averaging 143 and 109 respectively. In contrast, our offense is 5th in the SEC, we average 426 yards per game, 3rd in passing, 7th in rushing. Our D is also 5th in total yards. We are second in passing yard allowed per game, 150, and 7th against the run, 148 yards. Let's take a look at the starters for Ole Miss on offense, the power I.

OT Bradley Sowell 6-7 315 SR
OG Patrick Junen 6-8 300 Soph
C AJ Hawkins 6-4 305 JR
OG Matt Hall 6-9 321 Soph
OT Bobbie Massie 6-6 310 JR
TE Ferbia Allen 6-4 245 JR
WR Donte Moncrief 6-2 217 FR
WR Ja-Mes Logan 6-2 195 Soph
FB HR Greer 5-11 225 JR
TB Brandon Bolden 5-11 215 SR or Enrique Davis 6-0 220 SR
QB Zack Stoudt 6-5 220 JR or Randall Mackey 6-0 190 JR

Wow, talk about a BIG OL, that might the one of the biggest you will see-especially in height-4 of the 5 guys are 6'6" or taller. Are you kidding me. From the size of this line, coupled with the talent of their running backs and inexperience at the wideout positions, certainly it would appear this is a team that would like to run the football on us. With us being depleted of our two inside backers, that is EXACLTY what I would expect them to do. Stoudt threw FIVE interceptions last week for goodness sakes. The other QB is not a passing threat, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what the Ole Miss gameplan will be this week. They have to figure our offense, after watching us the past two weeks is going to present them a tough task in outscoring us, so ball control is the name of the game. The only problem is, both Bolden and Davis have been injured early in the season and it is possible Davis will not see action against us-he didn't play last week against Vandy. Now, as big as the OL is, they are not the most athletic group on the world and that is a big part of why they have struggled so much. I would imagine our DT's and OLB are going to present some issues for those tackles, and then hopefully between Geathers and Jenkins, the NT will be able to close/fill that gap in the middle. A key weapon for them could be the TE Allen. He has been a part of their offensive gameplan each week this season, he is basically the size of Orson Charles-in other words, can be a bigtime matchup problem for our LB or safety. I would expect because Ole Miss is not as much a threat to pass, Nutt will try to use some play action to use this TE a lot to keep the chains moving. I think that is going to be the Ole Miss thought process, keep the chains moving, dink dunk etc much like Boise-course they don't have Kellen Moore so I don't expect them to have that much success.

I really do believe this game is going to be close for a good while. I think UGA coaches KNOW they have a big talent advantage and should win this game easily, but I also think they realize this team is still growing and we need to start in a more conservative mode-see what Miss is doing and, if you can believe it, adjust accordingly. What I mean is I believe Grantham will run the base D a lot early and just see what they are doing-and certianly if the offense jumps ahead, he might start turning the D loose. On offense, I would suspect that we might very well come out throwing the ball to get Murray going-also because the Ole Miss DC is known to like to blitz frequently. Because they have had so much trouble stopping the run thus far, he will try to shut down our running game and force Murray into some bad decisions. Turnovers on the road are killers-well, they are at home as well but if you turn it over on the road, you are really in trouble with the crowd getting fired up etc.

In the end I think UGA wins this game in the range of 28-17 or 31-20, maybe 31-17. I think as the game progresses, we will simply overmatch them on both sides and get the W. But, it might not be as pretty as many UGA faithful hope for and it could end up being a tight ball game. We have done quite well in Oxford, last loss over there was in 1995, we have won 4 in a row over there since, and have actually won 8 in a row in the series overall. So, this is a school we have enjoyed a lot of success and I look for that to continue this Saturday. So, in closing I say Go Dogs and Go Rams!! My son's 7 year old Grayson Rams look to improve to 3-2 on the season tomorrow!!

More on yesterday's story, Old Miss D against UGA O preview

My blog yesterday was probably them most viewed since I starting blogging the first of this year. I am glad people read the blog because it really made me happy to be able to share that story. As I mentioned, William has Barth Syndrome and not many people have ever heard of it. I am going to put the Barth website link on my blog so that anyone that comes back today or in the future can have that link. William has a twin sister, Lily, who is not a carrier as she was tested. Barth only impacts boys but girls of course can be carriers. I can tell you, the Mom and Dad of William are special folks as they have done everything in their power to make life as normal as possible for William-and William is doing very well as a baseball playing second grader. They gave me permission to share the story and I am certainly glad they did. Not only did it allow me to share more about Barth but it also allowed me to share some pictures of two outstanding young men we have as student-athletes at UGA. Yes college kids do some dumb things from time to time, make mistakes but there are plenty of good ones around as well. I think all of us that have ever been to college can certainly agree that we made mistakes. For us though, we did not have the microscope on us waiting to report every time we screwed up. Anyway, again, here is the link to the official Barth Syndrome foundation if you would like to learn more, or even contact the organization to see how you can get involved to help find a cure.

http://www.barthsyndrome.org/english/view.asp?x=1


As I have looked at Ole Miss this week, one thing has really jumped out. Even though expectations for them at the start of the year were not extremely high, after the loss at Vandy last Saturday, the fan base in Oxford is beyond angry. I mean boosters taking out full page ads in the local papers calling for Nutt to be fired, the school president feeling the need to show up and get involved with the weekly call in show.Remember again, Ole Miss was 4-8 last year, 1-7 in SEC play, losing to Vandy in Oxford last year.  Ok so we have lost to Vandy as recently as 2006, we nearly lost to them again in 2007, I know it is embarrassing but this is Ole Miss-then again, this is the school that ran away David Cutcliffe years ago after ONE bad season-the most successful coach they have had in recent years. As you will recall, Ole Miss was involved in the kick off classic reshuffling deal. They were originally scheduled to face Boise to start the season but instead got BYU.  They were also promised a spot in a future kick off game-I believe 2013 but maybe 2014?? Anyway, looking at the Ole Miss D, they are currently 11th in the SEC in total defense and last against the run. That after playing BYU, Southern Illinois and Vanderbilt. If you look at the stats, Ole Miss is averaging 374 yards a game which is only ahead of Auburn-who get this, is allowing 534 yards a game. They are 5th in passing defense and 11th in rushing defense. In game one, BYU passed for over 200 yards but only ran for 91 yards. In game 2 against the equal of our recent Coastal Carolina, they gave up over 200 yards rushing. Against Vandy, nearly 300 yards rushing. In fact Vandy RB Zac Stacy had 11 carries for 169 yards, averaging over 15 yards a carry. I wonder if Vandy will print up a t-shirt for that yards per carry as that has to be a record-sorry, I think only GTU prints up t-shirts for rushing/total yards in a game. Lets take a look at the starting lineup for the Rebs on D. They run a traditonal 4-3.

DE Wayne Dorsey 6-6 265 SR
NT Uriah Grant 6-0 300 JR
DT Justin Smith  6-3 290 SR
DE Kentrell Lockett 6-5 260 SR
LB Ralph Williams 6-1 220 FR
LB Aaron Garbutt 6-2 210 JR
LB Mike Marry 6-2 237 Soph
CB Marcus Temple 5-10 188 SR
S Frank Crawford 6-0 185 Soph
S Charles Sawyer 5-11 175 Soph
CB Wesley Pendleton 5-10 175 JR

First thing I notice that suprises me is that this DL is BIG and experienced. The fact they are struggling against the run makes me think the DL are maybe big but not the most athletic guys-it also calls into question the LB's who are not very big and not very experienced either. The secondary is pretty small in comparison to the first two schools we played. Bottom line, there is simply NO excuse for our offense to not have a good day on Saturday. From what I have read about this D, they simply have had trouble tackling this year, the DL has a good one in Dorsey-he can cause trouble against the pass but overall, the secondary is fast but they are small so bigger WR's can have a big advantage here. Ok, so Mike Bobo is constantly catching grief about his play calling. Here is a game where he can make all the old school UGA faithful happy by doing one thing consistently-RUN THE BALL. Now, the question remains CAN we run the ball. I think it is now very evident who our best running back is, Mr. Crowell. I expect IC to get at least 20 carries this week. Samuel is still not 100% per the latest injury report, give Crowell the ball and see what he can do with it. One thing that I can say is really encouraging to me about Crowell to this point-besides the fact he just looks like a very good back, the way he can catch the ball out of the backfield has really been nice. I would expect to see Orson Charles more involved this week as well-he likely draws a young LB covering him or the spur/LB Garbutt, if the running game is going as we all hope, the play action is going to work wondefully this week. I see no reason why this offense can't crank out 400+ yards this week but I caution, this D gave up 30 last week against Vandy but their QB threw 5 INT's-and no the QB for Miss is not named Quincy in case you were wondering. Also Vandy's D got a safety. BYU only scored 14 points for the game. Southern Illinois put up 24, and again, ran the ball all over Miss. I guess we can have high expectations but as we have found out over the years, you can never truly predict how young men are going respond after embarrassing losses. I hope we can come out early, score and then score again, give our D some cushion so they can really get after the Ole Miss offense, which, I will look at tomorrow. Needless to say, from all accounts the Ole Miss offense is probably worse than the Ole Miss defense.

One closing note, I was called out by a good friend of mine for using third person on my blog recently. Kudos to him for calling me out on this, I can't say I purposely did it but I will just say, if anyone HATES third person more than me, well, I doubt anyone does. When I was in Athens years ago, my first roommate in the dorm was a guy named Dave. Nice guy Dave but LOVED to use third person. He would sit outside our dorm room talking to a girl (I assume maybe his girlfriend that was breaking up with him-or seemed to be breaking up with him quite often) and say, Dave is going to be fine, Dave is OK, don't worry about Dave. Thankfully for me he sat out in the hall, unfortunately, I could still hear him and it was truly one of those beat head against wall moments. I am a good guy, soft spoken and like to just leave people alone, which I did in this case. BUT, the fact that I can still remember this crap 20+ years from when it was happening, just tells you the impact THIRD PERSON has had on my life. You hear athletes use third person all the time, it is SOOO bad but then again, it does make me laugh/chuckle because it brings me back to when I was 20 years old, sitting in a dorm room in Athens, Ga, only care in the world was going to class and making darn sure that I studied and passed my classes. No kids, no mortgages, no car notes, no stresses about losing your job, no stresses about ANYTHING but going to class and having fun. So, while I do apologize to my friend DB for using third person in an earlier blog, in a sense I don't apologize at all. As we live our life, sometimes it is refreshing to having something bring back and old memory and bring a smile to your face. Even if the memory is something that annoyed you then and still annoys you today, it still takes you back in time and slows down the otherwise busy and stressful lives we find ourselves in daily. So, as Dave would say back in old days, Haney is ok, Haney is going to be fine, and Haney thanks you for reading his blog!! :)  Oh and one more thing, Haney is NOT my name but it is my board name on UGA message boards-it is my nickname given to me by my big brother. We used to love the show Green Acres, and of course the classic Mr. Haney. When I was about 12-13 years old, as I was "becoming" a man so to speak, my voice was changing and I kept going from boy voice to man voice-much in the same way Mr. Haney did on Green Acres. SOOO, being the ever so supportive and loving older brother, he started calling me Haney and even though it made me so mad I would go tackle him and punch him, he was a good big brother and never really hit back. But, the nickname stuck and now I used it as my nickname on message boards and this here blog.

Some positive press for a couple UGA players

Ok, so you hear so many stories about college kids doing dumb things, making mistakes, etc,  today I want to blog about a couple guys on our team that made a big difference in the life of a young man I know. This young man (William) is my son's age, 7, and is just a terrific little guy. He is quite the sports fan, he knows stats of players, he knows how the game is played-especially baseball, but really all sports. He has a quick wit about him, his parents are wonderful friends of mine. This little guy however was born with a rare genetic disorder called Barth Syndrome. For those that read this blog, chances are you have never heard of Barth Syndrome so let me provide you with a little bit of information. The below is information from the Barth Foundation website.


Barth syndrome (BTHS; OMIM #302060) is a serious X-linked genetic disorder, primarily affecting males. It is caused by a mutation in the tafazzin gene (TAZ, also called G4.5), resulting in an inborn error of lipid metabolism.


inheritance
Barth syndrome (BTHS) is an X-linked genetic condition, usually transmitted from mother to son (although there is a relatively high incidence of new mutations in BTHS and one confirmed case report of a female BTHS patient). A mother who is a carrier of a Barth syndrome mutation (the gene is named tafazzin — also called TAZ or G4.5) shows no signs or symptoms of this disorder herself, probably due to skewed X-chromosome inactivation.
There is a 50% chance that a boy born to a female carrier will have BTHS, whereas girls born to a carrier have a 50% risk of being carriers themselves. All daughters of a male with BTHS will be carriers, however no sons will be affected. Because there are proven non-carrier mothers, all mothers of BTHS children should be tested in order to define the genetic risk in each family.
Any male child related through the female line to a BTHS individual should be tested for the disorder, as there can be great variation in phenotype even among affected siblings. 

o DNA sequence analysis (genetic testing) of the tafazzin gene (TAZ, also called G4.5) which falls on the long q arm of the X chromosome; Xq28.  Please see the "Diagnosis of Barth syndrome" webpage for further information on diagnosing Barth syndrome as presented by Dr. Richard Kelly MD, Ph.D.

Why is an early diagnosis critical? o Early and accurate diagnosis is key to survival for affected individuals. Historically, boys died of heart failure or infection by three years of age, but today, with improved diagnosis, treatment, and management, the survival rate and future of these boys is much brighter.

What are the major clinical problems?
Congestive heart failure o Risk of serious arrhythmia, including sudden death o Serious bacterial infections o Gross motor and/or fine motor delay o Growth delay o Exercise intolerance, lack of stamina

Incidence and Prevalence 
 To date, there are no good studies of the population or birth incidence of Barth syndrome; however probably fewer than 10 new Barth infants are identified each year in the United States, which suggests an incidence of only 1 in every 300,000 – 400,000 births. Currently there are fewer than 500 individuals within our registry from around the world.

Ethnic Incidence 

Barth syndrome occurs in many different ethnic groups and does not appear to be more common or have originated in any one group.

Is there a cure for Barth syndrome?

There is no specific cure for Barth syndrome at this time, but the BSF is funding research for interested scientists and physicians in hopes to further their understanding of the metabolic and biochemical abnormalities seen in this disease.  

How do you treat Barth syndrome?

There are no specific treatments for Barth syndrome. Not all patients exhibit all of the symptoms at any one time, therefore heart symptoms, infections, and nutrition problems are treated as they arise. Careful attention and monitoring for symptoms is advised.

So now that you have a better understanding of what Barth is, just know that William is doing really well and his parents have been very proactive in finding his problem and getting him medical attention as needed. There is no cure YET but hopefully there will be one soon. But, for now, the family realizes that every moment with William is special. As it turns out, across the street from this family lives the aunt of Ben Jones. William's Mom attended UGA and so there was an instant connection there. Through the years, Ben has visited his aunt and this family met him on one of his previous visits. Ben suggested they come up for a visit when they had the chance and so this past Sunday, they paid him a visit. Below are a couple pictures of William with Ben and also Aaron Murray. William got to go to the practice fields-both outdoor, indoor, also the Butts-Mehre building. These two guys helped make a very special memory for a very special little boy. Unfortunately, in today's negative news society, stories like this rarely get reported so I thought today, as I got permission from William's parents, why not let my bloggers know that we have some fine young men representing our university.

 Tomorrow and Friday I will be previewing the Ole Miss game. Every game moving forward is a must win for our SEC chances and probably for Mark Richt's chances to remain our coach. I have to admit, I am a bit worried about this game just because Ole Miss is likely to come out fighting to save their coach as well. Hopefully our guys will be up to challenge. 

Taking care of bidness, next up OLD Miss

So UGA took control of Coastal Carolina early as they should, got plenty of new guys some playing time, didn't suffer any injuries that I am aware, a perfect day of football in Athens. I didn't listen to the game, only watched the first half yesterday on replay, honestly, those type games are just a bore to me. Don't get me wrong, I am glad we played that game to get a win, get some further playing time etc, but they are essentially like an NFL preseason game that actually does count.

From what little I did see of the game, looked like Murray played well, Crowell had a nice run for his TD but otherwise didn't do all that much which is fine. He showed his talent last week. The WR's looked good catching the ball, the D played well, any time you pitch a shutout playing a lot of reserves, good job. Walsh missed a FG but was bailed out by a penalty, hit a 56 yarder-nice.

Next up is Ole Miss, wow, you think Coach Richt is on a hot seat, what would you call Nutt's seat in Oxford after losing to Vandy 30-7 this past Saturday. Ole Miss is also 1-2 (0-1 in SEC) so this is a game that we need to win. I expect Miss to play MUCH better against us however. I will look at that program in a lot more detail later this week but needless to say, this is a team we should beat. One interesting note, since I live in Grayson and of course the incredible prospect Robert Nkemdiche plays at the high school, his older brother Denzel signed with Ole Miss in June, when he finally qualified. UGA offered him and he was interested but then never visited instead going to Oxford. I looked recently and noticed he was NOT listed on their roster at all. I am not sure what is going on there?? Going to try to find out. Speaking of Robert, attended the game this past Friday, it was youth night and my son and all the youth football players got to go on the field and make a tunnel for the players to run on the field. I will tell you this, the guy is OBVIOULSLY a star player but as the little guys stuck there hands out as the team hit the field Friday night, this mammoth kid made sure to give each kid five-didn't miss a single one and I was very impressed with that. Seems like a really humble young man and yeah, I know Bama leads for him or whatever (actually saw him recently wearing an Auburn hat) but this is the type of guy we need to get to Athens-enourmous talent and down to earth as well.

Just read a little bit on the Ole Miss board, WOW, they sound a lot like UGA over there. Like I say, I expect them to come to play Saturday. If we are not ready for this one, it could be scary. I am hoping our guys will be ready to go and get a conference win. Honestly, we can't afford another loss in conference. I think SCarolina will lose a game, maybe two games but I really think the east winner this year will have a 6-2 record, just a hunch for some strange reason.


ACC picked up Cuse and Pitt, good move for them especially in hoops. Course SEC is supposedly going to get A&M and then also rumor of WVa also. Pac 12 or whatever they are rumored to be getting Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. The SEC is likely headed to 16 teams as well. I will be curious to see if they go after a couple of ACC programs I feel like would be the perfect fit for the SEC, FSU and Clemson. Speaking of Clemson, great win for them against AU. I knew Auburn was living on borrowed time, just a matter of when the luck would finally run out. All for now, later this week I will take a closer look at Ole Miss.

Couple of notes for today

First of all, lot of interesting discussion on messages boards this week, many more in support of Richt and company this week than last week, when it seemed probably 95% of folks were posting fire Richt today. I think everyone is disappointed in the 0-2 start, but encouraged by the effort we witnessed Saturday night. The turnovers were bad but the kids fought hard, never gave up, kept on trying to win the game even when all seeemed lost after the Murray fumble. A team that fights to the finish, lays it all out on the field is going to win over the respect of the fans. If the coaches are to blame for everything negative that happens during a game, they should be given some credit for keeping the guys spirits up and having them fight to the finish.

The Ole Miss game is scheduled to kick off at 12:21 next weekend. Haney is happy about this, as it fits perfectly into my down time between kid activities on that particular week. I really want to see that game because that becomes the first in what I see as a stretch of must and should be wins. It is a road game yes but if we play like we did against SCarolina, minus the turnovers, I can't see us losing it. But, there is always a chance we don't give that type effort so I want to watch it close. As I have said, I am still evaluating Mark Richt and his staff about whether he comes back next year. I continue to think this is THE year to determine his fate and if he wins 8, he probably comes back, over 8 and he we will be back I feel sure.

We lost out on a recruit yesterday when Jordan Watkins, from Woodward Academy picked Stanford. I had thought UGA had a good shot when he narrowed his choices to us and Stanford-considering how far away that school is. Also, UGA does have a great journalism school-even better than when I was there. That being said, from my understanding Wakins Dad is a graduate of MIT. Ok so you know academics is very important to that family. IF so, great decision by the young man and I wish him the best. I think UGA is way above Stanford in football but Stanford is way above UGA in academics. A degree from Stanford is a nice ticket to a great job-not to say you can't get a great job with a UGA degree but just being honest here.

UGA hoops picked up a 3rd verbal pledge when Brandon Morris from Miller Grove said he would be signing in November. Morris is a 6'7" small forward that plays along with one of the best players in the nation Tony Parker. Unfortunately for us, looks like Parker is going to go out of state to play hoops. But, still Fox has done a good job with this VERY important class. With Morris, Kenny Gaines, and Charles Mann, Fox has put together probably one of the best classes UGA has had in hoops since maybe the early 2000's when we got Chris Daniels, Wright, and Thomas. Course also got the Hayes twins that had to sit out that first year. There is still one spot left, maybe two and Fox is really after Shaq Goodwin-the best player in the state but also a football prospect. We shall see if we can get him but all in all, I am quite happy with the recruiting efforts for Fox and company. Now we just need to see how the new pieces will fit together on the floor-of course also have the get the Caldwell-Pope situation resolved as he looks to be a key to our offense this year as a true FR.

As for Coastal Carolina this week, I am not going preview them because quite frankly, what is the use. This is a team we should handle easily and it should be over by halftime. I am just hopeful that first of all, we have NO injuries and secondly, we let a lot of young guys get a lot of snaps in this game. Sure it is not SEC level competition but is is always good to have guys getting snaps in games against opposition, in front of a big crowd. The game is NOT on TV, you can pay $30 for pay per view but otherwise, you must be in Athens to see the game. The weather is supposed to be pretty cool, high of around 75 and cloudy on Saturday. Unless it rains, that should make for a NICE day in Athens and we will finally get our first win of the 2011 season.

Moral victories don't count unfortunately, but improvement great from week 1 to 2

Yes, that was a TOUGH loss on Saturday. UGA dominated the stats except in the turnovers catergory. But, stats are for losers and we were losers on Saturday night, yet again. Finding ways to lose games rather than win games-Auburn sure knows how to find ways to win games. That being said, plenty to be encouraged about in the game so let's start with the positives first.

-Isaiah Crowell IS the real deal. He looked very good against a good SCarolina D. He also looked good catching the screen pass and making plays in that way. He still needs to work on his blitz pickup but no doubt he is our best back and should see the bulk of playing time moving forward.

-The young WR's were impressive. Mitchell looks really good to me, the two big plays by Michael Bennett were outstanding. The one catch with his finger tips, WOW. Also the TD catch was really nice. Wooten and King had good games, I feel more encouraged now about our receiving core than I did after game one.

-The OL played pretty decent overall, opened up big gaps for Crowell and Samuel to run, gave up only two sacks (the last one was HUGE of course) but did a much better job than against Boise, and SCarolina to me was a much more athletic DL than was Boise.

-Murray played well in spurts but is still too inconsistent. He had a great stretch after his INT but the INT was dreadful, as was the fumble where he could see the guy coming-it was not a blindside fumble. Gotta tuck the ball and take the sack there. Sometimes I think he tries too hard to make a big play instead of just taking the sack and playing the next down. Still, he did a pretty good job, he just needs to play a complete game against the quality opponent.

-the D overall played a solid game. The 4th quarter was not their best as Lattimore took over. SCarolina had the ball for over 9 minutes in the 4th quarter-that is ball control and us scoring VERY quickly. Still, they can't control the offensive turnovers and special teams plays which resulted in essentially 28 of South Carolina's 45 points.

Now the bad some of which I mentioned with the good.

-Crowell's fumble came at a crucial time, we were down by one point and driving. I think Murray didn't give him the best exchange but as a RB you have to adjust and get the ball.

-Murray's INT and fumble-both just bad plays. The INT looked like he never looked at anyone but Orson Charles, he threw it a little behind Charles and the DB made the easy read and score. The fumble, again, it was NOT his blindside, he had Clowney crashing on him with incredible speed, tuck the ball and take the sack. As I mentioned before, Murray is a playmaker and sometimes he tries too hard to make a play instead of just taking the sack or throwing the ball away. Stafford did the same type things-he thought his arm could rescue him at all times. Greene as a FR and Soph was different and that is why we did so well during his run at QB because he did not try to make plays that were not there.

-Playcalling, ok, so I thought playcalling was actually VERY good for the most part but early in the game, with a chance to really make a statement, we had to settle for FG's which leads to the next one.

-Special teams. Nothing againt Butler, he performed well but Walsh missing a chipshot really hurt us bad. Granted, as I said before, we should have been punching it in the endzone, still, you expect Walsh to make FG's-and this one was inside the 40. The Gamecocks had a FG kicker attempting his first of the year, first as a SCarolina player and he hits a 49 yarder right down the middle-flip those and we win the game. Of course you also had the fake punt-we have been burned on this time and time again. It is frustrating and I have even heard the coaches warned the players watch for the fake. For a 270lb guy to be able to run 70 yards against us, speaks volumes about that kid's speed as a DE, and our bad play there. You could clearly say South Carolina won the special teams for this game and honestly, special teams was an area that I wouldn't think anoyone on our schedule could or would beat us this year.

-the D making crucial stops. I can't fault the D overall but they could NOT make crucial stops when it mattered most. First, we were tied at 28 and they let SCarolina move down the field to kick the FG. Then we take the lead 35-31 and again, the D allows SCarolina to go 80 yards to take the lead. That is very frustrating because the D overall really played well, especially in creating two turnovers and having to play against two of the best skill players in America, Lattimore and Jeffrey. If SCarolina had a good QB, that offense would be nearly unstoppable. Much like our 2008 SHOULD have been with Stafford, Moreno, and AJ-along with MoMass. Wow, what offensive talent we had that year.

Next up is a game against Coastal Carolina. They are 2-0 after wins over Furman and Catawba. This should be a walk in the park after the first two weeks. Even though I know Richt and company will not do it, I would move Richard Samuel back to LB. Let him get snaps there, he practiced there all last year and during spring ball. His position, ILB, both starters are now out for the next 2-3 weeks. Crowell has proven to be the best back we have, Malcome, Thomas and Harton can certainly spell him for this week and even the next. I guess I just think, if Boykin can play mulitple postions, why can't Samuel, the guy is a 4th year junior. Spent two years at RB and is back there now. He knows it. He spent a year learning the D and a spring playing D, he knows it.Why not let him play some??? Just my two cents.

I think the jury is still out on the coaching staff. I am a HUGE Richt supporter and have said all along, I want to take this game by game before making my decision. What I saw Saturday convinced me that this team can be very good, however, they need to learn how to win again-learn to win the close games, have something go good for them to turn the ship around. The last highly successful year for Mark Richt-in 2007, we had two early losses, and were about to lose to Vandy before we had a huge strip from I believe Darryl Gamble as Vandy was inside our 10 or so in a tie game. We moved down and Coutu kicked the game winning FG. From there our season turned around with the big win in Jax and down the stretch. My point being, that team was very close to having a 3rd SEC loss and the season getting ugly-remember, Vandy had beat us the year before in Athens-that could have been two straight losses to Vandy. We made a play, found a way to win and then turned our season around. This season we need to turn this around, win this week, then go get a big road win in Oxford. IF we can get those two wins, the Miss State games sets up just like last year really. Miss State used the game against us to springboard into a strong season. I feel like that game can do that for us this year, assuming we win the next two. After that we get to go play on Rocky Top, a place that has been VERY unkind our last two trips. But, a team that we can beat, along with Vandy. IF, and this is a HUGE IF, we can win the next 5, we would sit at 5-2 heading for our bye week. In 2007, we were 5-2 headed to a bye week against UF. Not saying that is going to happen, just saying it is possible.

UGA Offense vs. SCarolina Defense

Before I give my take on this matchup, I just have to say, I have never seen so much venum in a fanbase after one game as I see with the UGA fans on the board I generally post on, Dawgpost. Look, I love UGA football more than I love one player or one coach. That being said, I also try to be a realist. Last week was a disaster in so many ways. Primarily because we had a losing season last year, the horrible performance/loss vs. Central Florida, the UGA faithful looked at the Boise game as a chance to move back in the right direction. They remembered the last time we played Boise, they had very little respect for the Broncos-I had respect for them but I think a lot of Georgia fans did not respect them at all, despite all their recent success against big name opponents. During the second half of the game, after halftime, it was pretty evident which team made adjustments. Then again, Boise had a QB that knows how to play the game, he is like a coach on the field. I suspect Aaron Murray is going to be a lot like Kellen Moore when he is a senior-assuming he has a decent OL blocking for him. Point being, they came out and took it to us and made some plays. We could not adjust or would not adjust. BUT, the players never quit and we did manage to get a little offense going late. I came away VERY frustrated and disappointed with the loss-both sides of the ball disappointed me greatly. The offense running the no huddle, I didn't get it. Nor did I get why we didn't run outside more often, didn't try any toss sweeps with Crowell, didn't get Mitchell more involved before the 4th quarter, tried throwing mid range passes instead of 5 yard dinks here and there to keep the chains moving. On D, why we didn't man up the WR's and try to disrupt their timing on passing plays, why we didn't send guys up the middle more often-the few times we came up the gut we forced bad throws. SO, yes, I was really bummed out. But, I realized it was only ONE game of this season and this season is NOT last season. Can it turn into last season, you bet it can. But, can we turn the season around in one week, no doubt about that. Everyone looks at SCarolina and thinks, there is no way we can beat a team like that after losing to Boise. I personally believe, Boise is a BETTER team than is South Carolina. Talent wise, maybe not but as a TEAM yes. This game provides our players and coaches a chance to basically tell the fans/media, KISS OUR A**!! I really hope they can walk off the field on Saturday night feeling like they have proved something to everyone that has doubted them this week. That being said, a loss this week is only going to fuel the fires that are already burning. I have said many times, I want to see how this season unfolds before I make a call on our head coach. I think 8-4 regular season is good enough for him to stay, I honestly do. But, if we start out 0-2 that certainly is going to put a lot of pressure on this team to win out or come close to that. With the UF game still lurking, along with a tough Miss State team, a game in Knox where we have been steamrolled the last two visits, a young but talented AU team, a game in Lexington which is historically never easy for us, even the Nerdy Insects can give us a battle, this game tomorrow is very critical.

The Gamecock defense is good, but I personally think they might be a tad bit overrated. People talking about this D being one of the top in the conference etc, well, let's just say ECU moved it on them pretty well. They do have some very explosive guys on their DL and a really good LB is Shaq Wilson, the secondary to me is very suspect and I would imagine that if TKing can catch the ball this week, he can have a big game, as well as Brown and Mitchell-who I would look to get involved early instead of late this week. The OL will have their hands full trying to block some of these guys, they at times will insert a "panther" package which means all DL are DE's, and SCarolina has some excellent defensive ends. I still think the fact Boise had so much experience on their DL, this DL will not be any better than what we faced last Saturday. If I am Mike Bobo, I would look to throw early, short passes, mix in a deep throw. I would also look to use some draw plays as when those DE's are on the field, they are interested in pushing upfield in a hurry trying to get pressure on the QB. I think we can move the ball on this defense but we are going to have to be more creative and less predictable, which is a common complaint with Bobo calling plays. I do think Murray will be more focused this week, he will be ready to go and I feel like our WR's are going to play MUCH better this week. Orson Charles is going to be a big nightmare for Carolina trying to cover him, look for him to have another big game. Here are the projected starters for SCarolina, I believe Clowney IS starting so I will list him that way.

DE-Devin Taylor 6-7 260 JR
DE-Jadeveon Clowney 6-6 254 FR or Melvin Ingram 6-2 276 SR
DT-Travian Robertson 6-4 303 SR
DT-Aldrick Fordham 6-3 274 JR
LB-Shaq Wilson 5-11 223 SR
LB-Reginald Bowens 6-2 248 JR
CB-Stephon Gilmore 6-1 193 JR
CB-CC Whitlock 5-10 178 SR
S-DJ Swearinger 5-10 208 JR
S-Antonio Allen 6-2 202 SR
S-Jimmy Legree 5-11 185 Soph

Just reading the SCarolina front page on rivals, seems weird to read stuff like SCarolina SHOULD win the game, SCarolina has MORE talent than UGA??? I am sorry but I just don't believe they have MORE talent, you could make a case they have pretty equal talent but more talent-not so sure about that. But, bottom line is SCarolina is favored in Athens for the first time since I can remember. They do have more experienced and talented players at RB and WR. We don't have a Lattimore or Jeffrey. They have a SR QB that has played well against us. They have stingy D and a good defensive coordinator. I can get where the Gamecocks are feeling very confident going into this game. I will counter with this. As good as SCarolina was last year in winning the east, they were only 5-3 in conference, they still didn't win 10 games. They dominated the game with us last year, I have already given those stats earlier in the week YET we had the ball inside the 5 when Ealey fumbled, the score at the time, 14-6 and that was in the 3rd quarter. SCarolina kicked a FG late in the game to finally ice it. All of that at home, with a crowd behind them and going crazy, we had no AJ Green, we had a redshirt FR playing his first road game of his career. I guess the point I am trying to make, last year was the PERFECT storm for them against us and yet the game was on the line late.

I expect another game that is close and don't see either team blowing the other out. I think we will play much better this week and I suspect Carolina will as well. I think we will win this game, some will call me crazy but I really do think we will win. This has the makings of the UGA/UT game back in 2007 in Knoxville, we were favored going to Knoxville, Fulmer was on his way out, the Vols played inspired football and beat the daylights out of us that day. Maybe that doesn't happen for us but don't be surprised if we don't pull this game out. I say UGA 21 SCarolina 17.

UGA Defense against SCarolina Offense

This offense is less diverse than Boise but can be every bit as good, Garcia is no Kellen Moore but Boise didn't have any RB's or WR's that could come close to matching Lattimore or Jeffrey. So, let's just go ahead and say it, we have our hands full. To top that off, driving the bus is none other than the evil genius, Steve Spurrier who has made a coaching career out of beating us. I guess since he took over at SCarolina, we have beaten him 4 out of 6 times, but the last 4 it is 2-2. Plain and simple, the guy knows how to win college football games, he is now recruiting better and better talent to Columbia, the future is pretty bright for the Gamecocks-although I don't think Steve hangs around for more than another 2-3 years-just my opinion.

SCarolina last year basically ran just a few plays against us out of the same formation. We never slowed it down so they never changed what they were doing. Shotgun formation-one back being Lattimore. Garcia runs the spread option essentially, if we crash our end to stop Lattimore, he keeps the ball and runs with it. Every so often, he fakes the handoff and throws to Jeffrey. Last year, we simply couldn't stop Lattimore. The stats don't lie, it was UGLY. SCarolina 23 first downs to our 11. SC with 354 total yards to our 253. Lattimore with 37 carries for 187 yards, Garcia very efficient throwing the ball-12 of 17 for 165 yards, Jeffrey 7 receptions for 103 yards. SCarolina completely in control of time of possession, 35:15 to 24:45. Perhaps the stat I remember the most, 3rd down conversions, SC was 9 of 14.


Lets look at the starting Offense for the Gamecocks.

OT-Kyle Nunn 6-6 295 SR
OT-Rokevious Watkins 6-4 340 SR
OG-AJ Cann 6-3 299 FR
OG-Terrence Campbell 6-3 296 SR
C-TJ Johnson 6-5 316 JR
TE-Justice Cunningham 6-3 265 JR
WR-Ashlon Jeffrey 6-4 229 JR
WR-DL Moore 6-4 203 JR
WR-Jason Barnes 6-4 214 SR or Ace Sanders 5-7 175 Soph
RB-Marcus Lattimore 6-0 232 Soph
QB-Stephen Garcia 6-2 232 SR

They certainly are a bigger more physical line than was Boise but maybe they are not as good-we shall see. For years a weakness for the Cocks was the OL, last year they appeared much improved but was that the line or just having such a great back in Lattimore. I seem to remember the UGA OL was a LOT better when Moreno was running for us. You notice the size of the Carolina WR's, they have 3 guys at 6-4 but no question Jeffrey is the main target. The main goal for our offense should be to stop Lattimore at the LOS, do not allow him to break the first level of tackling. If he does that, as he did last year, we are likely to get shredded yet again. I would NOT be surprised in the least to see Spurrier come out throwing the football to try to spread us out a bit and open things up for the running game. NO doubt all our D players have been hearing this week is about what Lattimore did to us, I have a feeling early on, Jeffrey is going to be a big factor or maybe one of their less known WR's. Keep an eye on Ace Sanders, small but QUICK and makes plays when he is in the lineup. I still say our best bet is try to take away the run game and hope our secondary can cover man. I look for Jarvis Jones to once again be a big force this week, along with Geathers/Jenkins. They gashed us up the middle last year with Tyson trying to play the nose, I suspect Geathers and Jenkins play will have a big impact on how well we slow down the run game. We need Cornelius Washington to also step up, along with Christian Robinson and whoever ends up taking "Tree's" spot in the middle. I also look for Sanders Commings to try his best to cover Jeffrey. He is really the only guy we have that is close to Jeffrey in stature, he is big and he has enough speed to hang with him.

SCarolina no doubt is going to look at the Boise film and notice a few things, we did a decent job stopping the run but give up a lot of cushion to WR's, also the middle of the field last week was wide open. If their TE is halfway decent, I suspect they will try to drag him across the middle, they had huge success against us two years ago with the big TE Saunders catching a ton of passes against us. I suspect Spurrier is going to be a bit more balanced with his offense than he was last year, but then again, if we still can't stop the run, expect him to keep going to it. While I don't think Garcia is in the same category as Moore from Boise, he has played well against UGA during his career. I already mentioned last year, a very efficient day, he did have a fumble when he was sacked but otherwise, managed the game very well. Two years ago, in a rare offensive shootout in the UGA-SC series, Garcia was 31-53 for 313 yards, 2 TD's and one INT. He was a Rennie Curran fingertip away from leading SCarolina to a win against us in the final seconds. My point being, this kid has played well two years in a row against us, I expect him to have another good game this year. If we can't play solid D this week, I fully expect another result much like last week against Boise. Let's face it, with our offense, especially early this season, the D is going to have play some good football. Of course now we are missing perhaps our best overall defensive player in Ogletree, but this is where Grantham sure needs to earn his money. Last year it was pretty embarrassing and last week mirrored that to be honest, as it just appears Grantham is NOT the master or adjustments like we all hoped, he is not proving to be the next Van Gorder to this point. Let's just hope that he has our D well prepared and we can get off the field this year, unlike last year. It all starts with tackling and swarming on defense. I saw some of that last week and we actually didn't do a bad job against the Boise run. That being said, to me SCarolina is a MUCH better running football team than is Boise, and Lattimore is a far better back than anything Boise threw at us. This is going to be a TOUGH task on Saturday. Are we up to that challenge, we shall see.

Ok so maybe our team treated Boise as a preseason game??

I have read and heard folks talking about how Coach Richt and some players were so calm after the loss to Boise, how they just seem to sort of laugh it off. Of course the Rambo suspension really irritated media members because Richt laughed about that after the game, as if to say, "got you". Perhaps, maybe Richt was amazed that media members were still asking so much about Rambo after the loss-like, guys, really, you want to talk about a player that sat out of the game as much as you want to talk about the game we just played-now that is pretty funny. To me it is a bit humorous because the media today are all so interested in getting all the facts-breaking the story, they can't stand when they are the last to know-it makes them mad. For that, I say congrats to Mark Richt for being able to keep a secret. Back to my theory, perhaps, our team treated Boise as an NFL preseason game. Non conference, quality opponent but who cares if we win or lose-this game is all about preparing for what DOES matter, our SEC schedule. Ok, that is a bit of a stretch but certainly many, including myself, are still trying to figure out what is going on within the UGA football program. How can you prepare for a team for months, put together plans and they go so horribly wrong. To me, Boise 2011 was every much the same as Boise of 2010 so not like they changed anything. I guess we just all bought into the hype that this year was to be different. And, truth be told, it still can be. But, certainly the start of 2011 for us looks way too much like 2010 for us to have much confidence any change will happen. Which leads to the question, when was the last time a UGA team looked really dominant? I would have to say the Hawaii Sugar Bowl game. In the 2008 season, we had the preseason #1 team but did they ever really play like a #1 team-not that I remember. I continue to trace the fall of our program back to the celebration in Jacksonville. You could say, yeah but we went on to run the table and were ranked #2 in the nation at the end of the year. Yeah, that is true but what really good came of that? We all were ticked off that we got bumped out of playing for a title by LSU, we could have played LSU for the SEC title but down the stretch, UT won some very ugly games-maybe that was karma in play working against us. Then, with a #1 ranking and SI cover in 2008, we lost 3 games-including to Georgia Tech and two drubbings by UF and Bama-who, by the way, played that year and the next for SEC and National titles. Thing about the Jacksonville dance, it was NOT needed. We would have won that game regardless of that celebration-that was our day. I don't know, I know it sounds stupid to say but I really think that day in Jax is the day our program started to fall apart. All the off the field issues, the feeling of entitlement, the dancing on the sidelines, again, kind like the inmates running the asylum. I am pulling like crazy for Coach Richt to right the ship and lead us until he retires but the more and more I watch, the less hopeful I am that he can turn the ship back around. I will say however, until I know he is gone, I WILL NOT be talking about potential replacements.

Something that continues to bother me about our coaches, the lack of adjustments made DURING the game. I just read this morning that all our OL issues are correctable and have been taken care of already this week. Could we have not made some adjustments at the half, I am thinking maybe we did but maybe we couldn't and if that is the case, why not? Same goes for the D, we never adjusted in the second half to what Boise was doing-it was VERY clear Boise made adjustments at halftime-they took off just after the intermission. I can just remember Van Gorder was the master of in game and especially half time adjustments. I guess that is why he is now a DC in the NFL. Last year against SCarolina, they ran the same basic 2-3 plays the entire game and we NEVER could stop it. Boise was running the same stuff over and over and we couldn't stop it?? Is that players or is that coaching? I lean to coaching. Back to the offense, I mentioned before, why no huddle against a team like Boise-a quick strike, high scoring offense?? Seems to me you try to shorten the game-run the ball, ball control passing-short passes, basically just move the chains. Even if the no huddle works and you score, it still gives your D less time on the sidelines to rest. The objective is to keep the Boise offense off the field.

Rambo is back this week after sitting out a one game suspension for breaking a team rule. Carlton Thomas is also back, also sitting out one game for violating a team rule. As I mentioned before, Richt was a bit giddy that he kept the Rambo suspension from the press?? But, I do have to wonder why one kid's suspension was announced and known before the game, the other waited until after the game-that makes little sense to me. Also, Ray Drew should see his first PT this week. As for replacing Ogletree, looks like Sulek, Herrera and maybe Mike Gilliard. I still would love to see Jarvis Jones moved there simply because we have more depth at the OLB position but apparently that will not happen. So much for getting your best 11 on the field I guess.

Redshirt watch-the following true FR DID play against Boise-Crowell, Mitchell, Marshall, Harrow, Herrera, Moore and Sanders. I thought Swann also played but not 100% sure about that. Of course Drew did not and neither did the two potential OL kids. Also John Jenkins played and he was part of the 2011 signing class-so 8 so far have played.  The interesting decisions will be about whether any of the other WR's play-Conley, Seay, Scott-Wesley, and then if Jay Rome plays as well. I think Ramik Wilson will play at LB. So, if I were to guess right now, out of 23 that ended up in Athens out of the Dream team class, I am going to say 14 will play. My list includes those listed above that already have played, Drew, Wilson, Swann, Rome, Dantzler and Andrews.

 I must admit, I was NOT a fan of having GEORGIA instead of last names with so many new players. I look forward to our traditional uniforms for this Saturday. There will also be a new scoreboard on display which I am sure the fans attending will really enjoy. Tomorrow and Friday I will do my best to try to break down the South Carolina Gamecocks. They will enter Sanford Stadium a favorite to win for the first time in who knows how many years-considering our recent struggles and SCarolina being the SECe favorites makes a lot of sense to me. Gone are the days where Haney feels confident about winning games in Sanford, heck, I am getting to the point where losses don't bother me as much as they used to. But, I attribute that to my kids and my life really. UGA sports, and particuarly UGA football is what I am most passionate about in my life-besides my family. SO, I do get excited/nervous every Saturday but nowadays, as my son plays football and I help coach, my daughter cheers, I have become further removed from UGA football. Last year, my son was playing fall baseball and I missed a ton of games on TV-did listen on radio. I will miss probably the first half of Saturday's game due to watching my daughter cheer. I guess my point in putting all my personal business on my blog, remember when watching UGA games, there are MANY things far more important in life than a Georgia football game and the results of that game. I want my school to win just as much as anyone but I think over the past couple years, I have realized that the sun does rise after a loss. The world moves on after a loss etc. I suggest those that let football games bring you down, find other hobbies to go along with your football watching, don't let it consume you. Even in the good times, don't let it consume you. One thing all fans know, you are going to have good times as a fan and you will have bad times. There is not a single program that I can think of that has not had some bad times in my lifetime. It is going to happen, so just take the good with the bad. Enjoy watching and support UGA, good times and bad. Let our adminstrators do their jobs, if they think changes need to be made, THEY will make them. All we can do is support our team, voice our concerns yes, but support our school. Ok, off my soapbox.

Biggest concerns moving forward this year

Ok, so another day after the disaster in the dome, I am left to think about where our team stands right now. We have a head coach that everyone respects so much as a man, but as a football coach, he is taking a big hit. A bigger hit that that, Coach Grantham, the guy we are paying 750K a year to bring back the Erk/Van Gorder style of defense, still waiting coach. The guy taking the MOST heat though has to be Mike Bobo. Perhaps because he is the only coordinator that has survived the last couple years. Fact remains, the offense did not produce on Saturday night. Part of that can be directed at the job Boise did, especially the DL. Part of it was the play calling, no huddle against an experienced D that also just happens to have one of the best offenses in the country waiting to take the field again when we go 3 and out. How do you shorten a game against a team you know can score, you huddle, you run the ball or you try some short passes-over the middle, screen passes, there are various ways to move the ball besides running between the tackles and running deep routes that require you obviously outmatched OL and RB's to protect the QB long enough for him to find the open WR.

Speaking of the OL, wow, just not a good effort. Couldn't give our backs any space, couldn't protect Murray, thing is, we have NO ONE that can come in to replace the guys we have. I expected more out of Ben Jones and Cordy Glenn at least. Anderson, well, this was his first game back at OT so I give him more slack, but Burnette and Gates didn't do well at the guards either. Course Bobo insisted on running inside the tackles, I think Crowell's longest run came to the outside. Also, Boykin of course had his run around the outside with a great block from Figgins. Boykin never came back into the game, nor did Branden Smith, we had no wild dog formation. I never noticed a two tight end set to help with our pass protection or run blocking. It took until the 4th quarter to throw a pass to Mithchell, who by the way, appears to be our most gifted WR. Tavarres, well, let's just hope he got his one bad game out of the way early. That is NOT what I expected out of our #1 WR. I guess besides our OL getting dominated, I just thought our best bet was to get our WR's/TE's/RB's on the edge, let them use their abililty to make some plays, break tackles etc. But, we seemed convinced we could have success up the middle.

As for the D, I continue to be disappointed with Grantham's style of defense. I personally believe we have some physical corners and yet we never come up and man up the WR's, bump them off the line to throw off the timing of the play. Also, I was really excited when he arrived talking about bringing the blitz-you never know where it will be coming from, we will be able to disguise our blitz packages etc etc. Maybe it is just me but we rarely blitz, we never bring safeties, the few times we were able to bring some pressure up the middle, Moore threw an UGLY INT and the other time had to throw the ball away. To me, the best way to play a QB like Moore, who has such a quick release and the pass plays are based on timing and execution, play tight coverage and bring the heat. I know losing Ogletree was a big blow to our D but I would have immediately moved Jarvis Jone to middle backer-the position he has said HE feels the most comfortable playing, and then put Ray Drew, Chase Vasser or TJ Stripling in the game on the outside. I HOPE that is what happens this week. Eventually I would like to see Tree and JJ playing inside, Washington and Drew playing outside. Nothing against Christian Robinson but I personally believe that 4some is our best. Drew didn't even see the field against Boise-yet a walkon Sulek played most of the second half. I just don't get that and I think a lot of the UGA faithful don't get it either. Yes, the kid is a SR and knows where to go and what to do but he does not have the talent/ability of our younger guys.

My early look at SCarolina, they have Marcus Lattimore-need I say more. Seriously, they beat East Carolina 56-37. You could say, well yeah but ECU turned it over 5 times. Yes, that is true but SCarolina turned it over 4 times. The QB play for SCarolina was pretty sloppy, with Garcia (who didn't start) going 7-15 for 110 yards 1TD while Connor Shaw was 3 of 9 for 21 yards. Lattimore had 23 carries for 112 yards and 3 TD's. Garcia and Shaw combined to rush for 82 yards with Garcia scoring 2 TD's rushing. Pretty evident looking at that, same formation we saw last year. QB in the gun, either hand off to Lattimore of fake the handoff and QB keeps it for big yardage as everyone keys on Lattimore. Ashlon Jeffrey only had 5 catches but those went for 92 yards.  East Carolina threw for 260 yards on 56 attempts-obviously a lot of dink and dunk stuff. South Carolina scored one TD on a fumble recovery/run for a TD as well as a punt return. Bottom line, unlike most years where we come into the SCarolina game fresh off a big win but not knowing much about our team, this year is obviously different. In a lot of ways, this is a role reversal game. So many times we have come into this game almost expected an easy win over SCarolina, only to see them play inspired football and we either win a nail biter or lose. This year, I feel like SCarolina might very well come in overconfident. Yes, they didn't look great against ECU, but they are the defending SECe champs, they watched us get whipped by Boise, I feel sure they are very confident. Let's just hope somehow, someway our guys show up ready to play and play the game of their lives. Win this game and the loss to Boise is a lot easier to take. The REAL season starts this Saturday.

As Spurrier would say, "Boise is just better than us, the day belongs to the Broncos"

As disappointed as I was watching our opening game last night, I think perhaps I am more disappointed in the aftermath of the game. From the fans reportedly leaving early in the fourth quarter, to the immediate fire Coach Richt posts, to throwing cups from the upper deck down on UGA fans below, to the tweets to players about how bad they are etc etc, absolutely pathetic. We are ONE game into the season folks, and as disappointed as I was last night and continue to be, I also have to report I am VERY impressed with Boise State. They were without question the better team last night. They played better, they coached better, they were simply BETTER and we need to recognize that and move on. That being said, I do have some observations about the game, both negative and positive.

First of all, as I said last week, I believe we should defer in a game like that. Greater chance for early D success with the hype and noise in the dome. Instead we take the ball and have immediate penalties-false starts on our offense-here we thought the noise would impact Boise!! Those early penatlies set the tone for the first half really-UGA with POOR field position the entire first half. A credit to Boise both on defense and special teams. Also our inability to do ANYTHING offensively save an 80 yard brilliant run by Brandon Boykin. The D actually didn't do that badly in the first half. We gave up 7 points, forced an INT, only to see our QB throw an INT to set up the second Boise TD (our FR running back whiffed on a crucial block there). Of course much is made of Richt deciding to go for it 4th and 1 instead of kicking what likely would have been a fairly resonable 40-45 range field goal. I think this decision was the direct result of how much grief he took for NOT going for it in the Liberty Bowl. As it turned out, someone missed a block and we had no chance at the 1st down. I believe we should have kicked it but it is easy to say that now of course. That being said, again, the D did a pretty decent job holding down the Boise O, 14-7 at the half despite our offense basically doing nothing.

The second half, it was very apparent which side made adjustments. Boise came out firing in the second half and we never really threatened. We could not get pressure on Moore-we didn't seem to come often with a blitz and when we did, it was not disguised well and/or Boise was flat prepared to handle it. They did a MUCH better job the entire game of protecting their QB, unlike the dreadful performance of the UGA offensive line. When it got to be 28-7, we all knew it was pretty much over. To the credit of our offense, we made a few nice throws/catches and scored a couple TD's but after cutting it to 35-21, we could never get closer and our D could simply not get the ball back/make key stops when they needed to-sounds eerily like 2010 to me.

All that being said, there are some positives to take from this game. Crowell looked decent-he just needs to be used outside as much or more than inside the tackles. Orson Charles is a great weapon, Mitchell looked good late catching the ball-appears as adverstised. Marlon Brown had a couple nice catches and runs after the catch. On the flipside, Tavarres King had a dreadful night, he did not give many confidence he can step into the huge void left by AJ and Kris in our offense. On defense, I thought Jarvis Jones played really well. Christian Robinson led the way with 13 tackles but I was much more impressed with Jones-note to Jones and Crowell, please figure out a way to keep your helmet strapped on. None of my business but I am not a fan of the dreds. I thought Branden Smith, Shawn Williams, Boykin, all played well.

I did not think our OL or DL played well at all. Boise completely controlled both lines of scrimmage which is not a good sign looking ahead. Simply put, we must get better on both lines or this is going to be a long season and we will be looking for a new coach very soon. I was not impressed with our gameplan on offense or defense. We had all spring and summer to prepare for this game and it was clearly obvious which team was the better prepared. That is of course a really big concern as we move forward.

On the injury front, we lost "Tree" for 4-6 weeks. We had a walkon, Sulek playing the bulk of snaps for us at middle linebacker. No offense to this kid but there is NO WAY you can tell me he is the best we got. I am hopeful during this week of practice, they evaluate our healthy players and do indeed get our best 11 on the filed. If that means moving Jarvis back to the middle, I am all for it as that guy is a player and looks to me to be a great middle LB. Put Vasser, Stripling or even Drew at OLB, to me better options than the walkon. Surely that is going to happen. Other than Ogletree, no other injuries are serious. Amazing though, Samuel was going to back up Tree, then King flunks out and Samuel moves to RB, now Tree is hurt. Samuel would be starting at LB for us next week. We need him at both positions now, but I am still not sold on him at RB. Amazing how our depth shakes out so badly at certain positions. 

Next up is perhaps the most critical game of the Mark Richt era. As bad as the Boise loss was in many ways, it was not an SEC opponent and Boise could very well end up being the best team we play this year. I know for sure that is the best QB we will face this year. SO, now comes the old ball coach and his confident bunch of Gamecocks. They gave up a bunch of points to East Carolina but scored a bunch as well. They feature probably the best RB we will face all year and the best WR we will face all year. Put those two kids on Boise with Kellen Moore, WOW. As I say though, this game provides the team a very quick way to redeem themselves against the defending SECe champs. The game is at home, they beat us in a close one last year, our guys should be ready to play outstanding football. Key word SHOULD. Spurrier has South Carolina at a level they have never been before. SECe champs and favored to do the same again this year. IF we can find a way to win this game, suddenly the Boise loss is not such a sour spot. Suddenly we are looking at our schedule and comparing it the rest of the SECe. We could win the game and still easily lose the division title but certainly a win in this game give us the early edge. I am not ready to break down the game just yet but let me just say, I still believe in Coach Richt, and still believe in our players. I will still be a loyal UGA fan regardless of how this season plays out. I will always respect and admire Coach Richt regardless of what plays out this year and the future. All that being said, we are now 14-13 in our last 27 games folks and something has GOT to change. I love UGA more than any one coach or player. I know I am biased but I really do believe our school/football progam should be in the top 10-15 EVERY year, if not higher. 8-5 and then 6-7, that simply can't continue and I feel sure it will not continue or else Coach Richt and company will be gone after this year. Until we are clearly out to hire a new coach, I will not throw out my potential candidates and I think fans that do that right now are not true fans. We have an AD in place now that knows what the heck he is doing. I trust that he will make the correct decision when the time comes. In the meantime, I am going to root for our coaches and playear, say a prayer for them and wish the best. I personally believe there are far more loyal UGA fans like me than like the kind that are already calling for Richt to get fired. I read one that said, even if Richt runs the table this year, he still wants him out. WOW.

Next Saturday is HUGE and I really think we are going to see our guys give a great effort. Will that be enough to beat SCarolina, I sure hope so but we shall see. Hope everyone enjoys Labor Day, should be a time to relax and rest up with all the rain. We in GA need some rain so not all bad.

UGA gets #13 for class of 2012, final thoughts on Boise

So, my sources were correct, UGA did indeed pick a verbal pledge from John Atkins, the DL from Thomson, Ga. In case you were wondering as I was, Thomson is 60 miles from Athens, assuming south but have never heard of it myself. This kid has played a lot of spots in HS, is very athletic and also plays goalie on the soccer team. He is 6'3" and 294 in HS, many project he will be a NT in college. Great pickup as everyone always says, games are won or lost on the line of scrimmage.

I watched another kid a little bit last night, Blake Tibbs from MLK, as they took on my wife's alma mater South Gwinnett. I got to know South's head coach within the last year, SUPER guy, John Small and heard they were on TV last night, so I flipped over. The game was basically over but they showed highlights and Tibbs scored 4 TD's on the night. He took a reverse 71 yards, kid looks like he can fly as two SG defenders have the angle on him and blew past them. Of course Tibbs has said UGA is his dream school, he would likely commit if the school offered-that offer happened recently but he still has not committed yet. He looks like a good looking prospect. Course UGA is also after his teammate, Kenderius Whitehead, a DE from MLK who has recently said UGA is his leader at this time. I will have to check with my sources on these two kids but they have already said, another DL, Jordan Watkins from Woodward Academy will be heading to UGA. Seems this class is chugging right along. A solid/good year on the field for us in 2011, the class will add some studs at the end to make it another great class. 2013 class has a chance to be even better than the Dream team class of 2011.


Ok, so my final thoughts on the game Saturday. I personally believe UGA is going to win this game. Why, well, I just have a hunch more than anything. I have a LOT of respect for Boise, in fact, I think they are worthy at this moment of being a top 5 team. They are experienced, they have a great college QB who knows how to win, they have a very clever and good head coach. I continue to say, the first quarter is going to be big in this game. We can't afford to dig an early hole because then it could have a mental aspect for both teams. Boise is used to coming out strong, they expect it. UGA needs to come out strong and hit them hard, keep the crowd really into the game. If I am UGA, I defer until the second half and go out on D and try to force a 3 and out. The place is going to be jacked up, why not go on D first. I think if Boise wins the toss, they will take the ball so hopefully if we win the toss, we defer. Boise is an experienced team in most regards but they are not without some weaknesses at KEY positions. Their secondary on D is experienced in class but several guys will be starting for the first time. On offense, the WR's are likewise not used to starting.

Much has been made about the Boise run defense, and while I think they are good, we still have to remember, who they have played and how the game has played out. If your get down early by 21 points, you are not going to run the ball very much. Not to mention, if you are playing against offenses that don't have the OL or skill players to challenge you, it makes your job a lot easier. Someone on the UGA message boards posted something interesting the other day. Think back to the national title game. Going in, both teams really had VERY high powered offenses. Oregon actually probably had the higher thought of D, as AU gave up a lot of points and yardage to many teams they faced last year. In the bowl game, after a month to prepare, you saw BOTH defenses play well. But, thing is, the AU D was NOT very good last year and yet they were able to really shut down the high flying Oregon offense. Now, this is not to suggest I think our D will shut down Boise, but to me it suggest that when teams play against upper level SEC talent, they are not used to seeing the size, speed and strength our conference has across the board on the lines of scrimmage. I think that is why you see SEC teams in national title games dominating on defense-teams in other conferences are just not used to the speed of the SEC and then our guys also have the size/strength to go along with it.

Another big edge for UGA is special teams. We all know about Boykin sending a tweet out to the Boise coach saying to kick to him. We have great return threats at kickoff and punt return. We have the best set of kickers in the nation. Now, Boise did block a VT punt last year early in that game, which considering the fact VT is typically considered a team that dominates special teams, that was a shock. But still, we SHOULD have a huge advantage in special teams-which of course is 1/3 of the game.

Both teams come in very motivated for this game, I can't give that advantage to one side or another. I guess I just believe that UGA has more talent and can do enough to win this game. Call me a homer but hey, this is a UGA blog afterall.

My final score prediction is UGA 31-Boise 24.