Monday, January 3, 2011

Shifting through the wreckage....again

Well, I'm a positive spin guy, so I'll look for it. I told all of you, win or lose in Memphis, it really didn't change the fact that this season was a train wreck. We have had a lot to fix all year. If we'd have won 54-0, we'd still have had a lot to fix. And that's the positive note. Perhaps winning would have clouded the judgment of everyone in our program. Perhaps we'd have felt like last year. We kind of felt good after a crappy season because we beat Auburn, Tech, and won the bowl. And we don't need to feel good about this in any way. Sure, you want to have a winning record, but, more than anything, our guys (the 20 year olds and the 50 year olds) need to have bellies full of hot urine for the next 8 months. So, if it inspires us more…good. We don't need to feel good. We need to be angry and arrive on Peachtree St. w/ a bad, bad taste in our mouths.

Watching games this weekend, it's hard not to be discouraged about our staff. There are so many out there that could do more w/ what we've got: Edsall @ Uconn and Patterson, to name a couple. But I just don't think it's going to happen. And, frankly, it's hard to base that decision on one game. To me, we had to beat Tech and get to a bowl. I just don't think you change your mind because of the bowl.

In the long run, losing a bowl doesn't mean that much. Heck, even going to a meaningless bowl and losing means nothing. Just a few examples.

-UGA loses Music City and then goes 13-1 SEC champs
-Florida loses Cap. One and goes 13-1 Nat. champs
-Bama loses to Utah then goes 14-0 Nat. champs

It just doesn't mean all that much in the long run. BTW, I looked back and Greeney threw 2 picks in that Music City Bowl. Go figure. He also came out and struggled in the next 2 monster games to open the season and guys named Fred Gibson and David Pollack bailed us out. Greeney got on track after that and led us on a magical run. Of course, he didn't wear gloves.

The list is so long about what we need to fix, but here's mine:

-We are weak, weak, weak up front. We've got to get bigger, meaner, stronger, and nastier on both lines
-Our DBs stink, for the most part
-Our RBs are nothing special
-Our WRs don't work to get open
-We coach scared and timid
-We have no sense of urgency or fire

On a side note, after TCU's win in Pasedena today, UGA's win over Hawaii in the '08 Sugar Bowl remains the only win of a BCS school over a non-AQ school in a BCS bowl. How did he get that team so up to play that game? And how were we so good that year? That wasn't 2002 or 2005, that was 2007 and not that long ago. I loved everything about that team. We were mean, nasty, got lots of personal fouls and didn't care because we were going to stone you, sack you, intercept you, then outscore you -- dramatically. And we were going to wear black when we did it. I just don't get it. What happened?

And the last side note. Boy, it's a been a bad week for Jim Delaney, the Big 10 commissioner. You're premier player on your premiere team gets suspended along w/ 4 others for breaking NCAA rules, the Sugar Bowl President rats you out by saying he basically talked you into not suspending them for the bowl because he wanted a good game, you go 0-4 on Jan. 1, and even your shiniest new toy, Nebraska, loses in the Holiday bowl to an unranked and bad Washington team. Mark Richt had a bad week. Jim Delaney's was worse.

And it's entirely possible that UCF is better than Uconn.

3 comments:

  1. Can you tell me the "shuttle numbers" on the O linemen from when they arrived on campus and they played in Memphis? Are chops blocks a technique or just having poor footwork and being lazy for your block assignment? What has been the bench and leg press numbers for those guys from the time they arrived on campus until last Friday. Do WRs understand their routes and getting separation? And the list can go on. Just maybe that is more than weak, stink, and open. Just maybe the current coaching staff does not understand that too

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  2. The beatdown of overhyped Hawaii was the beginning of this slide. The entire program left New Orleans fat and sassy and complacency set in. 2008 started by rolling the hats out to a 4-0 start before Alabama exposed how physically and mentally soft we really were. Moreno carried the 07 and 08 teams. Another big league tailback would be the start to improving this mess.

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  3. I’ve defended CMR through this year and have written on more than one occasion on several Dawg blogs that he deserved another season and a chance to “fix” the program. After watching the performance of the offense during the Liberty Bowl; I’m not sure he can do that now. It’s tough to compare individuals and programs, at least I think it is, but if you look at Tennessee and Georgia for this year, which program looked in more disarray at the start of the season? I think most of us would say, the Vols. Which program had a more seasoned coach with a high winning percentage? Most of us would say, Georgia. At the end of the season, with less talent on both sides of the ball, Derek Dooley’s Vols look vastly improved. While they didn’t win their bowl, those who saw the game know that team came to play; they never gave up, and in my opinion should have won the game when time expired. On the sidelines you saw an intense and engaged coach who looked prepared and hungry. Why is it that Georgia, with all it had going for it this year ends its season on a very low note and with the same record of another SEC school who many felt would be lucky to win a couple of games? Coaching. I don’t know all the answers or any of the answers. Maybe some of it is just the rigors of the job. Urban Meyer certainly has accomplished a lot in his tenure as head coach at Florida, but it cost him his health and I’m sure on more than one instance his family felt the team came before them. Maybe that is what it takes to reach the very top and I certainly can understand why someone would not want to pay that price or stop paying the price. If that is the case, burnout, then CMR needs to step aside and let Georgia hire someone is anxious to carry the burden and pay the price.

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