Well, at Least We Own THAT Columbia

Whew, what a weekend.  Dawgs stun the nation with their performance while Auburn, Tech, and Florida lose.  That's a good weekend fellas.  First time in loooooooooong time I watched one from the easy chair.  Yes, it was weird.  It feels like it didn't really happen.  Considering what we saw from the Dawgs, it's a legitimate question anyway -- did that really happen?

• Don't look now, but Hutson Mason is 5th in the nation in Completion Percentage.  Isn't that what matters most for us?  There aren't a lot of errant balls and wasted downs.  Six games into the season, he has 3 picks.  If he throws 6 for the whole year, we're going to be very pleased.  DJ threw 5 in 11 games in 2005, and that was a banner year. 
• We have won by an average of 27.5 points in 2 trips to Columbia West.  That's 4 TDs.  Not too shabby.
• Brendan Langley might be the craziest mid-season story in the history of Georgia Football.  Then again, I'll bet Pruitt was just delighted to have a kid with size and speed who had started a few SEC games at corner, because we've been playing a bunch of kids that have NEVER started before Aug. 30. 
• To me, that looked a lot like Georgia Football from late 2001-2003.  It looked a lot like David handing off to Veron or Musa and a stifling defense.  It totally changes your play-calling when you believe your D is going to hold them.  My guess is we're going to see Bobo get a lot more conservative in the next year and a half, but we WILL get more explosive with some players back.  In our heyday from 2002-2005, Teddy and I used to talk about our ho-hum 19 point wins.  We seemed to be everyone by 19 points, weather it was South Carolina/UT or Vandy/UK.  That's what we can/will look like with a competent defense.  At this point, please remove your hat in honor of Matt Stafford and Aaron Murray, whom we never really gave a competent D.  When we gave them half-way competent Ds, we looked pretty good in 2007 and 2012.
• Glad to see Leonard and Jordan looking dominant.  I was very impressed with Mike Thornton.  #88 can play a little bit, too.
• I've watched Mauk against Indiana, USCe, and UGA.  Color me not impressed. 
• Boy, did their backs look average compared to Chubb.
• Speaking of Cedartown Nick…man, does he run hard.  He's a little bit Marshawn Lynch to me.  I still can't put my finger on a UGA back he reminds me of.  Gurley is like Worley and #34.  Michel is Garrison Hearst 2.0.  I don't know if we've had a kid like Chubb.  He got so many first downs after contact I lost count.  You can tell Mark Richt loves him.  Boy, are he and Michel going to be a handful for a few years.
• MoneyMitch made those screens look a little more dangerous.  He's gonna get rolling here soon.  Good news is it looks like Ramsey will have 2 deep threats next year to show that arm off with.
• Kudos to Bobo for understanding the feel of the game and keeping Hutson in there. 
• Michael Bennett sure looks open when 26 is out wide.
• We need to get Izzy some more touches, simply for my enjoyment.
• I've been saying this since Troy:  we're covering better.  We covered UT and Vandy better.  Worley made some great throws to beat coverage, but they weren't wide open like we've seen in the past.  We saw that bear fruit on Saturday.  We were in position to make plays.
• Interceptions are fun!
• I'm fascinated to see Mizzou go to Gainesville this week.
• Gurley would have run for 250 before the 4th QTR.  I'm not joking.  It would have gotten ugly.

On to Little Rock:

• Arkansas' QB will make you get on your knees and thank the good Lord of Hutson Mason.
• Bama shut their backs down.  I'll believe it when I see it when it comes to their running game mashing us.  I just don't think a team can line it up and run it on Ramik and Amarlo.
• If Gurley plays, it will be ugly.  If he doesn't, we'll still win.  I think they kind of spent their energy on that Bama game.
• Would love to get Keith back and see him bust one on the Hogs.

The National Scene:

• Awesome defensive performance from defensive mastermind Gary Patterson on Saturday.  I'm not exactly sure how you score 58 in regulation and lose in regulation.
• Really, we wanted Baylor to win that one and now want to see OU beat Baylor.
• I never thought I'd live to see a day when South Carolina travels to the Plains and it's the 3rd Saturday in October game and Verne and Gary are in Lexington for the MSU vs UK game, but that's exactly what's happening on Oct. 26.  Hey, UK beat USCjr and has a better record (even if they lose in Baton Rouge Saturday night), and MSU is undefeated and #1 and beat Auburn (and they're off this week).  That's all just crazy to me.
• MSU must be for real.  Hard to believe what they've pulled off.  They can lose @ Bama and still win the West.  They just need Bama to drop one to LSU, UT, A&M, or Auburn.  That seems likely, frankly.  I'm still not THAT impressed with Prescott.  His passing is below average.  He's an unbelievable runner, though.  It's just like Cam and Tebow.  Get them behind the sticks and get them in 3rd and long.  Get them down by a couple scores and they'll struggle.
• Ole Miss was the shocker for me.  I was sure they'd lose at A&M.  Bloom is off that Kenny Hill rose.  Ole Miss has a great D.  I'm impressed with them.  Fasinated to see if UT can muster a fight against them.  That game's in Oxford, but that seems like one UT could get.  Boy, if they lose that one, that's 4 losses with @ South Carolina, Bama, and Mizzou and Kentucky.  They'd have to go 2-2 in those games to make a bowl.
• Boy, the Gators sent me to bed happy.  They can find a way to lose a game like I've never seen.  They're turning into Kentucky.  It's beautiful.  I'm not convinced it's as easy to win there as we think.  Spurrier did, but we'd all agree he's a one of a kind.  Urban did on the back of Tebow, and Urban is a top 5 or top 10 coach in CFB in the last 15-20 years.  They've got a weird fanbase and ugly stadium.  When they fire Muschamp, who in the world is going to go there?  Is Dan Mullen REALLY going to leave Starkville and start all over.  He's #1 at MSU and he's a lot younger than Miles and Saban.  Why leave?  He's a hero there.  I just think they're in trouble in Gainesville in big ways.  I think they'll go after Spurrier and try to get 5 years out of him.  I'm not sure he's got it in him to put in that work.
• Speaking of the Gators.  They've got 2 losses.  They've got Mizzou, UGA, South Carolina and @ FSU.  They have to win one of those.  If not, they finish 5-6 and don't go bowling.  Let's face it, based on the Georgia Southern game last year, there's no guarantee they beat Idaho.  Wow…that was fun to type.
• Auburn's luck is catching up to them.  Those 2 WRs are awesome.  The awesomeness ends there.  Nick Marshall still can't throw, but he's fast as lightning.  Those back just aren't as good as Mason, and it makes them look a lot less dangerous.
• Thank you, Duke.  Sincerely, Georgia.
• Did Nick Saban make that obligatory reference call to Pat Hayden or just wing it this time?  He hated him so much at USC that he fired Kiffen on the runway in LA.  You'd think Nick would have thought of that. 
• Bama simply isn't as talented as before.  The QB play is not good and the RB play isn't as elite.  Yeldon dances, and when they can't get the ball to Cooper they really stagnate.  Me?  I'd hand it to Henry 30 times one game and see how that goes.  That dude is still huge.

Well, it's going to be a week of waiting, isn't it?  We can win Saturday without #3.  I think the game being in LR helps us in many ways.  Smaller and older crowd than Fayetteville.  But, I'm fully ready to say this:  I ain't skeered of nobody.  Obviously, we're sitting here hoping for the best with #3.  But, I think we've all got the assumption that he's going to return at some point.  We can win this thing with him.  I mean the whole thing.  This could prove to be THAT catalyst that our team needed.  Apparently Hutson went all Shawn Williams in pre-game, and this might be the turning point.  Maybe it clicked.  "We whipped a decent team by playing this way without Todd.  What could we do WITH him?"  I sure hope so.  The NCAA is in a sticky mess with this.  I can't imagine they want the bad publicity their getting.  It's very fascinating.  Manziel and Cam were so polarizing and people couldn't stand them.  Not so with Todd.  Everyone loves Todd.  Everyone.  This isn't criminal.  It runs against the American fabric.  I'm fascinated to see how it plays out.  I'd imagine they want this to go away quickly.  They COULD have done us the biggest favor ever.  It COULD be the turning point of a season and even coaching career. 

 

I'm thinking Shawn Williams speech in 2012. 

I'm thinking Richt's rant about stomping on The Star in Nashville after Coutu's game-winner in 2007. 

I'm thinking Michael Johnson's catch in 2002.

 

This felt like vintage Richt lid-popping.  It felt like Bobo trusting his D-coordinator for the first time ever.

 

It felt like the beginning of something in the middle of the season.