The First Monday

Well, what a night in Sanford.  First, my non-UGA/Clemson observations…

• I hate FSU's new unis.  They had a good thing going.  The gold numbers are unreadable, and I dislike the college football trend that all the uni combos have to be exactly alike.  The fact the FSU's old white pants had stripes was a cool tradition.
• LSU just doesn't lose games like that against Wisconsin.  They'll lose one the Mississippi State, but not that one.  That game was so LSU.  Talent just took over.
• Boy, there are some bad QBs out there.  Hill and Mason look like the class of the conference.
• Vandy is back to Vandy, and they will be getting new jerseys, too.  Turns out they WERE illegal.
• If Blake Sims wins a National Championship…well, he won't.
• I want to see Auburn more.  They won impressively, but I think that Arky team is still clearly the worst team in the West.  A lot of adulation for Jeremy Johnson, but it was 21 all at the half and Malzhan certainly didn't feel comfortable enough to let him take it the distance. 

Onto the boys in silver britches:

• Told you Todd Gurley was going to return a KO for a TD.  That might not be the last, but we're gonna see a lot of pooch kicks to the 35.  Fine by me.  We need to think about that other 2nd-level back.  Douglas is one of them and that is fine.  Other guy wasn't someone who can run it.  I think Karempelis was one in practice, but he wasn't dressed Saturday.  Just in jersey on sidelines.  He'd be helpful there.  The shot of the Clemson fan with his face in his hat is priceless after that play.
• I love Douglas.  He had some great moments last year, but guys, it's safe to say we boat-race Vandy if we have Michel and Chubb last year, and probably beat Mizzou.  Probably the most heartening thing to me from a coaching standpoint was the fact that Douglas didn't take a single snap at RB.  Those 2 kids can help us win a championship, and we played them out of the gate in a huge game.  Very glad to see us use talented freshmen out of the gate.  We only get them for so many years.  Might as well play them.
• The defense was awesome in the 2nd half, but we were really improved the whole game.  You can tell we're better.  We made plays on balls and tackled very well.  Played a ton of guys.  We're like 3rd in the SEC in total defense, and we played a real team the first week.
• Me likey Tim Kimbrough. 
• Think about this.  We won't play a team with a better kicker than Marshall Morgan.  We won't play a team with a better offensive player than Gurley.  And we won't play a team with a better defensive player than Leonard.  In fact, you could make a decent argument that we've got the best player in every phase of the game. 
• I do worry about our WRs, still.  We couldn't really get open, but maybe that was Clemson's D.  We'll play a much worse secondary in Columbia.  Can we survive w/o 26 and 86? 
• Reggie Davis was awesome on punt return, but it's clear 16 is a difference maker there.

Really, we just have to reserve judgment till Columbia.  They will be amped and ready to play.  I'll bet Mike Davis miraculously heals.  We win that one, then it's on.  We get Bellamy back on D, JSW and MM back at receiver and our young backs get more reps and we'll be something.  Think about this.  Gurley needs to average 153 per game to have 2,000 by the end of the SECCG.  I think he knows that and wants that.  I think he wants to beat Herschel's single season record (1,891).  Garrison scored something like 21 TDs in '92 for the single season record.  I think he wants all of them.  He wants to win, too.  I am still in 'escape mode' with Columbia.  Just win the game.  We'll have to win an ugly one to win a championship.  That might be it.  We get everyone else at home.

I have thought a lot about Pruitt.  Dooley had Erk for 17 years ('64-'80).  We won 4 SEC titles, and a national title in those 17 years.  The legacy of Erk's culture lingered for a few years, but it was the D that lost the '82 and '83 Sugar Bowls to Pitt and Penn St., allowing late TD passes.  Contrast that with the D sealing the deal with a pick vs. Notre Dame in the '81 Sugar Bowl.  We'd won a couple of SEC titles on the back of #34, but those 2 losses were the cracks in the dam that would break.  Dooley's last 5-6 years (which is when I really started going to games) were riddled with bad defense.  We were never the same, and gave up the dreaded third and long repeatedly.  But he had his run early with the right DC.  We had a relatively short stint with BVG, only four years.  We won the east twice and the SEC once in those 4 years, mostly on the shoulders of our D.  The remnants of that culture helped us win in 2005, but the Sugar Bowl vs. WVU was the crack of what was to come.  I thin it's possible Richt found his Erk.  He won't stay 17 years, but he might stay 5.  I don't sense he's in a hurry to be a HC.  I sense he wants to dominate the SEC, and sees no reason UGA can't do that.  I think he wants to play Saban and shut him down.  He's hungry, angry, and smart.  You coach differently when you have that on your side.  Heck, Bobo will call plays differently when he trusts that the D is not a wet paper towel.  It's early, but I think this cat has got it.

BTW, I get a little giddy thinking about this, but we are going to beat the mess, and I mean the mess, out of Tech.