Give me Liberty....

If it makes you feel any better, we've been to the Liberty Bowl twice: 1967 and 1987, and followed those up w/ pretty special seasons.

In '68, we were SEC champs and had a strangely undefeated regular season, going 8-0-2. We lost the Sugar Bowl to Arky, but we were voted National Champions by a few polls. Unlike Alabama, we don't feel the need to prove our manhood by claiming that national championship. That team had a pretty good player named Bill Stanfill.

In '88, we opened up w/ a monster win over UT in Athens. We lost an inexplicable game in Lexington that year, which cost Dooley his 7th SEC title in his final season. We did finish 9-3 with a win in the Gator Bowl. Yes, that team had Worley, Henderson and Hampton…and Goldberg and Ben Smith. Unfortunately, it also had Wayne Johnson at QB. We also wore our shiny, new red pants our first two road games that year, in Starkville and in Columbia. We went 1-1 in them, and Dooley bagged them for the year. Goff never went back to them and in his 7 years never deviated from white or red on silver.

AND…Arkansas played in the Liberty Bowl last season and is now 10-2 and in the Sugar Bowl. So, it can happen.

Just some fun stats.

Let me get this straight....

Georgia, Tennessee, Michigan, Texas, Southern Cal, and Florida all have a combined record of…38-34? By the way, in all-time wins, Michigan is #1, Texas is #2, Tennessee is #9, USC is #10 and UGA is #11. Pretty crazy and unbelievable season. That, alone, should tell us how crazy it all is. UGA is 3 years removed from a #2 ranking. UT is 3 years removed from an SEC East Title. Texas is 1 year removed from a 13-1, undefeated regular season, Big 12 title, and BCS champ. Game appearance. Southern Cal is 2 years removed from a string of about a million Rose Bowls in a row. Florida is a year (a year!) removed from a 13-1, undefeated regular season and 2 years removed from a National Championship. Michigan is 3 years removed from spanking Florida on New Year's Day.

In the meantime, in 2008 Auburn went 5-7. In 2009, Auburn went 7-5. In 2010, Auburn is 12-0. There are no promises, but it can change for the worse in a hurry and it can change for the better in a hurry. And we can talk about coaching all we want, but the answers are pretty clear to me. UGA no longer has Knowshon Moreno. Texas no longer has Colt McCoy. Florida no longer has Tim Tebow. Southern Cal no longer has all those studs…okay, I'll name a couple: Taylor Mays, Mark Sanchez, Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing. Michigan no longer has Mario Manningham and Chad Henne…or anyone on defense. Tennessee simply had the luckiest season in 2007 in the history of college football.

Auburn? Insert Cameron Newton and Nick Fairley = SEC championship.

We weren't that much different from 2006 to 2007. Matthew got better, but by the Auburn game in '06 he was pretty dang good. The difference was simple: Knowshon Rockwell Moreno. Yes, we need to coach better and make some better decisions. We need to play D better. But, dang, we need better players. For me, Richt has the 2 most important months of his career ahead of him. We need guys that can play now. It sure does make it easier to call plays when you can run a toss sweep on 3rd and 4 and it sure is easier to play defense when your offense can burn a little clock or you've got a safety you can trust if you choose to blitz or you have David Pollack wreaking havoc in offensive backfields. I don't know if Van Gorder made Pollack or vice versa, but I know Eric Berry made both Chavis and Kiffin look pretty smart. I think it's the players.

Kudos to Richt on landing Murray. Do you realize how big of a get he was 2 years ago? Whew, we'd be in a pickle if he'd have chosen Florida. But this is the biggest issue. For all the talk about Strength and Conditioning, it doesn't seem to affect Houston, Green and Ogletree because they are beasts. We need more beasts. Richt gets it, and I think HIS motivation for the Boise game was what I suspected. He said so on his show:

"We’re trying to recruit guys right now who, when we open in the Dome next year against Boise State .. can come right in and we can introduce them to college football .. when you talk about impact players, that’s why I've been talking about a recruiting “dream team” .. if we can get the best players in the state to stay home we can show how good the football is in this state."

Are you listening Isaiah Crowell?

It's crunch time for Richt. Win this crappy bowl and sign the best class we've ever had. Bama did that and signed some guys named Ingram, Jones, and Cody in winter of '08. That turned out alright in '09. Heck, it wasn't so bad in '08. Get to that Dome and find a way to beat the Broncos and a way to beat the Cocks and home and get this thing rolling. It's that simple. It doesn't matter how you win, just win. In 2002, we opened up with 2 ugly wins against Clemson and South Carolina. It didn't matter. We were 2-0. Just find a way to win them and let the momentum take #11 for a ride.

Is it August yet?

And let me just say that if we land Crowell, talk all August about how he's having trouble pass blocking, lose to Boise, and Crowell plays 5 snaps because we aren't sure he can pick up the blitz...I might just lose my mind right there. If he can't pass block, I think I've got the play for him. It's called "Toss Right." I'll bet they already run that one down in Columbus.

Why Herschel is better than Bo

BO vs HERSCHEL

Anyone who's watched SEC football for the past, oh, 50 years knows that when it comes to running backs, there's Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson, and everyone else. So who's the better college running back? Bo? Herschel? There are a few ways you can look at this one.

1. Freshman impact. No contest here. Herschel set the freshman rushing record at 1,616 yards - and he did that in the equivalent of 9 games (he missed the bulk of the Ole Miss game, and a half against both UT and TCU). Bo? 829 yards. Ho hum. Or let me put it this way: Bo rushed for fewer yards as a freshman than Jasper Sanks did as a sophomore. Herschel should have won the Heisman as a freshman. Bo? Bo wasn't diddly as a freshman. Advantage: Herschel, and Bo doesn't really deserve to be mentioned in his company here.

2. Season rushing stats. Let's take a look at their seasons in terms of yards gained per season and put them in order.

1. 1,891 yards. Herschel, 1981.

2. 1,786 yards. Bo, 1985.

3. 1,752 yards. Herschel, 1982.

4. 1,616 yards. Herschel, 1980.

5. 1,213 yards. Bo, 1983.

6. 829 yards. Bo, 1982.

7. 475 yards. Bo, 1984.

Auburn fans will quickly remind you that Bo's 1984 season was shortened by injury. I will remind Auburn fans that Herschel missed a game and a half his freshman year and a game his junior year based on injury. OK, so let's go ahead and play the "what if" game. What if Bo and Herschel hadn't missed any time due to injury? To let you know how I came up with these numbers, I did it like this. Herschel missed 1.5 games in 1980 due to injury. Take 1,616, divide by 9.5, multiply by 11 for the revised total. Here are the "no injuries" numbers:

1. 1,936 yards. Herschel, 1982.

2. 1,891 yards. Herschel, 1981.

3. 1,871 yards. Herschel, 1980.

4. 1,786 yards. Bo, 1985.

5. 1,213 yards. Bo, 1983.

6. 1,045 yards. Bo, 1984.

7. 829 yards. Bo, 1982.

Bo don't know Herschel's yards. Put another way, Herschel's 3 years are 3 of the top 5 rushing totals in SEC history. Bo's second best year doesn't even make the top 20.

Advantage: Herschel, and it's not close.

3. Career rushing stats.

Herschel: 5,259 yards in 3 years

Bo: 4,303 yards in 4 years.

Some Auburn fans will tell you that a healthy Bo Jackson would have outrushed Herschel over 4 years. Fine. Let's play that game, too. I'll even give Bo a 1984 equivalent to his best season, 1985. Don't forget, though, that Herschel had another full year to play when he left. Giving Herschel the equivalent of his best year, you get these numbers:

Herschel: 7,150 yards

Bo: 5,614 yards

Sorry, Aubies. Advantage: Herschel, and again, it's not even close.

4. Durability. To make it through the always-brutal SEC schedule, a running back must have durability. The best home-run running back in the world doesn't do squat from the bench.

Per game: Herschel has two of the top 4 rush attempts in a game. Bo doesn't even make the list.

Per season: Herschel has the top 2 seasons. Bo's best season is at #15.

Career: Herschel had more rushes in 3 years than anyone in SEC history had in 4.

No contest here. Compared to Herschel, Bo was a china doll. Bo took himself out of games. Herschel put himself back in them. Advantage: Herschel, and Bo isn't in the same class.

5. Team impact. Good players get good stats. Great players get great stats. Elite players lift the teams around them. Let's look at the team records and accomplishments.

National championships: In Herschel's 3 years, Georgia won a national championship and played for another. In Bo's 4, Auburn won none and played for none.

SEC championships: Georgia won 3 in Herschel's 3 years. Auburn won 1 in Auburn's 4.

Winning percentage:

Georgia: .917 (33-3), Auburn: .755 (37-12)

At home: Georgia: 1.000 (19-0), Auburn: .846 (22-4)

Away: Georgia: .909 (10-1), Auburn: .714 (10-4)

SEC: Georgia: 1.000 (18-0), Auburn: .708 (17-7)

Win streaks:

Home: Georgia: 19, Auburn: 10

SEC: Georgia: 18, Auburn: 9

AP final ranking:

Georgia: 1, 6, 4, Auburn: 14, 3, 14, unranked

Bowls:

Georgia: Sugar, Sugar, Sugar, Auburn: Tangerine, Sugar, Liberty, Cotton

Advantage: Herschel, and Bo is nowhere near.

6. Heisman balloting:

Herschel:

1980: 3rd (highest ever point total for a freshman)

1981: 2nd

1982: 1st (margin, 695 votes over John Elway)

Herschel beat out such names as John Elway, Eric Dickerson, Anthony Carter, and Dan Marino.

Bo:

1982: not on the ballot

1983: not on the ballot

1984: not on the ballot

1985: 1st (margin, 45 votes over Chuck Long, the closest vote ever)

Bo beat out such names as Chuck Long, Robbie Bosco, Vinny Testaverde, and Allan Pinckett.

Advantage: Herschel, and Bo doesn't approach him.

7. Other arguments.

Bo was a great baseball player. So was Nolan Ryan, but no one mistook him for a football player.

Bo had a better pro career. By what standards? Consider this:

Bo never had over 1,000 yards. Herschel did it for two different teams.

Bo never finished in the league's top 10 in any statistic in any season. Herschel was in the top 10 in rushing yards twice, rushing scores 5 times, receptions twice, yards from scrimmage 4 times, and rush/recieve TD's twice.

Bo never finished in the top 50 for any stat in his career. Herschel is in 5 categories. Herschel is the only player to have 10,000+ yards gained on offense and 5,000+ yards on kickoff returns. Herschel is one of only six players to exceed 60 TDs rushing and 20 TDs receiving.

Bo is only one of two players with two 90+ yard rushing TDs, but Herschel is the only player in NFL history to score a 90+ yard TD rushing, receiving, and kickoff return in the same season, and he did it in his 30's.

In conclusion:

The SEC has seen a lot of great players, and a lot of great running backs. None of them have been better in four years than Herschel Walker was in three, and that includes Bo Jackson. Bo had one great year. So did Charles Alexander from LSU and Kentucky's Mo Williams, who both exceeded 1,600 yards in a season. So did Florida's Emmitt Smith, Auburn's Rudi Johnson, and Georgia's Garrison Hearst, who all exceeded 1,500 yards in a season. No one, however, has had the sustained excellence that Herschel had throughout his career.

No one comes close. Not even Bo.

-Anonymous

Thoughts from the Bluegrass

-The Parkette Drive-In is a must for future visits to Lex
-Keeneland is awesome. They must love good weather, a night game and the Dawgs in town because we covered that place up.

-Commonwealth Stadium's concessions are just a notch up. I got good, and I mean GOOD, sweet tea at a concession stand.
-The sound system is out of control there. It was ear piercing. I just don't get it. No one, in red or blue, was enjoying the 17 videos they showed during pre-game.

-Does Kentucky know they're in the Big 10?
-Their fans were very mouthy before kickoff. I've never heard them talk so much smack. I'm going to give them the business next year in Athens. Don't worry, though, I held my own. I just kept asking them, "You guys have a football team? I thought we were here for basketball. Who knew?" They didn't find this particularly funny.

-The UGA fan in front of me pointed to the program to his UK buddy at the Joker Phillips bio and said, "is that really his name?" No, it's a massive misprint and all season announcers across the nation have been getting it wrong. He was only head coach in waiting for 17 years.

-I got in a near argument pre-game w/ an acquaintance from college about the new scheduling philosophy. He said, and I quote, "I don't care about winning a national championship. I want to go to some good games and have good experiences. I'd rather lose to Michigan than beat Charleston Southern." -AND- "I don't think it affects the rest of the season whatsoever." While Florida is playing 7 home games and Auburn is playing 8…I, for the life of me, can not understand his logic. It actually disturbs me that we have UGA fans that are that dense. There's no rule that says you can't go to the Rockies in May with your family. Why do you need UGA football to provide you with opportunities to travel? It just baffles me. If you have that attitude, then you can never expect to win big, and you can never judge your coaches win/loss record on the right manner. The truth is, it is impossible to judge CMR vs. Urban since 2006. Richt has been asked to play against schedules that no one else in America is playing against starting in 2006 with Colorado. Urban's playing Charleston Southern and Troy. Hmmm…everything was fine w/ Richt at UGA through 2005, right? Wonder what changed…

I have no idea what's going to happen on Saturday. Who knows what to expect from the Gators? I think we'll play loose, though. We have no reason not to. It's going to be a strange environment down there, and I can't wait.

Couple of tidbits. Last week I heard Dantzler talking about this after the Cocks lost to UK. I lived there in '84 and remember their great season, but had forgotten the timeline of that season. They were 9-0 and lost to Navy. And that was a bad Navy team. They beat Clemson the next week. BYU won the national championship that year because no one else was undefeated. They beat a 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl. Thing is, Cocks were independent, and most certainly would have gotten an invite to San Diego to play the Cougers for all the marbles if they'd have beaten Navy…of all teams. They lost the Gator Bowl instead and the curse continued.

If they lose 2 more and we end up in the dome, it will be a collapse of epic proportions.

Go Dawgs!
Beat Florida!
Gators eat boogers and wear jean shorts!

Dawgs in the Dome?!

The craziest scenarios ever. Let's get this straight, I'm not predicting anything, but I'm just saying 'what if'. And, frankly, in some crazy way, we're playing about as well as anyone in the Conference right now outside of Lee Co., Alabama. We're definitely playing the best ball in the East the last 2 weeks. So, we HAVE to beat UK & UF. We just have to. Those are Eastern Division games and crucial to the whole race.

Also, there is no scenario that will work that doesn't include South Carolina losing 2 more games. They have to. Even if we win out and they lose once, there's no one we can tie with to end up in a 3-way tie with them outside of UT or Vandy, which would mean UT beating Bama and SC or Vandy beating a whole bunch of people they ain't. So, knowing that, the 'Cocks, for 4 straight weeks are @ Vandy, vs. UT, vs. Arkansas, and @ Fla. No matter what, for them to lose 2, one of them will be a division game, which is good for us. There's a very good possibility they lose 2 more. They are very pedestrian w/o #21 in the lineup.

Okay, so the easiest thing is for that to happen and we just win out and we win the thing outright. That's crazy. Here's the thing, though. It doesn't really matter as long as we beat UK and UF. Losing to Auburn won't matter. That's the formula. Win the next 2, cheer for the Cocks to lose 2 more (now, this is under the assumption that one of the Cocks' losses is in the swamp). Because…

UF TIE:
We do our part but lose to Auburn. UF regroups after our game and wins out. Cocks lose 2, including Fla. That puts us in a round robin head to head w/ the 3 teams. So, you go to Eastern record. We'd be 4-1, Fla. Would be 4-1, Cocks would be 3-2. Cocks eliminated, back to head to head w/ Gators…we win.

UK TIE:
We do our part, but lose to Auburn. Florida implodes and loses to Darth Visor, too. Kentucky regroups and beats MSU, Vandy & UT (finally). Cocks lose to Arky & UT. Same thing w/ the round robin between Cocks, Dawgs and UK. Goes to East record. We're 4-1. UK would be 3-2. Cocks 3-2. We win, book it for Peachtree St.

The crazy 4-way-tie world scenario:
We do our part, but lose to Auburn. Florida regroups and wins out after our game, beats Vandy & Cocks, going 4-4 in the SEC. Kentucky regroups after our game and goes 4-4, beating MSU, Vandy & UT. Cocks lose to Arky and Gators. 4 way tie between UK, UGA, UF and FakeUSC. Head to head. Cocks are 1-2, Cats are 1-2, Gators are 2-1, Dawgs are 2-1. Cats and Cocks eliminated. Dawgs win out over Gators.

It's about to get crazy. You know, if there is karma in college football, we'll win this thing and sneak in, and we'll play undefeated and #1 ranked LSU in the dome…and Adriel Jeremiah Green will catch a last second fade route to seal the deal.

Oh, and get this, in all those 4-loss scenarios, do you realize how crazy it could get. This ain't that far fetched. We could literally win the next to and lose to Auburn and Tech and play for the Championship at 6-6. Heck, we could tank it against Idaho St. and go 5-7 and still get there.

About Saturday.....and AJ

Hard to figure out what to think today as there are about eleventy-million thoughts swirling in my head, but this one is hard to stomach and argue. Take a look at games 2,3, & 4 in 2009. These are AJ Green's stats from those games:

South Carolina
6 rec for 86 yards, 1 TD (including several acrobatic catches)
We win 41-37

Arkansas
7 rec for 137 yards, 2 TDs & a 2-point conversion
We win 52-41

Arizona St.
8 rec for 153 yards, 1 TD & a late blocked FG to save a tie and set up our FG winning drive.
We win 20-17

Guys, we're 0-4 last year heading into the LSU game w/o him. With him, we're 3-1. There are many people to blame for where we're at, but AJ Green put our young QB and our struggling offense at a huge disadvantage to start the year. I'm thinking that we've simply forgotten how good he is. Yes, we won some games w/o him last year, but that doesn't mean we should have been forced to. The funny thing is that I was thinking this today. Really, no matter what happens as this season plays out, AJ is going to be a public enemny. He sold this season out. If we win out with him, then we'll see him as sabotaging what could have been a truly special season. If we lose a lot, he simply got the derailing of the train started, especially mentally and emotionally. But…BUT…I thohght today that AJ has one shot at redemption. Come back in 2011. Make an announcement that UGA has been too good to him and he doesn't want this to be his legacy. That he owes the Bulldog Nation, his team, and his coaches his best and he still has one season to give it to them. Every junior we have considering leaving would return, and the Bulldog Nation would love him in a way we haven't seen since #3 was taking snaps. It's really his only shot at redemption. Me thinks there is a part of him that might do it.

The bottom line is that when we have all our bullets, I think we'll be a pretty good team, but we're not elite. And pretty good teams have a hard time losing their best players. And there might only be one elite team (the Tide) in the nation right now. Just take the best players on some of the best teams.

Arkansas - Mallet
Ohio St. - Pryor
Boise St. - Moore (QB)
South Carolina - Lattimore
Auburn - Newton
LSU - Peterson
TCU - Dalton (QB)

How good would those teams be to start the season w/o those guys? Do you think Ohio St. beats Miami? Do you think Arkansas beats us? Do you think Auburn beats Clemson? Do you think LSU beats UNC? Do you think Boise drives the field to win the game vs. VaTech? The answer is unequivacolly, no. Bama seems to be in a different league. They lost the trophy winner and didn't miss a beat. Most teams can't go all summer thinking they'll have their star and then not. Remember the clip of Mark Richt in practice saying, "When in doubt, just throw it up to #8…it's almost not fair." So now, what have we done on offense when there has been doubt? I'm not sure we know.

Mark Richt has a lot to fix. We've got to tackle better. We've got to stop making bone headed calls. We've got to play w/ emotion for four quarters. But I want to see us w/ #8 on offense. Bama is uber talented and loaded and beat a decent Penn St. team w/o Ingram. From the looks of yesterday, they've have beat them by 40 if he'd have been playing. Ingram's better than Richardson. Period. Jimmies and joes make a difference. It wouldn't hurt to have #1, #4, #38, and #79 all join in the fun, too. And on that note, the biggest piece of work Mark Richt, IMHO, has to do is to get more and better jimmies and joes. Guys get suspended. Guys get hurt. Have talented guys behind them. Recruit, recruit, recruit. We need Isaiah Crowell in a bad way. In a way, not to make too much out the whims of an 18 year-old, but if that kid chooses Bama over us it might be the sign that we need another direction. We have to get him. We simply have to. We need a RB to go w/ Aaron Murray the next 3 years. The kid grew up a UGA fan. We HAVE to get him. If we can't, I shudder to think about what that means. We'd be playing against Bama and Crowell his sophomore and junior years. That wouldn't be good.

Spurrier and Boise

Is Spurrier serious about this QB situation? Is he really thinking about starting a true freshman against UGA? How can he be so confused about his QB situation in this year, of all years, with all the cards in his favor and he's got his most important game on Sept. 11? Me thinks CTG has a little surprise for the OBC. Spurrier thinks it's going to be the same ol' Georgia D. It's not. It's going to be the Dallas Cowboys' D. I guess Spurrier forgot how well his offense worked against NFL defenses the last time around.

If you didn't hear Bob Davie on Cowherd Tuesday, you missed a gem of an interview. Cowherd was bashing Boise, which I'm a fan of doing. He said that they're 6-7 in their last 13 games dating back to 2002 vs. BCS opponents and their 2-4 in their last 6 bowl games. He posed the question: If Boise had Florida's schedule, would they be national champion contenders. More importantly, he posed the question that if Stanford, Kentucky, or Indiana had Boise's schedule, would they be national championship contenders, stating that they'd be favored in every game but the VaTech game.

Davie pointed out the biggest problem with all this. He said that you can't just think about the physical beating you take in the BCS conferences, it's the emotional toll. He said there's nobody in the press conference in Moscow, Idaho or Los Cruces, New Mexico after a Boise game, but the places are jam-packed in Columbus, Gainesville, Tuscaloosa, and Austin. He talked about the mental wear and tear of every detail being scrutinized at a big time school. "If you win a close one at Florida, it's a crisis, it's like a loss." And it's just not the same if you don't deal with that every week. You just don't have to deal w/ those environments if you're Boise. He said, "It takes you 2-3 days to get over a trip to Athens, GA because you're emotionally exhausted, you forget about Moscow, Idaho by the time you get on the plane." I'm pretty sure VaTech is overrated, but here's hoping the Hokies lay a beatdown on the Broncos on Sept. 6.