Feeling Chubby

Let's pretend it's August 25th.  I look into a crystal ball and tell you that JSW and Mitchell don't play the first four games, and JSW barely sniffs the field even in the first 7.  Jay Rome is banged up.  We're going to lose 3 more DBs to dismissal or medical issues, Marshall is out after the Troy game for about 4-5 weeks.  Sony gets hurt vs. UT and is out a month.  And Gurley is out after the Vandy game and misses the road trips to Mizzou and Little Rock.  Moreover, I tell you that 7 games in Hutson hasn't thrown for over 200 yards in a game.  You tell me the record.  It ain't 6-1 heading into the bye week.

Mark Richt is a fine coach.  He got a win in a place we couldn't in 2001 then knocked the lid off the program in 2002.  He cobbled together an O-line to somehow win the east in 2003.  He won the SEC in 2005 when no one expected it.  He pulled the team out of a pit in 2006 for maybe our best finish ever.  He turned the tables in 2007.  He set his jaw on a cold night in Bobby Dodd in 2009, and turned around a program after an 0-2 start in 2010.  He somehow - SOMEHOW - salvaged a team ravaged by injuries in 2013 to win more than we lost.  But 2014, so far, is Richt's finest hour.  We have had every reason to be 5-2 or 4-3.  We're not.  We'r 9th in the country with winnable games ahead of us.  And we're getting healthier and in rhythm…quickly.  I can hardly remember a 2-week stretch like this.  This is what we were supposed to experience vs. Mizzou and Vandy last year.  Had we won those 2 games, we win the East, even with the play of which we never speak in Lee County.  Who knows how that thing turns out.  Who knows if the same play call is played against UK and Murray ever gets hurt.  Who knows?  Alas, Nick Chubb was playing for the Cedartown Bulldogs and not the Georgia Bulldogs last fall, which reminds me…

• I am amazed at Nick Chubb.  Really…amazed.  I'll admit, I thought going into Mizzou that if we had one of these freshmen, I'd rather have Sony.  They're sooooooo different.  But, Chubb runs a kind of hard that I don't know that we've seen.  He is totally HEAVY as they say.  He's going to be really, really, really special.  He's way faster than I realized and has fantastic vision.  He's a baller.  He's been the difference.  It's been clear that the game plan has been to ride that kid, and man has he risen to the challenge.  Richt speaks of him with a kind of reverence.  Woooweeee, 27 and 1 are going to be a load for a couple of years.
• Speaking of Chubb and the running backs.  There's a lot of chatter going on that the Gurley deal is 4 games.  What does that mean?  I'm reminded a little bit of the 1995 Nebraska teaam.  Lawrence Phillips was suspended the first 5 games (much different deal as he was a complete thug).  Nebraska leaned on freshmen running back Ahman Green, who rushed for over 1,000 yards.  I really want Gurley back for Florida, but if he is indeed suspended the next two games, there's a very good chance that Nick and Todd are both going for 1,000 yards this season.  Phillips returned in game 7 and they proceeded to thrash everyone, including a 12-0 Florida team that I thought was the best Spurrier ever had at Florida.  If Nick can carry us two more…watch out.
• I'm loving me some Dominick Sanders.  That kid is going to get better and better and better.
• We are flying around on D like we haven't seen at least since mid-2012 and maybe more like 2011.  It's surely fun to watch.  People are getting open some on the middle, but not much.  People were open the entire 2013 season.  I still can't figure out why anyone actually ran a running play against us last year.
• Don't tell anyone, but we can run block.
• Amazing how Conley and Bennett get more open with #26 on the field, isn't it?
• Izzy makes football more fun.  I never think anyone is going touch him, much less tackle him.
• So proud of Hutson.  I keep waiting for a breakout game (and Saturday could have been one), but Nick Chubb and Todd Gurley keep telling him not to worry about it.  Seriously, why throw it 25 times when you don't have to?
• Are we recruiting a punter?
• Best I've seen Marsall hit kickoffs all year.
• Man, those outside linebackers can get after a QB can't they?  We're starting to get some guys you have to game plan around, and Ramik is really flying around.\
• I love our white socks on road games.
• Arkansas fans are the cockiest 0-16 in the SEC group I've ever been around.

Early Florida stuff:

• They are bad.  I can't believe Foley didn't fire him today.
• I always have that worry in the back of my mind that they'll start the freshman QB and roll out some new looks and get us down by a couple of scores and bad things will happen.
• Then again, have you seen their freshman QB?  Not exactly Joe Montana.
• I do worry about their Defense, which seems legit.  Can we really grind them to a pulp like we did Mizzou and Arky?  Then again, Blake Sims looked like Tom Brady against them.  And Henry rushed for 111 on them.  Blake Sims.  Yes, THAT Blake Sims.  445 passing yards.
• I worry about kicking it to DuBose and him getting a cheap one.
• I worry about a lot of stuff.
• I worried about stuff going into the 2012 game at Auburn, because Auburn has stopped us from winning so many SEC titles.  And I remember the look of a team that has quit on it's coach.  We left that one 38-0.
• We get up 17-0, that team won't put up much of a fight.

Go Dawgs!