UGA vs. UK (short) Preview and Predictions

Better late than never. Georgia looks to keep rolling with a win in Lexington tonight. The Cats should prove to be a formidable foe this weekend and will not be the pushover Kentucky of years past. Randall Cobb is nasty and could give the Dawgs D fits. While on the subject of the Dawgs D, Grantham's squad will have a chance to prove to the Bulldog Nation that his 3-4 can and will work. I think the change has been for the better but, this will be more of a challenge for the D than Vandy, La-La, and Tennessee-this is the game to prove that the D can dominate against a good team. It will also be HUGE if the Georgia Defense can leave this weekend and head into next weekend with a bunch of confidence. Lets hope the beards keep growing as the Dawgs keep winning the turnover battle-and win the game. Short post, however, note the new Score Predictions.

Chuck D: Dawgs over the Cats, 42-24
Will D: Dawgs over the Kittens 34-21

Isn't that convenient....?

Once again Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators will have an extra week to prepare for the showdown with Georgia. Not surprisingly Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators will also be able to prepare a gameplan that includes Chris Rainey. Recall that Rainey was kicked off the team earlier this year for telling a woman via text that it was "Time to Die". Well everyone should be pleased to know that Rainey was able to rejoin the team conditioned on his serving a 4 game suspension (note that AJ Green served a 4 game suspension for selling a game worn jersey to an individual who insists he was/is not an agent). As you may have guessed by the title of this post, Rainey's suspension will conveniently be completed by the time the Gators suit up against the Dawgs. I can't believe Meyer may let Rainey play. Actually, that is not true; I can ABSOLUTELY believe that Meyer will let Rainey play against Georgia because Meyer is a conniving, crybaby, snake. As always, I want the Dawgs to take the Gators behind the wood shed and whoop 'em come the end of October. But for now Georgia has to play what is sure to be a difficult game against the Kentucky Wildcats. I expect a let down game from the Cats coming off of their big win last weekend-whether or not CMR and the team will be able to take advantage of it is another story.

Urban Cryer

Can you believe Ms. State just beat Florida with a balanced second half attack of 25 runs to 1 pass. They were basically playing to lose and handing Florida the game yet, Florida didn't take advantage and lost one of the worst games in Urban's tenure.

There is nothing I like more than seeing Urban Meyer with his head in his hands at the end of game. I think Urban is the biggest baby in all of sports. "Oh no I lost three games in a row Wah Wah!" I might not like Mark Richt all the time, but I guarantee he wouldn't show his ass like that out on the field.

On another non UGA related note. I watched a little bit of the OSU vs WI game and I honestly believe we could beat both those teams. The Big 10 has slow players and the conference is so overrated.

Win #1 for Big Bad Bruce

Another great game today for UGA. I know a lot of people will say that it was just Vanderbilt, but that is the same Vanderbilt that has beat us within the last three years. We went out and took care of business exactly like I would expect Georgia to do.

Aaron Murray is the real deal. He has quietly compiled quite an impressive season up to this point. His stat line reads 1366 yds, 10 TD, and 3 Int. The 2-3 skinny posts he threw over the middle could not have been thrown any better. I was thinking today that he might be in the running for freshman of the year, but of course we will have to improve our record. Another thought concerning Murray is Chrsitian Lemay. If Lemay sees our freshman QB playing well will he still be willing to commit to Georgia knowing he won’t play for three years. Just an interesting thought to think about.

I know Ealey went over 100 yds, but it still looked liked he missed a lot of holes and doesn’t run North-South enough.

On the defensive side of the ball I also thought we looked good. I loved to see Grantham fired up and yelling at our players even when the score was 35-0. I like how Alec Ogletree looked and I am starting to think he should see some more playing time. I know Rambo and Boykin are supposed to be the two best players in the secondary, but it seems that they are the two who are always getting burned. I think they are trying to be heroes instead of staying in their spots.

I know this is crazy talk, but if we win out and USC loses to Florida and Arkansas we are on our way to Atlanta.

There's a new Dawg in town

Uga VIII - "Big Bad Bruce"

Move over Russ, there is a new Dawg in Athens! Russ you were a good interim mascot but it is time for new blood. Uga VIII (registered name "Big Bad Bruce") will become UGA's new Uga this weekend during the Vandy game. Here is the link to the AJC's article on the New One.

AJC on new Uga

The Potential Affect of Arrests on Recruiting

  By now everyone has realized that the Georgia Football team has some discipline issues. I believe the most recent count was at 11 arrests for the team this year. The short term affect on the team is apparent; arrests link to suspensions, which often equal loss of talent on the field. What may not be so apparent is the potential affect the slew of arrests could on recruiting. My theory isn't backup by science or studies (although there are probably some out there) but I think it is pretty logical and realistic.
  It is public knowledge that pressure is on from President Adams (who, for the record, is not held in high regard by this blog) for CMR to clean up the program. I speculate that this pressure will not subside after the season ends. While CMR already has next year's recruiting class established in terms of who is high on the list, there is potential for the long term affect of this year's arrests could start surfacing a year from now when the 2012 recruiting class is being assembled. Why? CMR and the recruiting staff will be pressured to evaluate potential recruits' character more heavily than years past. This is where there is likely some study comes into play: more talented players tend to have less character/more behavioral issues. This means that overall talent will be decreased, but overall good behavior will increase (good behavior doesn't really win games, but neither does being suspended). Follow?
  Additionally, and this could come into play as soon as this recruiting period, parents and guardians of potential recruits will require extra assurance that their children will be in good hands. I am sure that over the years CMR has snagged some prized recruits because the recruit's parents felt CMR was a good, church-goin' man who would watch out for the kid and keep him out of trouble. The recent rash of arrests, and increase of arrests over the past several years will likely diminish this "comfort level" parents have with Richt. So not only is there potential to lose talented but troubled recruits as a result of administrative pressure, there is also potential to lose out on talented and high-character recruits due to a lack of faith in CMR's ability to watch out for the players.
  President Adams isn't above getting his slimy scales into Athletic Association affairs, our new AD and CMR are already feeling-and will continue to feel-pressure to right the ship, and parents will steer their kids to schools and programs they feel are safe and stable. This theory may have some stretches, but let it simmer for a while and think about it. Y'all let me hear what your thoughts are about this in the comment section.

Bobby's Last Game

Even though the last two games tortured me, I still realize that Bobby Cox is a special manager that will be missed by all Braves fans. Bobby Cox was a manager who spoiled us with 15 straight division titles from 1991- 2005. I must confess that with all that success I, along with many other fans, started to take the playoffs for granted. That speaks to the greatness of # 6. He was such a good manager; we started to expect playoff baseball. That fact never became more apparent to me than this year as we volleyed for a playoff spot down the stretch. I was excited just to have that chance to watch the Braves play into October.

Bobby retires as one of the all-time greats and is a surefire hall-of-famer. He ranks fourth all time in career wins and second all time in playoff wins behind Joe Torre. Some say he underachieved, only winning one World Series after all those playoff runs, but I think he has brought us moments over his tenure that I will never forget. Two of my favorites are Sid Bream sliding into home in 1992 and Otis Nixon’s amazing catch at the centerfield wall.

Bobby was known as a player’s manager and I have never heard a former player speak one bad word of him. An interesting story I read on AJC talked of the time Gary Sheffield wanted out of town and signed a free agent contract with the Yankees. The next spring training Chipper and Gary were talking and he told Chipper he didn’t realize how good he had it until he left Atlanta. I think all of us Braves fans need to realize we have had it great the last 20 years. I am excited about the future, but I am proud to say I grew up rooting for a team coached by Bobby Cox.