This head movie makes my eyes rain...

Oh, if only it were a dream. A while back I posted the State of the Bulldog Nation. Apparently the UGA football program decided to go in another direction. Same bad fundamentals, same inexcusable special teams, same God-awful horrible special teams. Richt is teetering on the edge. He looks unprepared against well-coached teams and seems to have no sense of game management. Right now, the only thing that would make me feel as if he even wants to be at UGA is if he were to come out and state, for the record, that he is naming himself Special Teams Coordinator. Field position has killed us since 2006 and it has to stop.

Location, location, location

The "Let's keep the game in this shit-hole city 'cause it's always been here!" drumbeat is at it again. I think it's obvious where I come out on this.

We just want what's most beneficial for Georgia...

I lifted this from a 1982 SI article I found this morning. The crux of my post is that in 1982, UF was looking for a way out of its annual game with Miami and essentially was being called vaginas for it:

But the insults that most enraged the Gators were cries of "Chicken!" from Miami fans. Florida has indicated that its quest for greatness calls for a review of its schedule. That schedule, which includes six opponents from the Southeastern Conference as well as the state's other big-time football school, Florida State, might not have a spot for independent and private Miami next season, or ever after. It's not that Florida's afraid of Miami, y'understand. Florida wants to play Miami, but it prefers to do what, say,Alabama has always done. That is, load up the non-conference part of the schedule with cream puffs. No, no, not cream puffs, say the Gators. We just want to do what's most beneficial for Florida. Which is why Miami is calling Florida chicken. The Florida game is the biggest by far for UM, while Florida's opinion of the Hurricanes, though no Gator official would be caught dead saying it publicly, is "Who needs these guys?"

Now of course, Miami turned this back around on UF, playing the tried-and-true
tradition card:

Before this year's game, Schnellenberger said, "It's inconceivable in a series like this, that's gone 44 years with a one-year interruption for a major war, that suddenly there's a scheduling problem."

To which UF countered with "we don't really give a damn what you think because YOU are not looking out for OUR best interests":

At which Pell snapped, "Howard has never discussed it with me, and I don't like anybody telling anybody else what I think 'cause I'm quite capable of doing that myself." After that retort, Pell deferred all questions on scheduling to Athletic Director Bill Garr, who said, "We traditionally have played six conference games plus two intrastate rivals, and in 48 years we've never won an SEC title. Now, we're doing something wrong, am I right?"

Now, here's where I find this analagous to UGA's program. At this point, with 20 years of evidence at our disposal, I'd argue that playing Flordia in Jax every year isn't working anymore. While it would disappoint the people that go down to Jax for a weeklong drunkfest, it is in the best interest of our program to go home and home. Naturally, Florida and the national media, will give us hell if this happens. But, as was the case with Florida playing Miami every year when it already had a tough enough schedule, it doesn't really matter what people outside the program think. Go home and home, beat Florida roughly 50% of the time, and win a national championship after beating Florida either at home or on the road, and NO ONE will give a damn about having left Jax.

The State of the Bulldog Union

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Bulldog Nation, Board of Regents, President Michael Adams douchebag, and Damon Evans, thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak on the state of the UGA program, the year that was 2008, and our goals and expectations for 2009 and beyond.

2008 began for many in the Bulldog Nation in the Crescent City: eating sugary beignets, drinking 3 for 1 Bloody Marys at 9:30 a.m., and witnessing a #2 national finish. It is this Dawg fan’s wish that the 2009 season end, at worst, the same way.

2009 was supposed to began for the Bulldog Nation in Little Havana: eating plantains, drinking Mojitos, and witnessing our first national championship since 1980. As we are all aware, that did not happen.

The reasons why have been the subjects of much debate:

• Injuries. UGA was a walking M*A*S*H unit this year
• Line play. At its core, football is only two things: blocking and tackling. Both of those start at the line of scrimmage. Stacey Searles is the best O-Line coach in the country, but you can only coach around injuries and inexperience so much. I do however get a sense of optimism when I watch LSU’s offensive line, all recruited by and coached up by Searles. If we get that huge and that nasty, I’ll be very, very happen. And Ben Jones, I’m hoping you turn into the leader on the line I envision you being. The D-Line was another story. Certainly injuries hurt at well, especially to Owens. The Defensive Ends were banged up all camp and just didn’t get the practice they needed. Our Defensive Tackles coach is allegedly a great coach and recruiter, but this year there seemed to be a lack of talent and improvement at that position.
• Penalties. Call it lack of discipline, some bad luck, or even a payment for the 2007 Celebration and Blackout, but UGA got penalties in bunches in 2008. Watching the BCS National Championship game, we were reminded that both OU and UF were among the most penalized teams in the country. The difference this year was the timing of those penalties.
• Lack of Big Plays on Defense. Ironically, the most explosive offense we’ve had in 10 years was on the same team with a defense that just couldn’t get off the field when it mattered.
• Special Teams. This is a topic for a separate address. Lets just say they were….subpar.

Blow out losses to Alabama, Florida, and the GT debacle took the wind out of sails of a season that saw UGA open at #1. However, in retrospect, finishing the season #1 would have been a colossal accomplishment for this team. The brutal schedule we thought we had never fully bear its teeth, but it was still tough enough to be rated one of the hardest in the country. Of particular interest was not who we played, but WHEN we played them. We got Alabama after playing at Carolina and then having to travel ¾ of the way across the fruited plain. Then we got Florida after going to Death Valley. I could go on about our scheduling for days, but consider this: no SEC team played three consecutive road games. UGA however, played at LSU, in Jacksonville, at Kentucky, and at Auburn. Because UGA was the “home” team in Jacksonville, the league office didn’t consider our schedule as consisting of more than two consecutive road games. As you might have guessed, there will be more on this in the “goals and expectations for 2009 and beyond.”

Most disappointing about this season was that there never seemed to be any steady improvement as the year went on. Maybe that was due to having so many moving pieces with the injuries and line problems, but it is troubling as this was the first Richt team that I thought was better in week one than at the end of the year.

Having to watch UF win another national title is tough to swallow. Let’s not forget however, that a year ago UF’s situation wasn’t that different from ours today. Whether we make similar improvements will be a very telling sign about the direction of the program.

This brings us to the expectations for 2009. I personally feel that 2009, much like 2005, will be a defining year for the program. Winning when everyone is expecting a dropoff is the sign of a strong program. For that to happen, here are some things I want to see, along with some other general suggestions for the future of our program:

• Your new full time special teams coach: Mark Richt. Let’s not forget that before he was a head coach, Mark Richt was a hell of a coordinator. He knows X’s and O’s, he knows personnel, and he knows talent. Before he put in the “fast-break” no huddle offense at FSU, he didn’t know much about it. So he went to Buffalo, Tampa Bay, and other places that ran it and figured it out. He can do the same with special teams. Go to Virginia Tech, go to the Steelers, go wherever the hell you need to go, and let’s stop losing the field position battle in big games.
• A recommitment to sound, fundamental tackling. Our fundamentals started deteriorating around the same time Greg Blue decided he’d rather decapitate Steve Slaton instead of wrapping him up. The UGA identity must be hardnosed, fundamentally sound, physical defense. We’ve never won anything of any substance with any other formula. I know the injuries cut back the amount of live tackling in practice in 2008. Lesson learned; let’s never make that mistake again.
• Establishing a better home field advantage. Acoustics work against UGA, and there’s not a whole lot that can be done about that. The open endzone and the seats being so far from the field can’t really be changed. But there’s no reason Athens shouldn’t be as feared a venue as LSU, Auburn, etc. We just need to find a niche and stick with it. I thought the idea of the terrible towels in ’06 was good. But “I’m Georgia” was lame and the towels were too friggin’ big. At LSU and Auburn, the entire stadium uses the shakers. It looks awesome on TV and is noticeable to recruits. UF has the Gator Chomp. Even MSU has those stupid cowbells. We need to find something that is uniquely UGA that is instantly recognizable besides our mascot.
• A feeling that the team represents the ENTIRE state. GT doesn’t count. UGA is the state of GA. I mean running out with a state flag, more state flags in the stands, and an attitude that our state is better than our opponent’s, so our football team has to be too.
• Pissing in Florida’s cornflakes and not apologizing for it. The media loves Florida. Just like the news media would rather follow Barack to Hawaii than Bush to Crawford, the sports media is going to give Florida the benefit of the doubt no matter what. Before 1990, when UF had never won anything, the media still loved them and tried to convince everyone they were a football power. Now ESPN has Jessie Palmer, Erin Andrews, and Emmitt Smith working for them. Cris Colinsworth is on NBC. The Gator influence is everywhere. This is why it is CRITICALLY important for us to not take any shit from them. Punch them back. Call them names. Call timeouts in the last minute of any contest we’re beating them in. Do not apologize for it. Spurrier built UF into a winner primarily by understanding the importance of beating UGA. He got a bye week before UGA, and he beat us not only on the field, but in the media. In my mind, he single-handedly did more to create this notion that UGA isn’t UF’s equal than anyone else. 2007 was a start and I realize we had to eat some crow for it in 2008. But we CANNOT continue to treat Florida like they are better than us. THEY’RE NOT!! They just don’t waste their advantages and MAKE people beat them. Which is what we have to do. Getting the WLOCP to a home and home would be a great start.

Pure Class

If you haven't seen this yet, take a second to check it out. Incredibly classy move and certainly something that he did not have to do. For someone who was not from Georgia to show such appreciation to the University, its fans, and his teammates really shows that he comes from good stock. His grandmother should be very, very proud. Best of luck Knowshon, God Bless.

What could have been...

The writing's on the wall, and the 24/7 era is over at UGA. It's easy to second guess coaching decisions, but I can't help but wonder what might have been had Richt gone with Stafford right out of the gate his freshman year and not redshirted Moreno....

If Moreno was playing, would we have completely abandoned the run during the 2nd half against UT in '06?

If Stafford had started all the way through, would his maturation point have come sooner than Auburn in '06 and would he have lead us to hold on against Vandy and Kentucky that year?

Would Moreno have fumbled on the first play of the second half against UF in '06?

Would Bobo have utilized Moreno more against USC in '07 if he already had a year of SEC experience under his belt?

These are hypothetical questions obviously, but you have to wonder if we'll one day look back at these years the way some of us look back at 2000 or 1992. So much talent, so close, just couldn't quite break through.

See ya Rodney

Who knows what's actually going on in Knoxville, but if Garner threatens to walk for more money, I hope Richt lets him go. This routine every year is getting old and I for one am sick of it. Garner obviously thinks he is DC or HC material and since no one has offered him that yet, he's going to use every offseason to hold UGA to ransom. A couple of huge points stick out to me. First, depending on what you believe, Garner and BVG HATED each other. The story goes that BVG gave Richt an "it's either him or me" ultimatium and Richt felt Garner's recruiting was too important so BVG took off to Jacksonville. Anyone that know the affinity I hold for BVG can imagine how much that makes my stomach turn.

Secondly, Garner has an outstanding reputation as a recruiter. He raided Georgia while at Auburn and then pulled Donnan's pants down in Atlanta while at Tennessee. However, at the time that was going on, Garner was the first "hot" black recruiter in the South. Other schools soon copied that model and since then, I question how effective Garner has actually been. Yes, we've had tremendous recruiting classes, but have we ever had the top ranked class in the SEC? The fact is, UGA is located in a state that produces A LOT of HS talent. Historically, our objective has just been to clean up GA. However, in the last 5 years or so, it seems that Richt's strategy has changed. Now we seem to be just getting who we really want in the state, and then recruit nationally for our pressing needs. This isn't unlike the method used at FSU forever. With the arrival of Lilly, who just coincidentially happened to be FSU's recruiting coordinator, it seems to me that Richt has been planning for when Garner leaves for some time now.

I appreciate everything Garner's done for the program, and certainly as a DT coach, he's pumped out some talent. However, nothing is going to be good enough for him except a HC or DC post, and he isn't going to get that at UGA. It's time for both parties to go their seperate ways.

Thoughts from the Citris Bowl

Yes, I went--and yes, I sat in ri-freaking-diculous traffic coming home from Florida yesterday. My thoughts from the game:

--Tech, welcome to really. Maybe that will shut Paul Johnson up for the summer, but I doubt it.

--I think Stafford is great, but I do think he needs another season. These are the QB's in the NFL that I can think of that stayed 4 years: Peyton, Eli, Donovan McNabb, Matt Ryan, Chad Pennington, Tony Romo, Tom Brady, Matt Cassell, Philip Rivers, Drew Brees, and Jay Cutler. If Stafford wants to get paid right now, he can. But, if he wants to be a better QB once he gets in the league, he should come back.

--Knowshon on the other hand, should probably go. Don't give me wrong, I'd give anything to see him back, but at RB you have a limited number of hits in your body and you're always one dirty Tech player away from having your career ended. Richt's biggest personnel mistake was redshirting him. Hopefully he won't make that mistake again.

--MSU travelled well. I was surprised given how craptastic things are in MI. Also, their band paid respect to UGA by playing Glory, Glory before the game. Very classy. No problems with Sparty here.

--Bobo might be the most bipolar OC in college football. How he can alternate between brilliant and retarded so fluidly is truly amazing.

--You could tell before the game started that the coaches had a different attitude with the team. I have a feeling these bowl practices weren't fun. I've never seen the DB's do the Bull in the Cage drill before the game. Maybe they do and I've just missed it, but there was a clear difference in our physical toughness for this game.

--Special teams. I have no freakin' idea what the answer is. Richt MUST get more involved in that area this offseason. Florida has really elevated special teams play this year, and I would assume that the other SEC teams will be putting a huge emphasis on it this year. We'd better do the same.

--Nice block Caleb.

--10 wins is now a disappointing season. Man, we've come a long way from the Donnan and Goff eras. To me, there's two hurdles left to clear: being UF more frequently and winning the NC. I think these are going to be the two hardest hurdles, but one is tied to the other. We're not going to go on a 16-3 run against UF--no one is. But, if we get to the point where we look back at the previous ten years and we went 5-5 against Florida, I think we will have won a NC in that span.

Numbers to die by...

I'll have it up by the end of the week, but it won't be pretty. I'm updating my analysis on our UGA's non-offense (referring to it as "defense" at this point just seems tacky). Everything so far backs up what I've been saying though: this is the worst UGA non-offense of my lifetime and is in fact considerably worst than the Kevin Ramsey Project(KRP) of 1999.

Ah, more tomorrow...

Here comes the trash talk from Tech-land.  They've earned it.  I'll post more tomorrow when I'm not so frustrated.

Congratulations Urban!!

It takes a special coach to essentially be called an a-hole by announcers in a game that your team  isn't even playing in, but Urban's a special guy.  Wait, is special the right word?

Very early thoughts on Tech

Watching the end of Tech-Miami, and here's what I think:

--I think the key for us will be using OUR offense to keep Tech off the field.  There is no way that Tech stuffs our running game like they have Miami's.

--You think Chris Fowler would be happy as a pig in shit if Tech beat us?  Talking up Yech's fight song, talking about the importance of Yech beating UGA, etc., etc.  That toolbag HATES UGA and doesn't even try to hide it.

--Knowshon is going to smoke Tech's D on at least one screen play, even without the help of Jon BLITZ!!!!!!  BLITZ!!!!!!! BLITZ!!!!!! Tenuta.  2nd and 3?  Fuck it...Tenuta BLITZ!!!!!

--In the words of Ally, Patrick Nix = EPIC FAIL!!!  I live in Middle GA, Patrick couldn't carry his daddy's jock.

--I'm actually worried about our kick return against Tech's kick coverage.  Can't believe I said that, but we need to get good field position the whole game.

--Jessie Palmer is a douche.  Tech doesn't run the "spread option".  They run the option.  I swear to God, by next year, announcers will be talking about the "Spread I", "Spread Wishbone", and "Spread Power Running Game".

--I'm worried about Tech's penchant for chop blocking given our lack of depth on the D Line.

--Finally, Tech's going to be ready for a fight.  There's no way to sugarcoat it, as pathetic as it is, their whole program exists to try to beat UGA.  We'll know early if we're ready, but if we are at all capable, we need to physically beat them up.

Thoughts on UGA-Auburn

Well, I went and froze my wallies off at Clemson without a lake, so I didn't get the pleasure of watching the high quality Raycom production.  But, here's what I noticed from my seats from the upper deck at Pat "I never saw a recruiting regulation I couldn't break" Dye field:

--An hour prior to kickoff, the Jordan-Hare speakers were blaring rap with their students and players dancing to it.  With lyrics.  Not the PG-13 ones.  Pretty hypocritical given some of the comments this week about Crankin' Dat at the Blackout in '07.

--You thought our mike man was bad?  Auburn's pregame cheerleader firing up the crowd was so ridiculous that it looked like something South Park would make fun of.

--Good game by Geno, we finally got some penetration.

--God bless ya Rennie.  

--We are going to LOVE Ben Jones by the end of his career here.  Yeah, he's a freshman and can get COMPLETELY blown up on some plays.  But he has a nasty streak that you can't teach and I think if he can become a team leader, his attitude can permeate throughout the team like Knowshon's did last year.

--The redshirting of Knowshon was the biggest personnel mistake of Richt's tenure.  I'd give anything for him to stay, but I can't fault him for leaving when RB's have such a limited shelf life.  No way we go 9-4 in 2006 if Knowshon is starting by the Vandy game.  To only get 2 years out of such a talent is very bittersweet.

--Stafford has grown by leaps and bounds between this time last year and now.  Leadership, talent, smarts--the kid has it all.  Matt--do you really want to risk playing for the Lions?  Come back, have a better year, then you'll have a little bit of Eli Manning-type leverage if the Oakland Raiders have the first pick next year.

--WTF is up with going deep with the play action on first down?  Have we hit one all year?  And it's not so much the call I have a problem with as much as the route we're running.  A pure vertical takeoff down the sideline?  That has to be a low percentage pass in any circumstance.  If Bobo is going to insist on going deep on 1st down, can we mix in a post, or  a crossing route, or something that Stafford has demonstrated that he can complete with consistency?

--By my recollection, we're now 2 for 10 on endzone fade patterns this year.  Here's an idea on 3rd and 3 from the 4:  a good ole fashioned double iso with Southerland and Chapas leading Knowshon.  Just an idea.  

--Penalties.  Freaking A.  How many drives have we extended this year?  Where the hell did this team's discipline go?

--Sorry Richt.  Maybe you haven't lost confidence in Blair Walsh.  That makes one of us.

--TACKLE!!!  For the love of Christ, where did our fundamentals go?  If our defensive schemes are going to be as vanilla as they appear, then the first guy to the ball HAS to make the tackle.  By far, this is the worst tackling UGA team I can remember since the Donnan years.

--Finally, did our team ever really develop an identity it was going to use to win games this year?  What I mean is, Florida's identity is to play balls to the wall aggressive and run past you on offense, defense, and special teams.  Alabama's identity is to physically beat you up all over the field.  USC's is to let its defense wear you out and play on a short field.  What is ours?  Were we going to try to just outscore everyone, a la the LSU, ASU, and KY games?  Or try to control the clock and tempo of the game, a la UT, Vandy, Carolina?  I just don't think this team ever figured out what it did best and stuck with it.  One of the many things I think Richt needs to address during the off season is figuring out what style he wants to use to win games, then work on his game management so that games don't get away from the team as quickly as they did this year.

Well, I'd rather win ugly...

than lose pretty.  Or so the saying goes.  Just got back from Clemson without a lake.  I have some thoughts on the game, will post later.

It's Worse than We Thought

I swear I didn't set out this week to bash Willie, but since Richt obviously isn't going to acknowledge the problem, I'm going to drop some more number on the blogosphere. This year's defense is worse than the Kevin Ramsey Project(KRP). No, seriously. Below are the scoring defenses in SEC games + Tech since I started following UGA football as an 11 year old in '92:

Year	Avg.	Median
1992	14.89	11.00
1993	24.22	28.00
1994	29.22	29.00
1995	24.11	23.00
1996	26.00	24.00
1997	19.89	15.00
1998	19.67	21.00
1999	28.33	30.00
2000	21.22	21.00
2001	20.00	20.00
2002	15.60	17.00
2003	15.30	15.00
2004	16.89	17.00
2005	15.80	14.50
2006	20.00	21.00
2007	20.89	17.00
2008	28.71	38.00

As you can see, this year's D is even worse than the KRP of 1999. How this is possible is beyond me. The median is even scarier, if that's your preferred measure of central tendency. Because this year's sample size is at least two games smaller than the other seasons, the median should come down more in line with the average as Florida's 49 points is right now a bit of an outlier. Regardless, this defense is bad. How bad you ask? As bad as Ramsey's. As bad as some of the mid-90's Goff disasters. And no question the worst of the Richt era.

For Richt to defend CWM on his job this year is delusional to the point of being scary to me. Special teams, offensive turnovers, and short fields unquestionably contribute to the scoring defense number and if Richt wants to acknowledge that as part of the issue, I have no problem with that. It most certainly is. But he can't bury his head and act like there hasn't been a huge shift in how our defense plays both in terms of production and attitude since BVG left.

On a side note, if anyone ever asks you when you think Georgia's current problems with Florida started, kindly direct them to October 31, 1992. The 1992 was Goff's best team and Spurrier's worst team, yet UF managed to win 26-24. That was their third straight in the series, but more importantly, it was the proof of what Spurrier had been preaching to his team for 3 years about having to believe they were going to beat Georgia no matter what. Zeier, Hearst, Hastings, and a defense that gave up 15 points/game (which is actually even better than it looks as they gave up 34 to UT when they fumbled like 1000 times) couldn't beat Spurrier. Up to that point in the series, it had always been UF that had its more talented teams beat because they played tight and Georgia KNEW they were going to win no matter what. That one game was HUGE for the psychology of the series and certainly caused a change in attitude both in UF's program and their fan's attitude when it came to the WLOCP.

More Willie

In the history of Georgia football, the Dawgs had never given up 35+ points in 3 straight conference games....until now!! I don't want to pile on Martinez, but UGA's defense is in trouble. The fundamentals have gone to shit. If an offensive lineman gets a block on Rennie, it's at least a 15 yard gain. They are constantly out of position, lined up wrong, or take the wrong angle. I don't doubt that Willie is a good position coach, and if he would have had the opportunity to be DC when BVG was, maybe the results would have been similar. But in the SEC today, the coordinators are better than ever, playcalling is better than ever, and Willie is getting schooled on a weekly basis. I could say the same about Bobo, that this isn't the conference to learn on the job, but I think the O-Line cluster buys him a break.

The Williefication of our defense

I worked on this because I want to get Willie Martinez fired!!! No, not really. I was just curious about what's change with UGA's defense. Almost everyone I talk to acknowledges that something's different, but no one can quite articulate it. Especially when compared to BVG's prior defenses, something just seems off. Well, as far as 2008 is concerned, it's not that complicated: the UGA defense is just not getting it done.

	Scoring D	Total D	Pass D	Rush D
2001	20.4	379.6	267.6	112.0
2002	16.3	309.0	187.3	121.7
2003	16.9	323.0	203.6	119.4
2004	16.7	295.9	200.7	95.2
Avg.	17.6	326.9	214.8	112.1
2005	17.2	322.0	173.5	148.5
2006	19.7	272.8	157.3	115.5
2007	19.3	319.4	205.6	113.7
2008	24.7	308.4	217.1	91.3
Avg.	20.22	305.65	188.39	117.26

	Pass Eff.	Avg/Car.	FD/Game	Sack/Game
2001	127.51	3.15	21.33	1.67
2002	115.51	3.34	17.33	3.58
2003	105.54	3.06	17.50	2.50
2004	126.11	2.84	16.00	3.60
Avg.	118.67	3.10	18.04	2.84
2005	108.74	3.98	19.08	2.67
2006	102.15	3.51	15.55	2.27
2007	112.67	3.34	18.91	3.45
2008	137.10	3.20	17.43	1.71
Avg.	115.17	3.51	17.74	2.53

	Int/Game	Fum/Game	Trnv/Game
2001	1.00	0.89	1.89
2002	1.08	1.00	2.08
2003	1.42	1.00	2.42
2004	0.40	1.10	1.50
Avg.	0.98	1.00	1.97
2005	1.25	1.08	2.33
2006	1.64	0.82	2.45
2007	1.18	0.82	2.00
2008	0.86	0.43	1.29
Avg.	1.23	0.79	2.02

	TFL/Game	Opp Punt	"Big Play"
2001	6.00	5.56	9.56
2002	9.25	6.67	14.92
2003	6.67	7.08	11.58
2004	8.50	6.20	13.60
Avg.	7.6	6.4	12.4
2005	6.75	6.08	11.75
2006	5.45	4.64	10.18
2007	7.09	5.00	12.55
2008	5.14	4.38	8.14
Avg.	6.1	5.0	10.7

First, a little on the methodology. I removed any games against 1-AA opponents or teams that just sucked beyond belief. The only good team missing from these numbers is the 2001 BC Eagles b/c the stats from that game weren't in my data and I wasn't going to put forth any more effort. So essentially these stats are SEC games, bowl games, and then the Clemson, OK State, Colorado, Boise St., etc. games. Also, the "Big Play" is the sum of Sack, Turnover, and TFL per game. I figured these were the types of plays that either obviously stopped a drive, or put the opposing offense behind the sticks.

Basically, a few things jumped out at me.

First, WM defenses average giving up about 3 point more a game than BVG, but if you take out BVG's first year, that difference is a little bigger. More troubling is that WM's defenses are trending downwards.

Secondly, holy shit did Pollack make a difference in 2002. UGA's pass efficiency dropped by 12 points, sacks doubled, turnover increased, TFL increased by 3, we forced over a punt more per game, and had over 5 more "big plays" per game than 2001.

Thirdly, what the hell happened to our secondary in 2004? I had forgotten this, but we had four (4!) interceptions that whole year. For comparison, Eric Berry has 6 so far this season.

Basically, in almost category, this year's defense is the worst of the Richt era. That kills me to say, but I think it's almost totally attributable to the lack of pass rush. The DE's this year just haven't performed as highly as we're used to.

As it turns out though, the total defense, rushing defense and passing defense numbers aren't that different under BVG. The difference is in TFL, Opp Punt/Game, and the Big Plays. Obviously how much of a difference all this makes varies on a game by game basis, but the way I interpret this that BVG's defenses were able to get off the field more than WM's are. It sounds cliche to say, but football is a game of inches and seconds and I just think our defenses were more detail oriented under BVG and were able to make big plays when they needed to.

As for the rest of this season, yikes. I don't think our current levels will hold, especially with the teams we have left. The next two seasons up from this one as far as the least number of punts forced, Big Plays, and Sacks were 01 and 06, each of which were 4 loss seasons. I don't think we're a 4 loss team this year though, and once we finish up, those number's will probably even out to around the 03 or 05 season range.

the tri guy

My open letter to Damon Evans

November 3, 2008



University of Georgia Athletic Association
Attn: Damon Evans, Director of Athletics
1 Selig Cir.
Athens, GA 30602


Re: UGA/Florida game in Jacksonville


Mr. Evans,

I wish to begin this by commending you on the outstanding job you have done since accepting the position of Athletic Director at the University of Georgia. From the athletic results, to the continued academic development of the student athletes, and also to the incredible financial success of the Athletic Association, there is no other athletic department in the country that should not be envious of yours.

The purpose of this letter is to state my vehement opposition to allowing the annual football game with Florida to remain in Jacksonville. It is my understanding that the University’s contractual obligation with the City of Jacksonville expires in 2010 and that currently negotiations have begun for extending the neutral site game into 2011 and beyond. As an alumnus and loyal Bulldog supporter (my family’s season tickets are Section 117, Row 49, Seats 1-4), I strongly believe that this is one tradition that has run its course and needs to end.

My opposition to the game remaining in Jacksonville is twofold. First, from a competitive perspective, Jacksonville is no longer a neutral site. I realize our historical success there. However, as I am sure you can attest to, the Florida Athletic Department of the 1980’s and before is gone and is not coming back. In the last 30 years, the state of Florida experienced a huge population boom, and incredible economic growth. This can be expected to continue given the retirement of the Baby Boom generation. They are now a university with over 50,000 students, great facilities, a good athletic director and coaches, and the largest instate talent base east of Texas. Playing their most hated conference rival 75 miles from their campus in a stadium formally known as the Gator Bowl is frankly an advantage Florida no longer needs.

I understand the importance of the game to the South Georgia fan base and am sympathetic to what the loss of this game would mean to them. However, a home and home series with Florida would open up scheduling flexibility. As witnessed by the Alabama-Clemson game to open the year, neutral site games are in vogue right now, so I see no reason why we could not maintain a yearly presence in Jacksonville, just not against our most important conference rival.

The second reason I believe the Jacksonville agreement should end is to prevent an inevitable disaster. In 1992, Lewis Grizzard wrote an article for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution stating: “The universities of Georgia and Florida, both fine schools, need to make an immediate decision to move their annual football out of [Jacksonville’s] Gator Bowl before somebody gets killed.” He went on to add: “Jacksonville can’t handle this thing anymore. No city could….The taunting never stops. Some of it is fun, but most of it is not. This rivalry has become so intense, it’s primed for a riot.”

As I am sure you are aware, this rivalry has not mellowed with age. That was 16 years ago and rings even truer today. The behavior that takes place on both sides of the aisles in Jacksonville has a name in other parts of the world: hooliganism. Fortunately a European style soccer riot has not occurred in Jacksonville yet, but is there any reason to believe it could not?

I do not envy your position in making this decision. I have no doubt the backlash from breaking the Jacksonville tradition would be the most intense of your tenure. The Florida contingent and national media will criticize you harshly. They reacted similarly when Auburn refused to continue playing their annual game with Alabama an hour from Tuscaloosa 20 years ago. Considering that Auburn has a winning record versus the Tide since that decision, the media story has died down considerably.

I have no doubt that you will make the decision you feel is in the best interest of the program. For this supporter however, the right decision is perfectly clear.

Go Dawgs!!


Matt R.
B.B.A. Finance and Risk Management, 2004