It's Tuesday. It's Gameday. One. More. Time.

On the eve of the final game in 2014, I found myself wondering what life without Bobo will be like.  I have little doubt that Mark Richt will hire a high caliber guy to run our offense for 2015 and beyond.  Problem is, that guy won't be calling plays, John Lilly will, and he's never done that.  I'm emotionally preparing myself for a stagnant offense that can't move the ball or can't run the right plays at the right time.  Will Lilly be unusually conservative because he's a little scared?  Or, will he throw 3 sheets to the wind because he knows he has virtually no shot of being the play-caller in the future so you might as well run every trick play in the book?  I have a lot of questions.

• Is Louisville's run defense legit or is it an ACC mirage?  Will Lilly know what to do if they stuff Chubb like Tech did in the second half?
• Will Hutson Mason look like Tom Brady vs. a Grantham secondary?
• How is psyche after that Tech game?  The first half of the '09 Citrus Bowl was an emotional mess.  AJ fumbled.  Stafford threw a pick.  We were losing 6-3 to that MSU team at halftime.
• Can the defense get the bad mojo of the Tech second half out of them?
• Will I freeze by baguettes off?
• How bad is the Big 12?
• Will we have the edge Richt seems to have had this week?

Thinking long term, I'm still very encouraged.  These types of crises seem to be crucibles for Richt, and that usually ends up being a good thing.  There is nothing wrong with a little new blood.  I really hope we can keep Rocker around, but D players seem most determined to play for Pruitt.  I like the new strength guy already.  We have a chance to expand our horizons with the new offensive guy.  I loved Mike's creativity and style.  I never really question play calls because there's just too much we don't know.  I saw Mike Bobo check to a lot of great plays firsthand and Quincy Carter check to a bunch of bonehead plays.  It ain't always the play caller.  And sometimes you just get a look you didn't anticipate.  It happens.  If I had any criticisms of Mike's play-calling, it would be the 'seeming' reluctance to gameplan players and try to get the ball into the hands of ball-players.  Bama is not the Bama of 2-3 years ago, but they have an elite player in Cooper, and to Kiffin's credit, he ran him ragged trying to get the ball to him.

A new OC might look at Chubb, Michel, Mitchell and JSW and say, we gotta get those 4 dudes the ball as much as possible.  We seemed to have a reluctance to really, really, really put the hammer down and do things like play Chubb and Michel together, a lot.  That's what I'd like to see more of.  Sony Michel does not need to be sitting on the sidelines for 30 offensive plays a game next season.  Get him in the slot, do what we've got to do to get the best players on the field.  Perhaps our injuries have made Mark and Mike gunshy on those types of things.  We can't assume that we'll experience those kinds of injuries again.

Lastly, it was hard not to watch that Clemson game and think of what might have been.  What a weird 3 losses.  The South Carolina game had one of the weirdest delays and vibes I've ever seen.  We waited, then warmed up, went back in for 45 minutes, then came back out again.  It was just weird.  It felt weird.  South Carolina had to do the same thing, but it was just weird.  Todd's suspension.  Todd's injury.  That Clemson team is pretty good.  They lost @ UGA, @ FSU, and @ Tech.  We handled them better than anyone.  They couldn't stop Chubb and Gurley.  Arkansas couldn't stop Chubb.  Chubb broke his thumb the week before the South Carolina game and had 4 carries for 34 yards.  That actually happened.  We played 3 games with a healthy Chubb and Gurley:  Clemson, Vandy and Auburn.  The combined score was 123-45.  I don't believe in the idea that somebody is 'due.'  However, I just think Mark Richt's day is coming.  We've had some incredibly bad luck on the injury and suspension front.  Some of that is self-imposed, but not all.  Some is bad luck.  We're recruiting better and better.  Bright days are ahead.

GATA.

Bryan Allen Speaks. Mark Richt is Job.

It's really hard to believe what we've gone through the last 5 years.  I can't really fathom it all.  Maybe Mark Richt is Job.  Every team has attrition and crazy stuff that happens.  That 2009 Okie St. team we played got about 2 games out of Dez Bryant before he was suspended for the season.  They were pretty good with him.  Maybe they beat Texas and win the Big 12 that year and play Bama for all the marbles?  Lattimore got hurt at South Carolina.  But no one has gone through what we've gone through.  What if...

 

• AJ plays those first four games with our young QB in 2010.  We lost 17-6 without AJ in Columbia to the East Champion.  We lost by 1 TD to an Arky team that played in the Sugar Bowl and lost a crazy one in Starkville.  Does AJ change everything?  Sundays show he's pretty good?
• What if our 1-2 punch in 2011 is Washaun and Crowell.  Ealey was pretty dang good in 2010.  Oh, Caleb King, who looked to be in form, was also supposed to be on that 2011 team.  We were so desparate in the opener that we played Brandon Boykin at tailback...and a whole lot of Richard Samuel.
• What if Crowell is on the 2012 and 2013 teams?  Do we win back to back National Championships?  I'm not joking.  What if we have IC in Clemson to take over when Gurley pulls his hammy?  What if IC is starting against Mizzou and Vandy?
• What if Keith doesn't get hurt in 2013?  Does he rush for 1,000 yards?
• What if Tray Matthews and JHC had brains?  What would Pruitt have done with Sanders and Swann at corners and those two knuckleheads at safety?  Mauger at the star.
• What if this Gurley mess doesn't happen this year?  Reckon how many he puts up in Columbia, MO? 
• What if Sony doesn't get hurt?  We tried to beat Florida with Brendan Douglas coming in to spell Nick.  The results were laughable.  We looked a whole lot different against UK and Auburn with a better 1-2 punch.
• What if Malcome Mitchel isn't made of glass?  Does it make a difference in Columbia this year?  Sure seemed like a different offense.

Sigh.  Poor Mark Richt.  Our day is coming.  Something feels very different about Nick Chubb.

 

HATE WEEK Stat Primer

I'll probably get into some full-on Hate Week thoughts later, but a win over a cupcake seemed like a good time for some 2014 stat-mongering.

• I am still blown away by this stat.  We have won 7 of 9 vs. Auburn.  7 of 9.  Think about that.  7 out of 9.  That's not the mind-blower.  The two years they have won in nine years they ave won the SEC and played for the SEC championship.  We have not won an SEC title in those nine years.  I can't even wrap my head around a stat like that.  It makes no sense.  It is Mark Richt's sad story.  He has essentially dominated our oldest rival in the last nine years, and yet the perception is that they have done more because they played for all the marbles twice and won it once.  If a football genie offered you the chance at 2-7 the next 9 years vs. Auburn but play for two titles and win one?
• Nick Chubb is 2nd in the SEC in rushing, surely to finish at least second, with an outside shot at leading the league in rushing if he gets to play an extra Saturday in Atlanta.  He's 250 yds behind Artis-Payne, who has 91 more carries than him.  I think Artis-Payne and Chubb are your All-SEC RBs.  Raise your hand if you had Chubb in your pre-season All-SEC pool!
• Nick Chubb leads the league in TDs scored, tied with Prescott at 13. 
• Out of the top thirty rushers in the SEC, only two average more than 7 yards per carry.  Chubb is at 7.2.  The other guy is some dude named Gurley at 7.4 YPC.  Nobody handled that Auburn team like we did with Chubb and Gurley.  We saw it against Clemson, too, a pretty doggone good team.  We didn't get to see much of the magic with those 2 guys together.
• Hutson Mason has the highest passer rating in the conference at 158.1.  Second is the QB of #1 Alabama, Blake Sims, at 156.1.  Mason (3) and Sims (4) also have the least INTs of starting QBs.
• Marshall Morgan leads the league in scoring.  Bet you didn't know that.
• Arkansas is at 33.6 PPG and Mizzou is at 29.3 PPG.  Dear Lord, let Friday be an average day.  Also, Williams and Collins from Arky are 4 & 5 in the league in rushing and will probably both finish with 1,000+ yds.  That should give you some hope.  Also, Mauk is tied for second to last with 10 INTs.  Of course, to be fair, he threw at least 17 against us.
• UGA is 2nd in the SEC in Pass Defense, 3 yards/game behind #1 LSU, 8 yards/game ahead of #3 Ole Miss and 31.2 yards/game ahead of #4 Alabama.  We start a true freshman (Sanders), a walk-on (Davis), a sophomore that struggled mightily as a freshman (Mauger), a senior (Swann) and a kid that has no business playing SEC football (Bowman).  I keep thinking back to what Pruitt said pre-season about never coaching a bad secondary and he didn't plan to start now.  Midway through the UT game I thought, "Uh, you were wrong, Coach."  My bad, Pruitt.  Long live Pruitt!
• We are 9th in the SEC in rush defense.  Hello, Florida game!
• We are 5th in total defense, but that comes in at 13th nationally.  Like I said…Long live, Pruitt!  BTW, that Clemson team we man-handled in the 4th is the #1 D in America statistically.

Fun Fact:  Did you know Melvin Gordon's position coach is some guy named Thomas Brown?  Good for a DGD.  Sure would be nice for his stud to run Ohio St. out of the building. 

I'll admit it, I went to bed Saturday night and felt like we lost after that UT/Mizzou game.  The story in the statistics above is that we have had a pretty amazing season.  I was just thinking today that it's crazy we're ranked #8 in the AP and don't control our destiny, especially since we won head to head.  In fact, it's pretty amazing what we've done.  Pruitt's gonna change this program, guys.  We haven't seen games like the Mizzou, Auburn, Auburn & Clemson games in the last few years.  Aaron Murray won some huge games that he essentially bailed us out of, but that was our only formula.  We lost Todd for a 3-game stretch last year and fell apart.  We darn near should have lost 3 in a row, but Murray pulled out a miracle in Knoxville.  This year, we decided to play D and had Nick Chubb.

And since you asked…Here's what HAS to happen:

• Beat Tech
• Woooo Pig Sooey!  Mizzou Lose.
• Win the SEC Title.

And, 2 of these have to happen:

• FSU lose to Florida or Tech (when CFB has us pulling for the Gators and Jackets the last two weeks, you know we're in bizarro world).
• Oregon lose to Oregon St. or UCLA/ASU
• Ohio St. lose to Michigan or Wisconsin
• Baylor lose to Texas Tech or K-State
• TCU lose to Texas or Iowa St.

An Ole Miss victory over MSU wouldn't hurt.  There could be some bigger questions.  What if Wisky beats Ohio St., we win the SEC and the rest win out.  Do they do a Final Four with two Big 12 teams, one of which is NOT the outright champion?  And, the bigger question might be…how high can Mizzou climb in 2 weeks?  What if all heck breaks loose.  We pound Tech, but they beat FSU.  Texas beats TCU.  Either Auburn beats Bama or Ole Miss beats MSU, and Mizzou beats a 1-loss West champion.  Wisky beats Ohio St.  Who in the heck goes?  Oregon and Baylor…but who else?  Not Tech or FSU.  ACC is out.  2-loss Wisconsin?  I mean, right now the committee has Mizzou at 20 and Wisky at 16.  This thing could get CRA-ZY before it's all over.  That Indiana loss (which was non-conference) and that 34-0 thumping is a conundrum for the committee.  I don't think they see non-conf. vs. conf. loss.  34-0 isn't close, boys.  34-0 at their place.  Well, this is why we love it!

The "GEORGIA HAS NO SHOT AT THE PLAYOFF" Meme...

You know, I have really grown weary of the Sports Talk Yahoos in Atlanta and the dumb fans, because the meme is "Georgia has no shot to make the playoff" or "Georgia has a 0% chance."  A few have changed this week to, "Well, maybe there's a slight chance."  I want to make it just to prove them wrong.  What they miss is that you don't have to be #1, you just have to be #4.  And you only have to be #4 by Dec. 7.  People forget that Auburn had virtually no shot at the BCS title game last year until Ohio St. wet the bed late Saturday night.  Auburn won the SECCG and sat and prayed.  That was it.  We're not #10.  We're #7 because 3 teams ahead of us are SEC teams.  You could make an argument we're #6 because UCLA is also ahead of us.  

There are 5 teams, essentially, ahead of us:

Ohio St. (Indiana, Mich & Wisky)
Oregon (Colorado, @ Oregon St. & UCLA/USC)
FSU (BC, Florida & Duke/Tech)
Baylor (Okie St, @ Texas Tech, K-State)
TCU (@ Texas & Iowa St.)

Then...

UCLA (USC & Stanford, maybe Pac12CG)

I'm excluding UCLA.  So that's 5 teams that you think will fill 3 spots if you want the other one.  That means you need 2 of them to lose.  It's that simple.  Can Wisky win the Big 10?  Can UCLA beat Oregon in the Pac 12?  Could Florida play for Muschamp or could Texas beat TCU in Austin.

An Oklahoma St. loss to Iowa St. sent Bama in 2011.  A Stanford win over Oregon and 4-5 Baylor beating K-State gave us and Bama a chance in 2012.  A last Saturday Mich. St. win over Ohio St. gave Auburn a shot last year.  People act like crazy stuff never happens.  The truth is it happens every year.

UCLA is thinking the same thing.  They want Bama to lose so they have a shot to beat #1 Oregon.  Mizzou ought to be thinking the same thing, and they control their destiny.  Tech?  Yes, they have a shot.  They want Auburn to beat Bama and Oregon to trip up in the Civil War so they can beat #10 and then #1 on the last two Saturdays.

The question is…"What do they do with 11-1 Mississippi St.?"

Wrapping up the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry

Well, I finally saw the replay courtesy of the SEC Network.  Couple national thoughts.

• Kind of fascinated with Bama at #1.  Very interested to see what happens w/ Miss. St.  I really hope they don't get in if they don't win their division.  If there are other one-loss conference champions, they need to get in.
• The Nebraska and Arizona St. losses were huge.  Now, Oregon and Ohio St. are going to play 2-loss teams in their championship games.  And Ohio St is going to play a beast in Melvin Gordon.  And you kind of like your chances w/ UCLA or USC vs. the Ducks rather than the Sun Devils.
• If Carolina beats Duke Thursday night, Tech gets in the ACC champ. Game.  Strangely, that could be good, big and huge for us.  Not only do they have the best shot at knocking off FSU, if they do, we'd have just beaten the ACC champ who just beat the last undefeated team.
• This is real.  We're #10 with a whole lot of football to go, a date with #18 in 2 weeks and a potential date with #1.
• All you NW GA boys can say what you want about Saturday night, but I'm inviting Phil Fulmer, Johnny Majors Al Wilson and Payton Manning over to watch the game.  I'd invite Travis Henry, but I'm not sure I have enough room for all his children.  We need the Vols to win in a big way.  I really don't want it to come down to Arkansas in Columbia on the day after Thanksgiving.  I trust Bret Biliema about as far as I can throw him, which is to say I'd try to pick him up and he'd just sit on me.
• It just feels like this team deserves a chance.  We have fought through a season in the most profound way.  I just want to see Hutson Mason get a chance in the Dome.  Something tells me he'll be ready.
• I'm calling a TCU loss in Austin on Thanksgiving night.  A K-State victory over Baylor would be nice too.
• You want a crazy scenario?  Texas over TCU, K-State over Baylor, FSU loses to Tech in ACCCG, Wisky beats Ohio St. and UCLA/USC beats Oregon.  Then we beat Bama.  Heck, we might be the #1 seed :)

From the game:

• I've decided to take the attitude to just be thankful we had Todd Gurley for what we had him.  I'm not going to be sad, just thankful.
• I had the most bizarre feeling ever during the game:  I began to feel we were more dangerous with Nick in the game than with Todd.
• Speaking of #27…I'm floored and amazed at how good that kid is.  I mean, he's got a shot, and I mean a shot at some large records in his career.
• Jay Rome.  Hey, he plays for us.
• Jonathan Rumph is on the Kickoff team.  Okay.  Maybe we could throw him some more passes.
• Hutson was throwing dimes.  The deep balls were beautiful.
• Malcolm was a real difference maker, though it didn't show up in the stat sheet.
• I'm really excited about Kimbrough, but let's not lose sight that #51 and #52 can FLAT.  OUT.  PLAY.
• Was that not the most awesome fake punt ever?  A pump fake throwback?  Just awesome.  The flag was straight out garbage.  It was an awful call.  It was one of those calls that really makes you raise your eyebrows.  It's one thing to miss a call.  It's another to make one up out of nothing.  I don't even think Kublanow was even 3 yards, much less past it.  No way you make that call.
• We essentially played a nickel, but played Leonard at star instead of a DB, knowing they were going to run it most of the time.  I can't wait to see what Pruitt dials up for the Techsters.
• I really dislike Gus in an unhealthy way.  It's fun to watch him lose.  Very, very fun.  The bloom might be off the rose, too.  They're going to have some HUGE question marks next year.
• Marshall Morgan was money, and it mattered.

Richt's comments about Keith were very interesting.  He's basically in 2012 Hutson Mason mode.  We're going to try and redshirt him, but we get to that Dome and something happens, we ain't gonna try and beat Bama with Brendan Douglas.  I'll just say that for the Coach.  That's what he meant to say.

I really, really love this team.  They have Hutson's personality.  I really value the leadership he, Boss, Ramik, Swann and Marlo have given to this team.  We have stayed together in an amazing way.  It didn't hurt to have Nicholas Chubb. 

That SEC Bias Though

Ohio St. in 2007 is the last B1G team to ever play for a title?  That was 7 years ago!  Wisonsin lost to a 3-loss (for now) LSU team and might win that division up there.  Ohio St. lost to a terrible VaTech team.  Mich. St. lost to Oregon.  It doesn't matter if you can beat every other team in your league if you can't beat other teams.  That tells us more about Rutgers, Maryland, and Iowa.  

Bama beat WVU.  UGA beat Clemson.  South Carolina beat ECU (something VaTech and UNC can't say).  LSU over Wisky.  Auburn over K-State.  Ole Miss over Boise.  And they're going to leave our champion out if we were to have a two-loss champ and the B1G had a one loss champ?

 

Gosh, have you thought about what conumdrum they'd be in had Clemson beat FSU?  What would they be ranked?  But you can't put them in over us.  We beat them like a rented mule in that 4th QTR.  That's where all this is a mess.

What to Watch for on Saturday Night

Remember that we went to Auburn 2 years ago and trounced them 38-0.  We simply thought we had won the east.  That was it.  We were happy with that.  We didn't know any better.  We woke up for a nooner vs. Southern the next Saturday, and all heck broke loose that Saturday night.  Baylor steamrolled K-State and Oregon's FG clanked off the upright.  Suddenly, we were #3 heading into Tech.  That was a 3-5 Baylor team that I don't believe went bowling.  Stuff happens.

 

There's A LOT of football to be played.  4 things could VERY EASILY happen on Saturday night, as all these are home games:

 

UGA beats Auburn @ home

A&M beats Mizzou @ home

Wisc. beats Nebraska @ home

Miami beats FSU @ home

 

I'll take the first one and be happy.  The second one and be elated.  The third one would be a clear path.  The last one would just be fun to pile on top.

Hide your wallets.  Nick Marshall's going to be in town.