Give me Liberty....

If it makes you feel any better, we've been to the Liberty Bowl twice: 1967 and 1987, and followed those up w/ pretty special seasons.

In '68, we were SEC champs and had a strangely undefeated regular season, going 8-0-2. We lost the Sugar Bowl to Arky, but we were voted National Champions by a few polls. Unlike Alabama, we don't feel the need to prove our manhood by claiming that national championship. That team had a pretty good player named Bill Stanfill.

In '88, we opened up w/ a monster win over UT in Athens. We lost an inexplicable game in Lexington that year, which cost Dooley his 7th SEC title in his final season. We did finish 9-3 with a win in the Gator Bowl. Yes, that team had Worley, Henderson and Hampton…and Goldberg and Ben Smith. Unfortunately, it also had Wayne Johnson at QB. We also wore our shiny, new red pants our first two road games that year, in Starkville and in Columbia. We went 1-1 in them, and Dooley bagged them for the year. Goff never went back to them and in his 7 years never deviated from white or red on silver.

AND…Arkansas played in the Liberty Bowl last season and is now 10-2 and in the Sugar Bowl. So, it can happen.

Just some fun stats.

Let me get this straight....

Georgia, Tennessee, Michigan, Texas, Southern Cal, and Florida all have a combined record of…38-34? By the way, in all-time wins, Michigan is #1, Texas is #2, Tennessee is #9, USC is #10 and UGA is #11. Pretty crazy and unbelievable season. That, alone, should tell us how crazy it all is. UGA is 3 years removed from a #2 ranking. UT is 3 years removed from an SEC East Title. Texas is 1 year removed from a 13-1, undefeated regular season, Big 12 title, and BCS champ. Game appearance. Southern Cal is 2 years removed from a string of about a million Rose Bowls in a row. Florida is a year (a year!) removed from a 13-1, undefeated regular season and 2 years removed from a National Championship. Michigan is 3 years removed from spanking Florida on New Year's Day.

In the meantime, in 2008 Auburn went 5-7. In 2009, Auburn went 7-5. In 2010, Auburn is 12-0. There are no promises, but it can change for the worse in a hurry and it can change for the better in a hurry. And we can talk about coaching all we want, but the answers are pretty clear to me. UGA no longer has Knowshon Moreno. Texas no longer has Colt McCoy. Florida no longer has Tim Tebow. Southern Cal no longer has all those studs…okay, I'll name a couple: Taylor Mays, Mark Sanchez, Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing. Michigan no longer has Mario Manningham and Chad Henne…or anyone on defense. Tennessee simply had the luckiest season in 2007 in the history of college football.

Auburn? Insert Cameron Newton and Nick Fairley = SEC championship.

We weren't that much different from 2006 to 2007. Matthew got better, but by the Auburn game in '06 he was pretty dang good. The difference was simple: Knowshon Rockwell Moreno. Yes, we need to coach better and make some better decisions. We need to play D better. But, dang, we need better players. For me, Richt has the 2 most important months of his career ahead of him. We need guys that can play now. It sure does make it easier to call plays when you can run a toss sweep on 3rd and 4 and it sure is easier to play defense when your offense can burn a little clock or you've got a safety you can trust if you choose to blitz or you have David Pollack wreaking havoc in offensive backfields. I don't know if Van Gorder made Pollack or vice versa, but I know Eric Berry made both Chavis and Kiffin look pretty smart. I think it's the players.

Kudos to Richt on landing Murray. Do you realize how big of a get he was 2 years ago? Whew, we'd be in a pickle if he'd have chosen Florida. But this is the biggest issue. For all the talk about Strength and Conditioning, it doesn't seem to affect Houston, Green and Ogletree because they are beasts. We need more beasts. Richt gets it, and I think HIS motivation for the Boise game was what I suspected. He said so on his show:

"We’re trying to recruit guys right now who, when we open in the Dome next year against Boise State .. can come right in and we can introduce them to college football .. when you talk about impact players, that’s why I've been talking about a recruiting “dream team” .. if we can get the best players in the state to stay home we can show how good the football is in this state."

Are you listening Isaiah Crowell?

It's crunch time for Richt. Win this crappy bowl and sign the best class we've ever had. Bama did that and signed some guys named Ingram, Jones, and Cody in winter of '08. That turned out alright in '09. Heck, it wasn't so bad in '08. Get to that Dome and find a way to beat the Broncos and a way to beat the Cocks and home and get this thing rolling. It's that simple. It doesn't matter how you win, just win. In 2002, we opened up with 2 ugly wins against Clemson and South Carolina. It didn't matter. We were 2-0. Just find a way to win them and let the momentum take #11 for a ride.

Is it August yet?

And let me just say that if we land Crowell, talk all August about how he's having trouble pass blocking, lose to Boise, and Crowell plays 5 snaps because we aren't sure he can pick up the blitz...I might just lose my mind right there. If he can't pass block, I think I've got the play for him. It's called "Toss Right." I'll bet they already run that one down in Columbus.

Why Herschel is better than Bo

BO vs HERSCHEL

Anyone who's watched SEC football for the past, oh, 50 years knows that when it comes to running backs, there's Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson, and everyone else. So who's the better college running back? Bo? Herschel? There are a few ways you can look at this one.

1. Freshman impact. No contest here. Herschel set the freshman rushing record at 1,616 yards - and he did that in the equivalent of 9 games (he missed the bulk of the Ole Miss game, and a half against both UT and TCU). Bo? 829 yards. Ho hum. Or let me put it this way: Bo rushed for fewer yards as a freshman than Jasper Sanks did as a sophomore. Herschel should have won the Heisman as a freshman. Bo? Bo wasn't diddly as a freshman. Advantage: Herschel, and Bo doesn't really deserve to be mentioned in his company here.

2. Season rushing stats. Let's take a look at their seasons in terms of yards gained per season and put them in order.

1. 1,891 yards. Herschel, 1981.

2. 1,786 yards. Bo, 1985.

3. 1,752 yards. Herschel, 1982.

4. 1,616 yards. Herschel, 1980.

5. 1,213 yards. Bo, 1983.

6. 829 yards. Bo, 1982.

7. 475 yards. Bo, 1984.

Auburn fans will quickly remind you that Bo's 1984 season was shortened by injury. I will remind Auburn fans that Herschel missed a game and a half his freshman year and a game his junior year based on injury. OK, so let's go ahead and play the "what if" game. What if Bo and Herschel hadn't missed any time due to injury? To let you know how I came up with these numbers, I did it like this. Herschel missed 1.5 games in 1980 due to injury. Take 1,616, divide by 9.5, multiply by 11 for the revised total. Here are the "no injuries" numbers:

1. 1,936 yards. Herschel, 1982.

2. 1,891 yards. Herschel, 1981.

3. 1,871 yards. Herschel, 1980.

4. 1,786 yards. Bo, 1985.

5. 1,213 yards. Bo, 1983.

6. 1,045 yards. Bo, 1984.

7. 829 yards. Bo, 1982.

Bo don't know Herschel's yards. Put another way, Herschel's 3 years are 3 of the top 5 rushing totals in SEC history. Bo's second best year doesn't even make the top 20.

Advantage: Herschel, and it's not close.

3. Career rushing stats.

Herschel: 5,259 yards in 3 years

Bo: 4,303 yards in 4 years.

Some Auburn fans will tell you that a healthy Bo Jackson would have outrushed Herschel over 4 years. Fine. Let's play that game, too. I'll even give Bo a 1984 equivalent to his best season, 1985. Don't forget, though, that Herschel had another full year to play when he left. Giving Herschel the equivalent of his best year, you get these numbers:

Herschel: 7,150 yards

Bo: 5,614 yards

Sorry, Aubies. Advantage: Herschel, and again, it's not even close.

4. Durability. To make it through the always-brutal SEC schedule, a running back must have durability. The best home-run running back in the world doesn't do squat from the bench.

Per game: Herschel has two of the top 4 rush attempts in a game. Bo doesn't even make the list.

Per season: Herschel has the top 2 seasons. Bo's best season is at #15.

Career: Herschel had more rushes in 3 years than anyone in SEC history had in 4.

No contest here. Compared to Herschel, Bo was a china doll. Bo took himself out of games. Herschel put himself back in them. Advantage: Herschel, and Bo isn't in the same class.

5. Team impact. Good players get good stats. Great players get great stats. Elite players lift the teams around them. Let's look at the team records and accomplishments.

National championships: In Herschel's 3 years, Georgia won a national championship and played for another. In Bo's 4, Auburn won none and played for none.

SEC championships: Georgia won 3 in Herschel's 3 years. Auburn won 1 in Auburn's 4.

Winning percentage:

Georgia: .917 (33-3), Auburn: .755 (37-12)

At home: Georgia: 1.000 (19-0), Auburn: .846 (22-4)

Away: Georgia: .909 (10-1), Auburn: .714 (10-4)

SEC: Georgia: 1.000 (18-0), Auburn: .708 (17-7)

Win streaks:

Home: Georgia: 19, Auburn: 10

SEC: Georgia: 18, Auburn: 9

AP final ranking:

Georgia: 1, 6, 4, Auburn: 14, 3, 14, unranked

Bowls:

Georgia: Sugar, Sugar, Sugar, Auburn: Tangerine, Sugar, Liberty, Cotton

Advantage: Herschel, and Bo is nowhere near.

6. Heisman balloting:

Herschel:

1980: 3rd (highest ever point total for a freshman)

1981: 2nd

1982: 1st (margin, 695 votes over John Elway)

Herschel beat out such names as John Elway, Eric Dickerson, Anthony Carter, and Dan Marino.

Bo:

1982: not on the ballot

1983: not on the ballot

1984: not on the ballot

1985: 1st (margin, 45 votes over Chuck Long, the closest vote ever)

Bo beat out such names as Chuck Long, Robbie Bosco, Vinny Testaverde, and Allan Pinckett.

Advantage: Herschel, and Bo doesn't approach him.

7. Other arguments.

Bo was a great baseball player. So was Nolan Ryan, but no one mistook him for a football player.

Bo had a better pro career. By what standards? Consider this:

Bo never had over 1,000 yards. Herschel did it for two different teams.

Bo never finished in the league's top 10 in any statistic in any season. Herschel was in the top 10 in rushing yards twice, rushing scores 5 times, receptions twice, yards from scrimmage 4 times, and rush/recieve TD's twice.

Bo never finished in the top 50 for any stat in his career. Herschel is in 5 categories. Herschel is the only player to have 10,000+ yards gained on offense and 5,000+ yards on kickoff returns. Herschel is one of only six players to exceed 60 TDs rushing and 20 TDs receiving.

Bo is only one of two players with two 90+ yard rushing TDs, but Herschel is the only player in NFL history to score a 90+ yard TD rushing, receiving, and kickoff return in the same season, and he did it in his 30's.

In conclusion:

The SEC has seen a lot of great players, and a lot of great running backs. None of them have been better in four years than Herschel Walker was in three, and that includes Bo Jackson. Bo had one great year. So did Charles Alexander from LSU and Kentucky's Mo Williams, who both exceeded 1,600 yards in a season. So did Florida's Emmitt Smith, Auburn's Rudi Johnson, and Georgia's Garrison Hearst, who all exceeded 1,500 yards in a season. No one, however, has had the sustained excellence that Herschel had throughout his career.

No one comes close. Not even Bo.

-Anonymous

Thoughts from the Bluegrass

-The Parkette Drive-In is a must for future visits to Lex
-Keeneland is awesome. They must love good weather, a night game and the Dawgs in town because we covered that place up.

-Commonwealth Stadium's concessions are just a notch up. I got good, and I mean GOOD, sweet tea at a concession stand.
-The sound system is out of control there. It was ear piercing. I just don't get it. No one, in red or blue, was enjoying the 17 videos they showed during pre-game.

-Does Kentucky know they're in the Big 10?
-Their fans were very mouthy before kickoff. I've never heard them talk so much smack. I'm going to give them the business next year in Athens. Don't worry, though, I held my own. I just kept asking them, "You guys have a football team? I thought we were here for basketball. Who knew?" They didn't find this particularly funny.

-The UGA fan in front of me pointed to the program to his UK buddy at the Joker Phillips bio and said, "is that really his name?" No, it's a massive misprint and all season announcers across the nation have been getting it wrong. He was only head coach in waiting for 17 years.

-I got in a near argument pre-game w/ an acquaintance from college about the new scheduling philosophy. He said, and I quote, "I don't care about winning a national championship. I want to go to some good games and have good experiences. I'd rather lose to Michigan than beat Charleston Southern." -AND- "I don't think it affects the rest of the season whatsoever." While Florida is playing 7 home games and Auburn is playing 8…I, for the life of me, can not understand his logic. It actually disturbs me that we have UGA fans that are that dense. There's no rule that says you can't go to the Rockies in May with your family. Why do you need UGA football to provide you with opportunities to travel? It just baffles me. If you have that attitude, then you can never expect to win big, and you can never judge your coaches win/loss record on the right manner. The truth is, it is impossible to judge CMR vs. Urban since 2006. Richt has been asked to play against schedules that no one else in America is playing against starting in 2006 with Colorado. Urban's playing Charleston Southern and Troy. Hmmm…everything was fine w/ Richt at UGA through 2005, right? Wonder what changed…

I have no idea what's going to happen on Saturday. Who knows what to expect from the Gators? I think we'll play loose, though. We have no reason not to. It's going to be a strange environment down there, and I can't wait.

Couple of tidbits. Last week I heard Dantzler talking about this after the Cocks lost to UK. I lived there in '84 and remember their great season, but had forgotten the timeline of that season. They were 9-0 and lost to Navy. And that was a bad Navy team. They beat Clemson the next week. BYU won the national championship that year because no one else was undefeated. They beat a 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl. Thing is, Cocks were independent, and most certainly would have gotten an invite to San Diego to play the Cougers for all the marbles if they'd have beaten Navy…of all teams. They lost the Gator Bowl instead and the curse continued.

If they lose 2 more and we end up in the dome, it will be a collapse of epic proportions.

Go Dawgs!
Beat Florida!
Gators eat boogers and wear jean shorts!

Dawgs in the Dome?!

The craziest scenarios ever. Let's get this straight, I'm not predicting anything, but I'm just saying 'what if'. And, frankly, in some crazy way, we're playing about as well as anyone in the Conference right now outside of Lee Co., Alabama. We're definitely playing the best ball in the East the last 2 weeks. So, we HAVE to beat UK & UF. We just have to. Those are Eastern Division games and crucial to the whole race.

Also, there is no scenario that will work that doesn't include South Carolina losing 2 more games. They have to. Even if we win out and they lose once, there's no one we can tie with to end up in a 3-way tie with them outside of UT or Vandy, which would mean UT beating Bama and SC or Vandy beating a whole bunch of people they ain't. So, knowing that, the 'Cocks, for 4 straight weeks are @ Vandy, vs. UT, vs. Arkansas, and @ Fla. No matter what, for them to lose 2, one of them will be a division game, which is good for us. There's a very good possibility they lose 2 more. They are very pedestrian w/o #21 in the lineup.

Okay, so the easiest thing is for that to happen and we just win out and we win the thing outright. That's crazy. Here's the thing, though. It doesn't really matter as long as we beat UK and UF. Losing to Auburn won't matter. That's the formula. Win the next 2, cheer for the Cocks to lose 2 more (now, this is under the assumption that one of the Cocks' losses is in the swamp). Because…

UF TIE:
We do our part but lose to Auburn. UF regroups after our game and wins out. Cocks lose 2, including Fla. That puts us in a round robin head to head w/ the 3 teams. So, you go to Eastern record. We'd be 4-1, Fla. Would be 4-1, Cocks would be 3-2. Cocks eliminated, back to head to head w/ Gators…we win.

UK TIE:
We do our part, but lose to Auburn. Florida implodes and loses to Darth Visor, too. Kentucky regroups and beats MSU, Vandy & UT (finally). Cocks lose to Arky & UT. Same thing w/ the round robin between Cocks, Dawgs and UK. Goes to East record. We're 4-1. UK would be 3-2. Cocks 3-2. We win, book it for Peachtree St.

The crazy 4-way-tie world scenario:
We do our part, but lose to Auburn. Florida regroups and wins out after our game, beats Vandy & Cocks, going 4-4 in the SEC. Kentucky regroups after our game and goes 4-4, beating MSU, Vandy & UT. Cocks lose to Arky and Gators. 4 way tie between UK, UGA, UF and FakeUSC. Head to head. Cocks are 1-2, Cats are 1-2, Gators are 2-1, Dawgs are 2-1. Cats and Cocks eliminated. Dawgs win out over Gators.

It's about to get crazy. You know, if there is karma in college football, we'll win this thing and sneak in, and we'll play undefeated and #1 ranked LSU in the dome…and Adriel Jeremiah Green will catch a last second fade route to seal the deal.

Oh, and get this, in all those 4-loss scenarios, do you realize how crazy it could get. This ain't that far fetched. We could literally win the next to and lose to Auburn and Tech and play for the Championship at 6-6. Heck, we could tank it against Idaho St. and go 5-7 and still get there.

About Saturday.....and AJ

Hard to figure out what to think today as there are about eleventy-million thoughts swirling in my head, but this one is hard to stomach and argue. Take a look at games 2,3, & 4 in 2009. These are AJ Green's stats from those games:

South Carolina
6 rec for 86 yards, 1 TD (including several acrobatic catches)
We win 41-37

Arkansas
7 rec for 137 yards, 2 TDs & a 2-point conversion
We win 52-41

Arizona St.
8 rec for 153 yards, 1 TD & a late blocked FG to save a tie and set up our FG winning drive.
We win 20-17

Guys, we're 0-4 last year heading into the LSU game w/o him. With him, we're 3-1. There are many people to blame for where we're at, but AJ Green put our young QB and our struggling offense at a huge disadvantage to start the year. I'm thinking that we've simply forgotten how good he is. Yes, we won some games w/o him last year, but that doesn't mean we should have been forced to. The funny thing is that I was thinking this today. Really, no matter what happens as this season plays out, AJ is going to be a public enemny. He sold this season out. If we win out with him, then we'll see him as sabotaging what could have been a truly special season. If we lose a lot, he simply got the derailing of the train started, especially mentally and emotionally. But…BUT…I thohght today that AJ has one shot at redemption. Come back in 2011. Make an announcement that UGA has been too good to him and he doesn't want this to be his legacy. That he owes the Bulldog Nation, his team, and his coaches his best and he still has one season to give it to them. Every junior we have considering leaving would return, and the Bulldog Nation would love him in a way we haven't seen since #3 was taking snaps. It's really his only shot at redemption. Me thinks there is a part of him that might do it.

The bottom line is that when we have all our bullets, I think we'll be a pretty good team, but we're not elite. And pretty good teams have a hard time losing their best players. And there might only be one elite team (the Tide) in the nation right now. Just take the best players on some of the best teams.

Arkansas - Mallet
Ohio St. - Pryor
Boise St. - Moore (QB)
South Carolina - Lattimore
Auburn - Newton
LSU - Peterson
TCU - Dalton (QB)

How good would those teams be to start the season w/o those guys? Do you think Ohio St. beats Miami? Do you think Arkansas beats us? Do you think Auburn beats Clemson? Do you think LSU beats UNC? Do you think Boise drives the field to win the game vs. VaTech? The answer is unequivacolly, no. Bama seems to be in a different league. They lost the trophy winner and didn't miss a beat. Most teams can't go all summer thinking they'll have their star and then not. Remember the clip of Mark Richt in practice saying, "When in doubt, just throw it up to #8…it's almost not fair." So now, what have we done on offense when there has been doubt? I'm not sure we know.

Mark Richt has a lot to fix. We've got to tackle better. We've got to stop making bone headed calls. We've got to play w/ emotion for four quarters. But I want to see us w/ #8 on offense. Bama is uber talented and loaded and beat a decent Penn St. team w/o Ingram. From the looks of yesterday, they've have beat them by 40 if he'd have been playing. Ingram's better than Richardson. Period. Jimmies and joes make a difference. It wouldn't hurt to have #1, #4, #38, and #79 all join in the fun, too. And on that note, the biggest piece of work Mark Richt, IMHO, has to do is to get more and better jimmies and joes. Guys get suspended. Guys get hurt. Have talented guys behind them. Recruit, recruit, recruit. We need Isaiah Crowell in a bad way. In a way, not to make too much out the whims of an 18 year-old, but if that kid chooses Bama over us it might be the sign that we need another direction. We have to get him. We simply have to. We need a RB to go w/ Aaron Murray the next 3 years. The kid grew up a UGA fan. We HAVE to get him. If we can't, I shudder to think about what that means. We'd be playing against Bama and Crowell his sophomore and junior years. That wouldn't be good.

Spurrier and Boise

Is Spurrier serious about this QB situation? Is he really thinking about starting a true freshman against UGA? How can he be so confused about his QB situation in this year, of all years, with all the cards in his favor and he's got his most important game on Sept. 11? Me thinks CTG has a little surprise for the OBC. Spurrier thinks it's going to be the same ol' Georgia D. It's not. It's going to be the Dallas Cowboys' D. I guess Spurrier forgot how well his offense worked against NFL defenses the last time around.

If you didn't hear Bob Davie on Cowherd Tuesday, you missed a gem of an interview. Cowherd was bashing Boise, which I'm a fan of doing. He said that they're 6-7 in their last 13 games dating back to 2002 vs. BCS opponents and their 2-4 in their last 6 bowl games. He posed the question: If Boise had Florida's schedule, would they be national champion contenders. More importantly, he posed the question that if Stanford, Kentucky, or Indiana had Boise's schedule, would they be national championship contenders, stating that they'd be favored in every game but the VaTech game.

Davie pointed out the biggest problem with all this. He said that you can't just think about the physical beating you take in the BCS conferences, it's the emotional toll. He said there's nobody in the press conference in Moscow, Idaho or Los Cruces, New Mexico after a Boise game, but the places are jam-packed in Columbus, Gainesville, Tuscaloosa, and Austin. He talked about the mental wear and tear of every detail being scrutinized at a big time school. "If you win a close one at Florida, it's a crisis, it's like a loss." And it's just not the same if you don't deal with that every week. You just don't have to deal w/ those environments if you're Boise. He said, "It takes you 2-3 days to get over a trip to Athens, GA because you're emotionally exhausted, you forget about Moscow, Idaho by the time you get on the plane." I'm pretty sure VaTech is overrated, but here's hoping the Hokies lay a beatdown on the Broncos on Sept. 6.

Turnovers

I'm sure some of you saw this the other day over on Blutarsky's blog, but it's mind boggling. As you know, we ranked 118 out of 120 in Turnover Margin last year. Numbers 119 and 120 went 3-9 and 1-11. For the life of me, I can't figure out how we won 8 games being that wretched in the most important category. But this is the kicker:

In games we were even in TO margin, we were 1-1.
In games we were negative in TO margin, we were 4-4.
In games we won the turnover margin, we were 3-0.

Those three games were Auburn, Tech, and A & M…the 3 best teams we beat.

It's not rocket science. Just don't turn it over. Aaron, we're wearing the red helmets (usually). Just throw it to our guys. Punting isn't bad. FGs aren't bad. TO's are bad, bad, bad. Don't turn it over…beat good teams. It's quite simple.

Gators

So…I saw on ESPN about the Gators opening camp. They're playing w/ more unity this year and they don't have any rock stars. They're going to be better because it's more of a team. I remember us saying how much better we were going to be w/o Stafford and Moreno. I remember that, don't you? How Joe would be more accurate than Matthew, like Brantley is a better passer than Tebow. Funny thing is they don't call the position "Passer", they call it "Quarterback." Let me get this straight…you beat UGA, UT, FSU, LSU & South Car. By an average score of 27.6 to 11.4 (more than 2 TDs), but you're going to be better this year because you don't have all those stars.

ESPN said it's the first time the Gators don't have a returning All-American since 2007. Funny, I remember what happened that year…

BTW, their schedule was a joke last year. We played 3 bowl teams from the West, they played 2. We had to go to Arky, they had to go to Miss St. They played FSU (a very bad ACC team) and UT at home. We played GT (ACC champs) and UT on the road. They played Charleston Southern, Troy & FIU all at home. We played Cotton Bowl bound OSU on the road and Arizona St. and Tennessee Tech at home.

They were light years better than us last year, but I'd bet my bottom dollar that given our schedule, they weren't 12-0 and given their schedule, we ain't 7-5.

Just sayin…

Man I can't wait for it to start.

Freshman Numbers

Alex Ogletree (Zander) - 46
TJ Stipling - 44
Ken Malcome- 24
Alec Ogletree - 9
Derek Owens - 20
Brandon Burrows - 41
Marc Deas - 26
Michael Bennett - 82
Garrison Smith - 56
Mike Thornton ? 96
Kenearios Gates - 72
Dexter Morant - 92
Demetre Baker ? 52
Brent Benedict ? 74
Hutson Mason - 14
Jakar Hamilton ? 23
Kolton Houston - 66

per ugasports.com

Expansion Talk.....

I'm intrigued by what's going to happen w/ this expansion. The latest talks have 6 of the Big 12 schools going to the Pac-10: Texas, A&M, Texas Tech, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma St. Then, it looks like Nebraska & Missouri would end up in the Big 10. So, that leaves 4 also-rans left from the remaining Big 12: Kansas, K-State, Baylor & Iowa St. The thing I can't figure out about this is where all the pieces end up falling. Everyone says "Four 16-team conferences", which I'm all for, but how is the geography going to all work and how are the conferences going to shake out when one or two get left from these conferences that are decimated. And, I don't know if the powers that be have done the math -- The BCS conferences plus Notre Dame equals 66 teams. That means that 2 teams are out in the new 4 conference world, and there's certainly no room for the BYU's of the world.

I'm interested to see where this lands. Let's say the Pac-10 pulls off this deal and the Big 10 goes w/ Nebraska, Mizzou, ND, Pitt & Rutgers (or Syracuse). That leaves the Big East with 6 teams and hardly viable in football. I'd bet the SEC makes a move them to definitely lure Clemson and FSU. The question, then, is where do the other 2 come from. The remaining Big East would be WVU, South Fla., 'Cuse, Uconn, Louisville, & Cincy.

So the SEC has to find 2 more teams. I'm guessing we'd choose 2 from the following: WVU, Va Tech, & Louisville. I still think the SEC will make the wise (geographical & fanbase/passion) choices. I think WVU is a stretch. It's 9 hours from Athens and we're on the Eastern side of the conference. Blacksburg is only 6 hours from Athens and alread has this natural rivalry w/ UT. Louisville is in the heart of SEC country, just north of everyone.

I'd go something like this:
EAST
UGA
Fla.
South Crackilack
Clemson
FSU
Va Tech
UT
Vandy

WEST
Arkansas
LSU
Miss St.
Ole Miss
Auburn
Alabama
Louisville
UK

The only problem with that is that it makes the East brutal. We gain Clemson, FSU and Va Tech and lose UK. The West gains UK and Lousiville. Doesn't quite seem like an even trade, but that's not for me to figure out. I just think keeping the in-state schools in the same division goes w/ SEC tradition and makes the most sense. We have had great success w/ UT/Vandy, Bama/Auburn and Ole Miss/MSU in the same division. Makes sense that we'd keep that going. Now, geographically, there's a school I left out which makes a lot of sense -- Tech. You'll pull out Va Tech and put GT in my scenario and the trade offs look a little better and the natural rivalries are there. That makes more sense, just not sure the SEC wants Tech. In any event, I think we pull 3 to 4 from the ACC. But I definitely don't think we want Miami, not when there are bigger, public universities w/ better fanbases and closer to our charter schools. Miami is a long ways away from Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Let's say we take 3. That leaves the ACC w/ 9 teams left. There would be 5 leftover from the Big East in my scenario, and it makes sense the ACC would gobble them up. That gives them 14. They need 2 more and this is where it gets tricky. You've got 2 more teams to round out the field of 64, so to speak, and you've got those 4 old Big 12 teams. Kansas would certainly fit the B-ball mold of the ACC, but they're not on the Atlantic Coast by any stretch of the imagination. Allen says Baylor doesn't get left out in the cold because of Grant Taeff, but who's going to take them. Waco is close to nothing.

This is why this is happening wrong, to me. It's every man for himself and the last man (in my mind the ACC) is going ot end up in the most awkward spot. It would be the cleanest (and in the long run make the most sense) to have K-State and Kansas follow to the Big-10 and have that be a true Midwest conference, along w/ ND. Then have the ACC gobble up about all of the Big East to make that a powerful B-ball conference and all along the eastern seaboard. Have the Big East b-ball schools join the Atlantic 10 and leave out Iowa St. and Baylor, who haven't been relevant in Football for a long, long time. I think it's going to be fun to watch from the beginning and messy at the back end.

Expansions - Clemson

Just for fun, I got to thinking about Clemson joining the SEC. Part of me never wants them in because (from my upbringing) I kinda want them to always WANT to be in, but just can't, like the nerd outside the club. But, part of me wants them to come in and get slaughtered. I took a theoretical look at their schedule this year and what it might look like as part of the revamped SEC east, including A & M as their 'all the time' opponent from the West (assuming Texas and FSU would play every year). I'm also assuming a 9-game conference slate, and assuming the keep the rivalry w/ GT (which is highly unlikely). But it's also very likely the conferences would move to 10 conference games.

 Sept. 4 North Texas
Sept. 11 Presbyterian
Sept. 18 at Auburn
Sept. 25 Open Date
Oct. 2 Miami (FL)
Oct. 9 at North Carolina
Oct. 16 Maryland
Oct. 23 Georgia Tech
Oct. 30 at Boston College
Nov. 6 NC State
Nov. 13 at Florida State
Nov. 20 at Wake Forest
Nov. 27 South Carolina

vs. North Texas

vs. PC

@ GT

vs. Tennessee

@ A & M

vs. UGA

vs. Auburn

@ Kentucky

vs. Vandy

@ FSU

@ Florida

vs. South Carolina

I'm sorry, that would be funny to watch. I think Clemson will lose @ Auburn this year, go 1-3 vs. FSU, Miami, UNC & Tech. That's 8-4 if they win the pushes vs. South Carolina, BC and maybe at Wake.

With my revamped schedule...those boys would be lucky to go 5-7. And I mean lucky. The great thing about being UGA, Florida and UT is that you don't have to play yourself. Adding FSU to that mix and that's 4 juggernauts you've got to play every stinkin' year. Not to mention the Cats, Cocks, and Aggies. And every once in a while you're going to draw Bama or LSU or the Horns from the west. They might want to re-think conference expansion in Pickens county. You're trading trips to Chapel Hill, Winston Salem and Chestnut Hill for trips to College Station, Lexington and Gainesville? whew...

TURNOVERS

I'm sure some of you have seen blutarsky's blog about turnover margin and regression to the mean. He and I are of kindred spirits. Here's the last 8 years of T.O. margin in the SEC: http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/

Georgia's numbers are:
09: -16
08: -3
07: 9
06: -1
05: 11
04: -2
03: 11
02: 8

It's easy to see how you go to the Sugar Bowl or get to the dome: finish w/ +8 or better in T.O. margin. What you also see is that last year's numbers were darn near astronomical. How in the world we won 8 games playing 12 of 13 games against BCS opponents and playing in the SEC is beyond comprehension. They were literally our undoing. Losses at OSU, vs. Tennessee and vs. UK were directly related to turnovers. What you see is that the odds of us repeating that are even more astronomical. Last season alone took our average from 4.7 to 2.1. The law of averages (and the fact that our running backs know the plays now and we don't have Cox at QB) has to decrease the turnovers. Trading at Stillwater, vs. Arizona St., vs. LSU, and at Tech for vs. UL-Laf., at Colorado, at Miss. St., vs. Tech won't hurt either. Losing Willie, is obviously a plus, too. I'm looking through red and black glasses, but it's hard for me to look at those numbers and not thing we're going to be a lot better and by a lot I mean a lot more Ws.

Pre Season Rankings

I'm terribly confused by rankings. Barnhart's are a great example. Let me get this straight: We were 8-5, with a terrilble QB, the worst T.O. ratio in the nation (basically), and a defense that looked like a pop-warner team. With THAT team, we went TO Arkansas and blasted them w/ 51 points (Richard Samuel started that game at RB and Washaun never saw the field) and we went TO Tech and ran them 30-24. Arkansas also when 8-5 last year and has Mallet-head back but has done little besides cross it's fingers to fix that terrible D that made Joe Cox look more like Joe Montana. Tech lost a plethora of talented guys, returning basically only Nesbitt and Allen. They lost difference makers (Dwyer, Thomas, Morgan, Burnett).

On the other hand, we will start a QB not named Joe Cox, which is a step up. One has to figure we pick up more than 2 fumbles this year. We fired our DC, brought in an NFL fire-breather, and decided to take our head out of our rear-end on special teams. Plus, we finally figured out late in the year that King and Ealey can handle the offensive load just fine. And didn't we play Tech w/o AJ Green? Wow, we beat Arky and Tech and never played either of them w/ BOTH Ealey and Green together, our two best offensive players?

So, both of them come to Athens and, yet, Barnhart (and his is indicative of everyone else's) has UGA at #21, Tech at #15 and Arky at #16. I'm not saying we're a top 15 team, I'm just hard pressed to figure out how those 2 numbskull teams are 5 spots better than us.

Boy, you say it every year, but those first 2 conference games are ginormous. If we can get through (fake)SC and Arky 3-0 and head to starkville and Boulder w/ a little confidence, I feel good about us.

Can't wait for fall.

Mega Conferences - Re Visited

I posted this a month or so ago.....With all the conference expansion talks, I figured I would re post this and see what you think....

So, I've been meaning to give my 2 cents worth on conference expansion. Like playoffs, I'm always concerned that the powers that be simply aren't as smart as the rest of us. Also, there's so much that would have to happen to make it happen, and a lot of complicating factors (see Notre Dame). But, there seems to be some consensus among many of the commissioners that this is very much going to be a reality one day. So, we're looking at four 16-team leagues. Already, that's a problem. There are 65 BCS teams right now, not counting Notre Dame. Plus, cutting that number down to 64 won't include teams like BYU, Utah, TCU, & Boise St. I, for one, wouldn't worry too much about those non-AQ schools. I've got a solution for them. Notre Dame is a hitch in the giddy-up, and trying to find the team that's going to willfully get off the money train will be hard to find, and it's hard to find a team that SHOULD leave. For that reason, I'd say that this is the time to tell ND to put up or shut up. I'm going to work out a system in which they are involved in a conference (with maybe some contengiency plans if they're not.

The New SEC:
12 current schools plus Miami, FSU, Clemson & GA Tech

The New Big 16 (formerly known as the Big 10):
The current 11 schools plus Notre Dame, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas St., Iowa St.

Pac 18:
Current Pac-10 schools plus Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Texas Tech, A & M, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St.

How you divide those up could be done in a myriad of ways. The SEC would be a challenge to not make the East terribly difficult, but I'll have to think about that later. Basically, you would have the winner of these conferences meet 1 week or 2 weeks after the conference championship games. Use the current BCS rankings to determine seeds. #1 & #2 host #4 & #3, respectively. That’s the key, without home field advantage as paret of the system, non conference games lose all their luster. Losers of those game go to a BCS bowl, winners go to the big dance. Also, you would have to ramp up conference play to 9-10 games. I think 10 games would be a stretch, but this new system would almost eliminate most non-conference rivalries. Clemson/Fake SC, UGA/Tech, FSU/Florida, Florida/Miami, Missouri/Illinois would all be conference games now. USC/Notre Dame would be about the only real traditional non-conference rivalry left. So, you could play 10 conference games (7 division - 1 non division constant - 2 rotating).

So what about the non-AQ teams? This is where it gets complicated. It's easy to say that if one of those teams is ranked in the top 4, they go ahead of the lowest ranked conference champion. However, you're going to have a hard time convincing the conference commissioners of that. They know they're going to face a brutal schedule each year plus a conference championship game. Winning those leagues with only 2 losses is an accomplishment, and to think you could fight all season and lose a tough game in Gainesville and one in Baton Rouge but win your conference and some 12-0 TCU team that beat Baylor in non-conference play is going to go ahead of you. So, I'd do something like if the non-AQ team is in the top-4 and a conference champion is ranked below #12 in the final BCS poll, the non-AQ team goes to the final 4. This would stop us from having those 4 loss conference champions in the tournament.

That would be a pretty doggone true national champion.

Post G-Day Dawg Talk

I hope you've read some about Belin's comments about kickoffs. He's going to try a novel concept: let our all-american kicker kick it as far has he can, put fast, good tackling starters on the kickoff team and teach them to shed blocks and make tackles. That line of thinking was just too much for Fabris, and, really, where's the challenge in that?

The more I think about this team and season, the more excited I get about what has to be some fun and good times ahead in 2010. And though we can spin it every spring, it's hard not to imagine a better season. We won 8 games and won a bowl. I think we'll be able to pull that out again, plus many more.

2009 facts

-Our defense was horrible
-Our kickoff strategy was darn near suicidal
-We threw 17 interceptions
-We were some ridiculous number in turnover margin, last in the nation, basically
-We recovered 2…count 'em…2 fumbles
-We played Kentucky w/o AJ Green
-We had Bryan Evans at safety
-We didn't realized Washaun Ealey was on scholarship until 3rd Qtr. of the LSU game (5th game!!)

It's hard to imagine our D is worse, and Grantham makes me think it will be much, much better. It's also hard to imagine our kickoffs are worse. It's hard to imagine we get worse play out of the QB position, even if it is a RS frosh. It's hard to imagine that we are the turnover machine we were last year and lack-there-of on defense. It's hard to imagine we don't get #3 and #4 the rock early and often, especially w/ a veteran line and rookie QB. It's hard to imagine that I couldn't cover better than Bryan Evans. And lucky for us, Bacarri Rambo is considerably better than me.

So here's what I think:

-The QB situation is addition by subtraction. Joe was a DGD, but man those INT's killed us.
-Murray also just might be special
-The O-line looks a lot more like our 2002 O-line than ever before
-Orson Charles is uncoverable
-AJ Green is uncoverable
-Washaun is the most underrated player in the league. Dude's going to be All-conference this year - bank on it.
-Our D is going to attack like never before.

Now, one of th interesting things is that it's hard to imagine Blair and Drew having better years. So, all we can hope for is that they equal last year, but we might see a drop off. Drew got us out of a lot of tight spots. What if we just averages 43 yards a kick, which is, like what normal human college punters average.

The thing that I'm starting to really like is the match-ups. Spurrier will have virtually no idea (for once!) what we're doing. They still somehow worked out that Thursday game before they play us, but they've got a real opponent. They open up w/ Southern Miss in Columbia at 7:30 on ESPN on Sept. 2. They'll have to be ready for a national TV game and that RB for Southern Miss is no joke. If the Cock's coast through that one, they'll flat out get beat, and Spurrier knows that. Moreover, we get to unleash our new D on them. We will be nothing but vanilla against the Ragin' Cajuns on Sept. 4. And here's the really good thing about our D. I think it's going to work great against pro-style teams, and that's what we get early w/ Spurrier and Petrino's offenses. Grantham wants to confuse and blitz passing QBs. How do you think Ryan Mallet's going to handle that. We're going to have some hiccups and probably get burned a few times, but I think our matchup against those deals is going to be good. And Grantham is going to be out to prove himself a worthy hire vs. the Cocks. And I like the fact that he's used to spending 70 hours at the office to get ready for games. I wonder how this D will work against the spread, but I guess Bama did alright vs. the Gators last year. We've got a window here. 2010 and 2011 the schedule sets up and in 2012 we'll add Bama but McElroy, Richardson, and Ingram will all be gone and Brantley will be out in Gainesville -- and #11 will be our QB the whole time. Let's hope we jump on it and dominate for a few years.

Monday Nugget

Scanning across a Banner Herald article and found this nugget:

Making the right decisions will be a key determining factor for coaches in choosing the next starting quarterback after the Bulldogs’ 17 interceptions last season were their most in 25 years — since Todd Williams, David Dukes and James Jackson combined for 17 in 1984.

I remember those days, boys. Those were some of the worst ever in UGA QB history. We were flat out lousy. Luckily we had a bruising TB (Lars) and the greatest kicker in the history of college football. That just tells you how bad it was. By the way, we threw 16 picks in 2006 and Bobo threw 16 himself in '96. That's the recipe for a flat out crappy season. It's hard to imagine Aaron Murray will be that stupid with the football. If he's not, chalk at least 1-2 more games up for the Dawgs, and that's w/o improving in a single other area. Recovering 2 fumbles and throwing that many picks…I really can't believe we won 8 ballgames in 2009.

Thoughts from the Saturday Scrimmage at Sanford

We have us a QB. He's #11. Unbelievable release and accuracy. He is in my opinion, better than the other two QBs and it's not really close. How will he react with 90,000+ in the stands?

#8 is better than ever. It did not matter where the ball was, he caught it. He wore out Boykin on 1 on 1 drills all day. The good thing is Boykin will only be better because of that, and we won't play anyone as good as AJ.

Todd Grantham is awesome.

#42 was dominant. No one could stop him.

Richard Samuel may need a redshirt. Lots of talent ahead of him. Not to say that Richard's not talented, but he may need some more time to get back in a defensive mode. Just a thought.

#3 and #4 know how to run a football. They looked very sharp and very polished. #3 looks great.

Jakar Hamilton looks awesome in a uniform and you can tell he knows how to play ball.

Nick Williams is HUGE. He looks odd at Safety he's so big.

Jordan Love also passes the eye test. Sanders Commings was working at CB again.

The "starting" DL was Dobbs, Abry Jones, Kiante Tripp. Don't know if theres anything to read out of that, but that was the first unit today.

The 3-4 looks almost like a 5-2 the way the OLBs are positioned, and we were bringing pressure from everywhere. Corners were blitzing often. It was really fun to see.

And Orson Charles is really good, in case you did not know...

Mega-Conferences

So, I've been meaning to give my 2 cents worth on conference expansion. Like playoffs, I'm always concerned that the powers that be simply aren't as smart as the rest of us. Also, there's so much that would have to happen to make it happen, and a lot of complicating factors (see Notre Dame). But, there seems to be some consensus among many of the commissioners that this is very much going to be a reality one day. So, we're looking at four 16-team leagues. Already, that's a problem. There are 65 BCS teams right now, not counting Notre Dame. Plus, cutting that number down to 64 won't include teams like BYU, Utah, TCU, & Boise St. I, for one, wouldn't worry too much about those non-AQ schools. I've got a solution for them. Notre Dame is a hitch in the giddy-up, and trying to find the team that's going to willfully get off the money train will be hard to find, and it's hard to find a team that SHOULD leave. For that reason, I'd say that this is the time to tell ND to put up or shut up. I'm going to work out a system in which they are involved in a conference (with maybe some contengiency plans if they're not.

The New SEC:
12 current schools plus Miami, FSU, Clemson & GA Tech

The New ACC:
UNC, Duke, NC State, Wake, Maryland, VA Tech, Uva, BC plus the 8 Big East Football schools - Uconn, WVU, South Florida, Rutgers, Pitt, Syracuse, Cincy, Louisville.

The New Big 16 (formerly known as the Big 10):
The current 11 schools plus Notre Dame, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas St., Iowa St.

Pac 18:
Current Pac-10 schools plus Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Texas Tech, A & M, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St.

How you divide those up could be done in a myriad of ways. The SEC would be a challenge to not make the East terribly difficult, but I'll have to think about that later. Basically, you would have the winner of these conferences meet 1 week or 2 weeks after the conference championship games. Use the current BCS rankings to determine seeds. #1 & #2 host #4 & #3, respectively. That’s the key, without home field advantage as paret of the system, non conference games lose all their luster. Losers of those game go to a BCS bowl, winners go to the big dance. Also, you would have to ramp up conference play to 9-10 games. I think 10 games would be a stretch, but this new system would almost eliminate most non-conference rivalries. Clemson/Fake SC, UGA/Tech, FSU/Florida, Florida/Miami, Missouri/Illinois would all be conference games now. USC/Notre Dame would be about the only real traditional non-conference rivalry left. So, you could play 10 conference games (7 division - 1 non division constant - 2 rotating).

So what about the non-AQ teams? This is where it gets complicated. It's easy to say that if one of those teams is ranked in the top 4, they go ahead of the lowest ranked conference champion. However, you're going to have a hard time convincing the conference commissioners of that. They know they're going to face a brutal schedule each year plus a conference championship game. Winning those leagues with only 2 losses is an accomplishment, and to think you could fight all season and lose a tough game in Gainesville and one in Baton Rouge but win your conference and some 12-0 TCU team that beat Baylor in non-conference play is going to go ahead of you. So, I'd do something like if the non-AQ team is in the top-4 and a conference champion is ranked below #12 in the final BCS poll, the non-AQ team goes to the final 4. This would stop us from having those 4 loss conference champions in the tournament.

That would be a pretty doggone true national champion.

Tailback U

UGA Single Season 1,000 yard Rushers.

1,891 - Herschel Walker, 1981 (SEC Record) - SEC Champs
1,752 - Herschel Walker, 1982 - SEC champs
1,616 - Hereschel Walker, 1980 - SEC champs & Natty Champs
1,547 - Garrison Hearst, 1992 - 10-2 Citrus Bowl champs
1,400 - Knowshon Moreno, 2007 - 11-2 Sugar Bowl champs & #2 in final poll
1,334 - Knowshon Moreno, 2008 -10-3 Citrus Bowl Champs
1,324 - Musa Smith, 2002 - SEC Champs & Sugar Bowl champs & #3 in final poll
1,312 - Willie McClendon, 1978 - The Wonderdogs
1,216 - Tim Worley, 1988 - 9-3 Gator Bowl Champs
1,103 - Frank Sinkwich, 1941 - I think this team went to the Orange Bowl. I'd have to check.
1,059 - Rodney Hampton, 1989 - Goff's first year. Poor Rodney was all we had on a 6-6 team.
1,058 - Kevin McLee, 1976 - SEC Champs

My guess is Washaun puts between 1,100-1,200 next year

Oh, and Tate went for 1,016 in '87, an okay year, but he had over 3,000 for his career. Basically, it's pretty simple. Run the ball. Win.

Intriguing Non-Conference games in 2010

Just looking at the early schedules next year, there's certainly some interesting games coming up in 2010.

Sept. 4
Washington at BYU, UCLA at Kansas State, North Carolina vs. LSU in Atlanta
Sept. 11
Penn State at Alabama, Miami at Ohio State, Iowa at Arizona, Oregon at Tennessee, Georgia Tech at Kansas, Pittsburgh at Utah, Florida State at Oklahoma.
Sept. 18
USC at Minnesota, TCU at Texas Tech, Utah at Iowa State, Nebraska at Washington, BYU at Florida State, Arizona State at Wisconsin, Clemson at Auburn
Sept. 25
Oklahoma at Cincinnati, UCLA at Texas, Oregon State at Boise State

One thing that tells us is that we have virtually no shot of that So. Car. Game being at 3:30 on CBS. CBS would be crazy drunk not to kick off their coverage of SEC football w/ Joe Pa visiting the natty champs. Oregon at UT is a pretty good one, too. Me thinks we end up on the deuce for that one. Let's hope it's at 5 p.m. and not 7:45. Gary Patterson vs. Tubbs will be very interesting. And Clemson on the Plains will basically be like the A-Day game. Aren't those two colleges just different branches of the same university?

Boy, FSU @ Oklahoma is intriguing. And…how awesome would that Okie @ Cincy game have been if Brian Kelly weren't in South Bend. Can you believe Tech is going out to Lawrence?

Here's to his old roommate and teammate kicking his face in right on Peachtree in early December 2010

Just like Nick turned Bama down the first time, right? Hmmm, let me say this right.

I love Kirby's fire, and if he could get our D to attack like I saw out of Bama's we'd be a boatload better in all facets of the game. I'd love to have him as DC.

That being said...

I never liked Kirby when I was at UGA. (Some) might give you a different testimony. I loved his crew: Bobo, Tolbert, Sipe, Boog Powell. Kirby was the prick of that group. He was the prima dona of that group that was kind of too good to hang with or talk to managers. So, if he doesn't come..."here's to his old roommate and teammate kicking his face in right on Peachtree in early December 2010 to the tune of half a hundred!" And I'll see Tolbert and Sipe in the stands wearing red pants and we'll laugh all the way to Tempe.

Yes, I hold grudges when it comes to college football.

Now, one thing I can't figure out, though, is that "IF" he has aspirations to the be HC at his alma mater one day, he may have just ruined that opportunity. Damon doesn't strike me as the type to come calling again down the road and spurned Southern universities just don't forget things like that. Just an interesting point. It may have been a lateral move. But if he ever imagined being the guy at UGA, it was the right move. Maybe he doesn't care.

Why Kirby SHOULD HAVE come home....

If I'm a Bama fan today, I'm still basking in the glow of Pasadena. And I would be for a long, long time, till at least early September and maybe even until next year's title game and I'm no longer the reigning champ. But, just a small part of my in the back reaches of my darkest points…I'm a little depressed. Because most of life is about anticipation. Anticipation of high school graduation. Anticipation of your wedding night. Anticiaption of owning a home. Anticipation of retirement. And anticipation of your team ruling the world. And us Dawgs are still hoping for that moment for us…again. But here's a harsh reality for Bama fans: It's never going to get any better. Never.

Here's why. It took astronomical circumstances to make it happen and all the stars aligned for the PERFECT season. Not just perfect season. PERFECT season. Congrats, here's what you did:

-Started off the season on National TV in a huge non-conference win and looked dominant in doing so
-Beat 1 of your 2 most hated rivals on a miracle blocked FG at home on national TV
-Beat your most hated rival at their house on a last minute TD drive
-Finished the season 12-0
-Beat #1 12-0 Florida, the beast of the nation, in the SEC championship game…and you beat them down.
Oh, did I mention you beat the best college football player since Bo Jackson in the SEC title game?
-Did I mention Florida had a 20 game winning streak and was the defending national champ?
-Did I mention you got revenge for Florida beating you the year before and spoiling your championship?
-You book tickets to Pasadena
-Your star player wins the Heisman Trophy (he's not your best player, by the way. Thank you Mr. McClain)
-Your star LB wins the Butkus award
-You beat one of the most storied programs in the nation, 13-0 Texas, in the Rose Bowl

Bama will win more national titles, but they may not be against a 13-0 powerhouse, they may not be in the Rose Bowl, they may beat a 12-0 powerhouse in the SEC game, they may do it with 1 loss, they may not sport the heisman trophy winner. It's the season we all want for our team. Everything went right for them, and to their credit, they made much of it happen. We all want that season. Beat your rivals in heartbreaking, exciting fashion, beat an undefeated powerhouse from the other division in Atlanta, be lucky enough that it's the Rose Bowl's turn to host the title game, win the heisman, and beat an undefeated powerhouse on the other side. It's not going to get any better, Tide. Congrats, but it's all downhill from here. In the meantime, I figure I've got about 12 more shots at the title game in the Rose Bowl before I'm 85. That's IF Jerrydome doesn't get in the BCS, then I'm looking at fewer. What's the odds my Dawgs have the right coach, team, heisman winner, and scenarios on the other sidelines to have a story book ending like the Tide's this year? Slim to none. Enjoy it, Bama. You deserve it and you earned it. It's just not going to get any better.

Unless, of course, you could lead your alma mater to the same type of summit. I guess that might be better for some current Bama employees. That might be better....

Hollow

Georgia Tech has just won the most hollow conference title in history. You won your conference, but lost to your biggest rival and lost an Orange Bowl in front of the world to the Big 10 runner-up. The only game you won out of your last 3 was your conference title game. And you beat a team that lost to a 7-6 SEC that got handled by Uconn a month later…hollow.

And congrats to Mark Fox and the Hoop Dawgs on beating Tech!