Bleacher Report - Articles by Kit Kitchens

Asher's replacements

Kit Kitchens — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:10:00 -0500

I posted this word-for-word in my Examiner.com piece (CLICK IT!), but I figured it was good and needed to share it here as well. If it sucks, just disregard.

With the surprising announcement that UGA cornerback Asher Allen is departing for the NFL, the scramble has already begun for the Dawgs defense to try and find someone to replace him at the short corner position. The wide corner position will still be held by Prince Miller and Vance Cuff.

Mechele, our Georgia Bulldogs Examiner, has the announcement on Allen's departure, and here you will find a list of potential replacements at his position. Unfortunately for the Dawgs, the list is full of inexperience at the position. The year next to the players' names will be their status for the 2010 season.

Current UGA CBs:

Brandon Boykin (So.) -- Boykin is an athletic playmaker who saw the field sparingly for UGA this past year; mainly on special teams. He has good size at 5'10" and even though his weight is only 176 lbs., a year in offseason strength and conditioning should help his frame. He also has great speed and won the Newcomer of the Year Award on defense. He will most likely be first on the depth chart when spring drills arrive.

Sanders Commings (RFr.) -- Commings was redshirted this year but is a large defensive back at 6'0". His drawback is that he weighs almost 210 lbs., which makes him a near lock to be a safety for the Dawgs. Should his speed improve and he drops about 20 lbs. in the offseason, he's not likely to be a replacement.

Makiri Pugh (RFr.) -- Pugh is a very athletic player, but was hampered by injuries for most of the year and was relegated to either sitting out or participating on the scout team. However, his size and frame fit the bill as a potential replacement (6'0" at 188 lbs.). With more reps, he could be a solid contender for playing time.

Baccari Rambo (RFr.) -- Aside from having one of the "cooler" names on the UGA roster, Rambo is an intimidating presence in the secondary. However, he's quite oversized at the position, much like Sanders Commings, at 6'0" and 208 lbs. He ran quarterback on the scout team this past season and redshirted as well. The UGA coaches have praised Rambo's ability to read quarterbacks since it was his position in high school, and like him as an equalizer in the secondary. It's unlikely that he'll move from his listed position as a safety.

Nick Williams (RFr.) -- Yet another redshirt for the Dawgs, Williams played linebacker in high school and that seems to be where he'll end up at UGA unless he improves his top-end speed and learns the cornerback position quickly. However, he is on UGA's roster as a defensive back, so it's possible he'll end up there, but I would say it's not likely whatsoever.

Chad Gloer (RJr.) -- Gloer is very athletic and has until this point, been a force on special teams. He played sparingly against Georgia Tech this past year, but did record a couple of tackles in the contest. He is a walk-on for UGA, but like former walk-on Andrew Williams, he could see playing time due to his time in the system and the fact that plays with a high motor. His time playing the position could lead to some playing time down the road, but most likely not as a starter.

Incoming UGA Recruits:

Branden Smith (Fr.) -- The first name to pop up on everyone's mind upon Allen's decision was that of incoming freshman Branden Smith. Smith is a very talented and very quick cornerback, who makes great plays on the football while in the air. Although he is a five-star recruit according to Rivals.com, it is unlikely that he'll start from day one. He will need to work on his technique some, but it is more probable than possible that he will see the field, especially in nickel defensive schemes.

Jordan Love (Fr.) -- Many consider Love to be a sleeper in this class as Rivals only has him rated as a three-star defensive back. However, Love has the frame (6'0" at 185 lbs.) to be a lockdown corner at some point in his career. He is also very quick; posting a 4.41 40-yard dash. He will have some work to do on his technique, but depending on how he comes into fall camp, he could very well avoid a redshirt and see the field.

Shawn Williams (Fr.) -- At 6'1" and 195 lbs., Williams is a hard-hitter and a great run stopper. He is built in the same mold as former Georgia greats Greg Blue and Thomas Davis. It's possible that he could see the field as a defensive back, but it is almost certain that he will be playing safety in college. He also lacks the top-end speed needed to hold down the short corner position.

Potential Recruits:

Greg Reid (Fr.) -- The formal verbal commitment to the University of Florida, Reid is being heavily pursued by UGA as a cornerback. Once considered to be a Florida lock, Reid is now going to decide which college he is going to on February 3. He's slightly undersized at the cornerback position (5'9") but is close to where he needs to be regarding weight (175 lbs.) and plays much bigger than his body. He won defensive MVP honors at the Under Armor All-American game on ESPN. He is considering UGA, Florida, Alabama and Florida State. Many recruiting analysts think it is a two-team race between UGA an Florida for his signature.

Regardless of who ends up taking Asher Allen's spot on the defense, one thing is for certain, and that is the secondary will be loaded with inexperience next year, especially at the cornerback position.

Well, there you have it. In my opinion, it was a boneheaded move for Asher to go since another good year would have likely made him a first or second round pick. However, whatever he makes when he gets drafted will likely be a lot more than I've ever made, so I guess it makes sense.

Good luck Asher. Wish you were here.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno of Georgia Bulldogs to Enter NFL Draft?

Kit Kitchens — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:17:00 -0500

I can't cite any sources because I don't have any well-connected ones, but what I do know is that when a rumor is this white-hot (and this one is) there is a certain fire to the proverbial smoke. Tomorrow (Wednesday), it's expected that both Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno will announce their intentions to turn pro.

I'll be honest, the timing of the whole thing took me by surprise. I think it's taken a lot of folks by surprise because there are not many folks writing about it right now. However, it shouldn't have taken too many of us off guard as UGA resumes classes Thursday and a Stafford and Moreno no-show would've killed the surprise.

A big, nay, huge hat tip has to go to The Song Writer, who first informed me of the rumor about 9:00 or 10:00 tonight.

Tomorrow should be interesting, but if I'm right about this, I won't lie. I'll be a bit disappointed. I wish those two, who may be two of the best players to ever suit up between the hedges, would've been able to go out with at least some type of championship.

However, if you were to tell me that I could make $70 million (with $30 million of it guaranteed) and I may or may not become the next Ryan Leaf, I'd still do it. In fact, for $30 million, you could tattoo "I came too early" on my butt and I'd still be happy...and about $30 million more rich than you.

Let's see how tomorrow shakes out first, but if this is true, then we need to get behind those two and wish them well. They're still Dawgs.

Until next time, kids.

Be safe.

Georgia Bulldogs News: Branden Smith Commits, Rodney Garner Stays Put

Kit Kitchens — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:54:00 -0500

Two quick things:

1. Branden Smith has chosen to attend college at UGA. To sum up my Examiner.com write-up of the commitment, just know that it's a BIG get for us.

2. Rodney Garner is staying at UGA. Just yesterday I said he was 99 percent sure to be gone. Then, he just changed his mind. I agree with PWD that it's tough to ignore $400K, and it's damn tough for fans to ask Garner to be loyal to Richt, but Richt not to be loyal to Martinez. I still think the timing sucks after Garner said he was coming back, but at least he's coming back, right?

Anyway, those are the two major stories. It's late, and I'm ready to go to bed after watching Texas' amazing comeback win against Ohio State.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

UGA vs. MSU

Kit Kitchens — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:11:00 -0500

Ok, I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. We should win this game. We just have to do the right things the right way.

As always, Jody's Information Overload can be found here and Doug's game preview can be found here.

When MSU has the ball:

Stop the run. There's statistics that say they can throw the ball, but the truth is, does anyone here really believe them? I don't. Aside from Ringer, I couldn't name another single player on their team.

So that means we have to stop Ringer (AND TACKLE HIM) every chance we get. MSU's passing game is a non-factor until Ringer gets to running well and then we won't be able to defend.

When UGA has the ball:

MoMass is 90 yards away from 1,000. A.J. Green is 45 yards away. Knowshon and Matthew could very well be playing in their last game. Look for the Dawgs to be aggressive and try to play one of the most electric games offensively that we've ever seen.

It won't be tough. We just need to go for the jugular like Florida and put it away early...and then pile on some more.

Special Teams:

We shouldn't have to talk about this, but I will. We need this area to step up big. Walsh is going to be money FG wise, but I'm just praying our coverage on kickoffs and on punts is good enough to keep us out of bad situations.

What I think will happen:

With all the jibber jabber about how disappointing our season has been, a lot of folks have really written off the potential for this UGA team to be damn good. If we go out there and play to that level, you might just walk away impressed.

However, don't count MSU out. UGA was once considered the top team in the land and MSU was never even given an honor close to that. This is a statement game for them as much as it is for us. We just have to play harder.

Dawgs win and hopefully win big.

MSU -- 20
UGA -- 52

Until next time kids.

Be safe (and Go Dawgs!).

Georgia Bulldogs Football: Quick Hits

Kit Kitchens — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:45:00 -0500

Ok, I get it. “Kit, you’ve been a bad blogger, where have you been, blah blah blah.” Well, it’s not like I’ve been hiding or anything.

The truth is, there isn’t that much to report on and due to the holidays, I haven’t had that much time to sit down and say “here’s a full article on this” or “here’s some quick hits on that.”

Anyway, there are a few things I’d like to touch on before I TRY and write a full-blown game preview. No promises on the preview, though.

Are you following me on Twitter yet? If not, you should. If there’s any breaking news, I usually post it there first, AND you get the bonus insight of living in my head, complete with random thoughts. Twitter’s free and your friends are doing it.

Can I rant for a minute about the ridiculousness that is Georgia Tech buying rings to commemorate their win against us? “We beat us some UGA, let’s go get some bling.” Stupidity at its finest. Oh and before someone wants to give me sh*t about us retiring Sapp’s jersey, let me go ahead and stop you in your tracks. Retiring a jersey is one thing because it’s honoring the individual effort of a player who did great things. PLUS, it’s not some cheesy-ass piece of jewelry with a score on it. You tell me what sounds better: “This guy helped his team beat our hated rival, so in honor we retired his jersey” or “We beat Georgia, so we bought some rings.” Case, considered yourself “rested.”

If you haven’t visited Mackie lately over at Blogging Pantsless, you should. He’s still pumping out great posts, and one of those included this gem about a UGA degree offering the highest ROI of ANY SCHOOL IN THE NATION. Yes, that includes private schools and Ivy League schools where they don’t give grades, you’re just allowed to come back. So, to that commenter from Tech that wanted to brag on and on about his Mercedes and how much better his degree is than mine, I’d like to offer up the classy question: “How’s my ass taste?” (Capt. Obvious says that YouTube clip of Shaq is NSFW)

So it seems that Stacy Searles is staying with UGA instead of going back to his alma mater of Auburn. This is what we in the world of the fan call “good news.” Seriously, he is one of the most important hires of the Richt era so far, and retaining him is huge. If he can put together an OL with the talent he had to work with this year, think of what he can do next year when everyone’s healthy and we have two good OL recruiting classes behind us.

For my money, Stafford stays and Knowshon’s gone. The only insider knowledge I have is word of mouth, so it’s not reliable, but I think both really are 50/50 right now. They both seem to love college and UGA, so that works in our favor. However, I think Knowshon knows he’s one injury away from being a second or third round pick (even when he gets healthy again) and that will lure him to the NFL. I think Stafford, on the other hand, knows he needs one more year to have career longevity in the NFL and if he can be a top five pick without the stats, then he’ll be one with the stats (and hopefully the rings to boot).

Don’t forget that Branden Smith (“Percy Harvin Jr.” out of Washington HS) will announce his college decision on Saturday (Jan. 4) during the ESPN Under Armor game (8:00 pm ET). He’d be a huge get for this recruiting class, and I think the Dawgs are pretty much the team to beat right now for his signature. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

Ok, well that does it for me. Don’t forget to keep checking Examiner.com if you want to read an unbiased opinion on Georgia Football, or if you want to help me make money (because the lottery ain't working for sh*t).

Until next time, kids.

Be safe.

Brian VanGorder Facts for Georgia Bulldog Fans

Kit Kitchens — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:45:00 -0500

Am I one to mock?

If you answered this question with a “no,” “maybe,” or “I don’t know,” then I’d like to welcome you to the blog. This is obviously your first time here.

Anyway, one of the recurring themes since the Alabama game has been the constant comparison between former defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder and current defensive coordinator Willie Martinez. Dawg fans have been relentless in putting BVG on a pedestal while taking liberties at throwing WM under the bus.

Now I’m not saying that a little bashing of Martinez isn’t warranted. Lord knows I’ve done my fair share, and so has the President-elect. However, I think anointing BVG as the second coming of Erk Russell is a little premature and, honestly, annoying. BUT, it makes for good writing.

So, with that in mind, I’d like to give you some Brian VanGorder “facts” that you may not have heard before (for the record, No. 2 and No. 3 were not written by me).

1. BVG let the dogs out. And he's pissed that you asked about it.

2. BVG once bet NASA he could survive re-entry without a spacesuit. On July 19, 1999, a naked BVG re-entered the earth's atmosphere, streaking over 14 states and reaching a temperature of 3,000 degrees. An embarrassed NASA publicly claimed it was a meteor and still owes him a beer.

3. The chief export of BVG is PAIN.

4. BVG doesn't coach. He merely sends mortals out to do his work so that fewer people get killed.

5. If you ask BVG for a form of identification, he steamrolls you to the ground and then puts you in the "lips jar."

6. BVG in a call to Tim Tebow: "Tim, I am your father."

7. Chernobyl wasn't a disaster. Merely a place where BVG spiked the nuclear football.

8. BVG has already read this list and has come up with schemes to defend against it.

9. BVG doesn't recruit players. He keeps them from going somewhere else.

10. How do you know if you've gotten a present from BVG for Christmas? You wake up on Dec. 26.

11. BVG sneezed on a man once. After three days in the hospital, countless surgeries to fix internal bleeding, and a visit from Dr. House, the man was released.

12. BVG is the one man Urban Meyer WON’T point and stare at.

13. If BVG had taken part in “The Celebration,” he would have left a path of passed-out strippers and empty cans of Old Milwaukee.

14. BVG’s secret ingredient when he cooks is BLITZ.

15. BVG’s “Two Thumbs Up” is not a sign of a job well done. He’s just telling his players to let the other team live.

16. BVG IS the best thing since sliced bread.

17. BVG doesn’t introduce himself. He just asks, “Have you accepted BVG as your personal lord and savior?”

18. People are petitioning Webster’s to eliminate the word “perfect” from the dictionary and replace it with BVG. For example, “For two payments of $19.95, you can own the ‘BVG Pushup.’”

19. BVG taught Dirk Diggler everything he knows.

20. If Rennie Curran swam from Liberia to kick your ass, BVG was the one saying, “Stroke! Stroke!”

Well, there you have it. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Merry Christmas to all of you, and I hope everyone has a very happy and safe new year.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Georgia News: Jeff Owens Will Return for Senior Season

Kit Kitchens — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:50:00 -0500

Per David Hale, defensive tackle Jeff Owens announced today after bowl practice that he will be returning for his senior season.

The announcement does come as somewhat of a shock as most of those that cover UGA football had him leaning towards leaving for the NFL even though he tore his ACL in the first game of the season against Georgia Southern. Since then, Owens has been aggressively rehabbing his knee in preparation for the offseason, or possibly the NFL Draft.

In the interview, Owens also stated that Coach Rodney Garner, the UGA defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator, told Owens that he would be staying with UGA through next year. This is also a huge plus as Garner was rumored to be in the running for a possible defensive coordinator position with the Auburn Tigers, along with being associated with vacated head coaching jobs across the nation.

This is all good news for UGA as they look to retool their defense next season to get more pressure on the quarterback and do better against the run. With Owens back in the lineup, UGA will have Owens, Kade Weston and Geno Atkins anchoring the defensive tackle positions.

To me, I was actually surprised that Owens was even considering the leap. He was good, but nowhere near good enough for someone to draft him high when he had a bum knee. In order to go even on the first day, he'd have to work out at the combine, and that's still a pipe dream. I'm glad he's decided to come back, but if you're asking me, I think he was more forced to than anything else.

Either way, I'm excited. Having Owens, Atkins and Weston rotating in and out with Tyson providing a good backup role will do wonders for us. Now if we could just work on that defensive end problem we're having...

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Georgia Bulldog Fans: Get Your Grill Topper!

Kit Kitchens — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:54:00 -0500

As the Christmas Day inches closer on your calendar, it's worth reminding everyone that it's not too late to order your Georgia Grill Topper today. For those who are rabid about tailgating, or just grilling in general, it's a great gift.

Also, for anyone worried about fitting the Grill Topper in a loved one's grill, trust me when I say it's a non-issue. The Grill Topper is designed to fit on top of your current grill rack, so there's no measuring or being worried about it's ability to fit on the grill.

I'm happy with my Grill Topper. You should grab yourself, or a loved one, a Georgia-themed Grill Topper in time for the holidays (and the bowl game) and be happy with yours as well.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

P.S.: They have other teams as well...but we forgive them for it.

Stacy Searels to Join Auburn Coaching Staff?

Kit Kitchens — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 01:58:00 -0500

By now, you've probably finally stopped laughing at the Gene Chizik hire over on the Plains. However, one rumor that's floating around and gaining some traction is that O-line Coach Stacy Searels has already been in contact with Auburn officials about joining the new staff. (subscription required)

I say it's gaining traction because apparently Richt has no comment on the matter yet, which in the gossip world always means "yes," but I have no idea if it means the exact same thing in the football world.

Personally, I think Searels name has been thrown around already with Auburn officials as a "must-get" guy, no matter who came in to be a head coach, but I doubt that merely hours after the hire of Chizik, Searels has already been contacted.

Hell, Chizik hasn't even had enough time to pack up the trophy case he bought for all those Big XII titles he's won. I highly doubt he's had time to pick up the phone and call potential assistants.

The Chizik hire has been incredibly rushed, it took everyone off-guard and the Barners are very pissed about it. What I think is most likely the case here is that Searels' name has been kicked around and some of those famous tight-lipped Auburn boosters let it out that Searels was a target. From there, the story gained ground and took off running.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't worry about losing Searels, because we certainly should be. However, nothing's set in stone and if you think that UGA won't make a STRONG push to keep him on staff, you're insane.

Out of all our assistants, Searels is one of, if not the most, important one to keep for future success. He made an O-line this year out of duct tape and bubble gum. We'll do whatever we can to keep him.

More to come.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

P.S. -- If you're looking for a great "damn, what a stupid mistake they made" article about the Chizik hire at Auburn, also check out PWD's post about the differences between Chizik and current Buffalo head coach Turner Gill.

The folks in power at the Plains REALLY f*cked this one up.

Georgia Tech Fans, Get Over Yourselves

Kit Kitchens — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:55:00 -0500

Man, you guys are bona fide idiots, aren't you? I think we've already extensively covered the fact that you won the game. You're not going to hear an argument from me at all.

In fact, in my Examiner.com recap, you'll notice that I was VERY complimentary of Georgia Tech. I said at the beginning of the season you guys would be tough to beat, and I was laughed at back then. Now, I have the unfortunate opportunity to tell throngs of Dawg fans, "I told you so."

Two (yes, TWO) weeks after the Tech game, though, some Tech fan has decided to find my blog and throw his thoughts into the pile:

Yes, UGA will always be the football school, while Georgia Tech ranks much better in academics. Being a Tech grad, I'm happy with that and the fact that my income also ranks over and above my UGA friends'. So all you UGA fans go to the game next year in your beat-up Chevy, and I'll go in my new Mercedes, and we'll all watch another good round of football. But when we leave, I'll go back to the Town Club while UGA grads go back to the farm and the convenience stores.

I find it really sad that football is UGA's biggest accomplishment.

What's next? We gonna settle this with a dance-off?

Look, just because you won a football game doesn't change the reason why I can't stand you people. You Tech fans all suffer from that syndrome that affects "less equipped" males. You've played second fiddle to UGA for so long that you just HAVE to go out of your way every time you do something that is better than us.

Honestly, it's more than a little annoying, and it's something that I wish would just quit altogether. But I know that you guys have nothing better to do than to crunch numbers (literally), so I'll let you have your fun.

One thing, though. If you're so f*cking smart, how do you explain:

Your flag boy?

Your idiot fans who can't cut—AND—Your redneck fans who sneak knives into stadiums?

Your "literal name" symbols of the school?

Your inability to sell tickets?

Your inability to get laid?

You see, you can have your "Mercedes" and whatever other bullsh*t you wish to claim. You can laugh all you want about this year. The truth is, about 9 out of 10 people will take a degree at UGA over Tech any day.

High school kids fight tooth and nail to get into our school because we offer things Tech never can. We offer the chance for someone to grow up, be social, find their way through a myriad of different career choices, and the chance to make fun of the dorky little bitches down the street (that'd be you guys).

If you can't handle it, I suggest you use all that engineering knowledge to build a bridge and get the f*ck over it.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Time to Rant about Georgia's Season

Kit Kitchens — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:08:00 -0500

Well, where do we begin?

How about we begin by having you click over to my Examiner.com write-up for the game and tell me with a straight face that you disagree with anything I said.

I don't know what's worse: the fact that I'm writing about Georgia losing to Tech and not using four-letter words, or the fact that I wrote everything with the least bit of shock in my words.

Now, I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but to say that UGA has problems defensively would be an understatement the size of Elliot Spitzer's apology to his wife.

As I was watching the Tech game, I kept having the feeling that with every tackle after four or five yards rushing, we were just polishing the brass on the Titanic.

Sure, I had just as much faith that the ball might bounce our way and we could pull one out, but the truth is no one on the defensive side of the ball (sans a Liberian named Rennie Curran) deserved to win that game.

Offensively, it was a different story. The Bulldogs were a force to be reckoned with, not only with throwing the ball, but also with accurate play calling.

QB Matt Stafford made a couple of ill-advised throws, but for the most part, he was where we needed him to be.

Furthermore, words cannot describe the amount of respect I have for WR Mohamed Massaquoi—MoMass. He might just go down as my second favorite Bulldog behind D.J. Shockley. He left his guts on the field Saturday and, truth be told, he deserved better than to have to walk off the field with his head hung in shame.

I've seem some half-assed attempts at tackling before, but this is the first time I can remember that I saw a Mark Richt team get progressively worse with fundamentals as the season went on.

Now, I'll support Richt and what he does for the university as long as he is our head coach. If and when he leaves, I'll still be a fan and will be for life.

However, our players have been thrown under the bus so much that they're getting road rash. In fact, Blair Walsh has used his time wisely by learning to fix an axel, flush your transmission fluid, and grease joints.

I don't have a problem with how Richt chooses to run our team. We try to graduate players, put players in the NFL and win some games along the way.

However, our utter lack of addressing problems adequately is something I'm really sick of seeing.

If we can't tackle in the fifth game, we shouldn't be having the same problem by the 12th. If we're missing assignments against Georgia Southern, we shouldn't be missing them against Georgia Tech.

I'm not a coach. I'm not paid $2.8 million a year to figure that out. Is the answer firing a coach? I don't know.

Is it keeping things like they are? NO. That most certainly is not the answer.

Our answer is currently getting ready to play Michigan State in the Capital One Bowl. Hopefully it's the one we're all looking for.

Until next time, kids.

Be safe.

Georgia-Georgia Tech: Clean, Old Fashioned Hate Week 2008

Kit Kitchens — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:22:00 -0500

You know, I was actually having a tough time coming up with something to write earlier today. I was even sitting back thinking "man I really don't have that much to write about and I have too much work stuff to do."

Then I read this comment that was posted today on last year's post "The Endgame:"

"You are a bitch. If I ever met you in person, you could bet I'd punch you in the face."

Now, mind you, this comment was left TODAY on a post from last year. If that doesn't give you any motivation to get into the spirit of hating Georgia Tech, then I don't know what will.

Ok, John (who just might be my roommate), you'll never punch me in the face, for a number of reasons.

1) Merely stating that you'll do it means you won't. You're like that guy in the bar that slams his fist down real hard, then points and stares at the other guy who's currently leaving with his girlfriend.

2) I can't take you seriously as a Tech fan. A real Tech fan wouldn't talk about fighting. A real Tech fan would've said "I'll see you in W.O.W punk. Your magical bow with fairy-tipped arrows won't save you now." Being a Tech fan is one thing, but pretending to be one is like being an assistant crack-whore.

3) If you were really mad at me, you would've tried to prove me wrong. Everyone knows that gets underneath my skin worse than anything. But then again, that wouldn't do any good, since I'm always right.

So, John, if you're a Tech fan and I've gotten underneath your skin, then I'd like to extend my hand to you in honor of this week:

I don't need a picture to say a thousand words. Just two will be fine.

TUCK FECH.

It's time to play. Enjoy the hate week ladies and gents.

Until next time kids, be safe.

Georgia-Auburn: Dawgs Must Minimize Mistakes to Beat Tigers

Kit Kitchens — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:41:00 -0500

Man, I am some kind of exhausted today. Between beginning the new gig at Examiner and work being out of damn control, I'm just beat.

This one will be kind of short (I'm hoping), but you know what happens when I tend to bloviate. As always, you can find Jody's Information Overload here and Doug's preview here. You can also find my preview at Examiner.com here, and you should click that one. A lot.

When AU has the ball

Well, what do they do? Aside from having a mediocre rushing game, they might as well just run out there and kneel on the ball a lot. The Kodi Burns experiment is going about as well as the Tony Franklin one, and if the Tigers didn't have Ben Tate and Brad Lester, they'd really be hurting for some offense.

Now, that's not to say that Burns is completely ineffective. He's rushed for a good number of yards this year, but the passing game has been somewhat lacking. In fact, since Auburn is so change happy, I would suggest they go ahead and begin calling themselves the penguins, because this team is definitely not getting anywhere through the air.

What scares me is if we don't go out there and play solid, assignment football. We'd better go hat-on-hat and shoot the gaps well, because the athletic ability of Burns will get us if we don't play as solid as we can defensively.

What I do like is the fact that Corvey Irvin, Rennie Curran, and Dannell Ellerbe called the defense into a players' only meeting and demanded more out of the unit. Whether or not that translates into actual play on the field is yet to be seen, but I'd be interested to see if there is any more excitement and swagger from the guys.

When UGA has the ball

Well, more of the same, really. The effort was there for sure, and aside from two untimely fumbles from MoMass, we played GREAT on the offensive side.

I'd like to see Stafford have the same type of mentally tough effort against Auburn because they have a much better defense than UK, especially in regards to their DEs. Our beat-up O-line is going to have their hands full. The good thing is that Auburn has not been as good stopping the run, but they are VERY GOOD against the pass.

Stafford's going to have to play mistake-free football, and we're going to have to ride this win through the legs of Knowshon Moreno in order to come out of Auburn with a win. Plain and simple, old-school Mark Richt pound-the-rock-to-milk-the-clock football is going to win this game for us.

Special Teams

Just don't suck this week. Please. OH, AND BEFORE I FORGET, don't let Tristan Davis score.

What I think will happen

UGA's got a good team this year, and Auburn doesn't. I'm not being mean towards the Tigers, but it's true. I think the team that plays the smartest football is the one that walks away the winner, so whoever can play assignment football the best and keep the mistakes at a minimum will be the one that gets the "W" on Saturday.

UGA 38, AU 17

Until next time kids.

Be safe (and Go Dawgs!).

Georgia-Kentucky Preview: Dawgs Need Determination, Domination

Kit Kitchens — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:42:00 -0500

OK, so I sat down to write this preview, and after looking at this screen for well over an hour, I can't even dare to know where to begin.

So I won't. I can't get over the Florida loss. I can't focus, and I know the game against a 6-3 Kentucky team is a big one, especially given what they did to us in Lexington in 2006.

However, I'm of the mindset that there are few things that I can't take, and getting embarrassed like we did last Saturday and then writing a long preview about what we need to do is one of them.

As always, you can find Jody's Information Overload here, and Doug's been missing since Obama was named president. He was last seen running up and down his road with a "Change '08" sticker on his ass and an American flag tied around his neck.

As for me, you're getting the Erk Russell version of a preview: quick, simple, and when done right, unstoppable.

When UK has the ball

1) Hit 'em hard. Hit them like you're trying to put out a fire with brute force. Tackle them effectively, and when you make contact, take them to the ground.

2) Get after that QB's ass. He's inexperienced, and when he sees you coming at him, he'll flinch. When that happens, make sure he had a good reason to in the first place.

3) If a pass is thrown, it had better hit the ground or hit one of our guys in the hands. When that happens, we'd better intercept it and put our offense in good position to score points.

When UGA has the ball

1) We'd better block hard. We'd better road grade some guys. I know their defensive line is tough, but they're not Dawgs. However, you are. You have the luxury of being coached by one of the best in the nation. You have the luxury of working out in the best facilities in the nation. You are also, by the grace of the Almighty Himself, wearing Red and Black on Saturday.

If that doesn't give you enough will to hit someone in the mouth, then I feel sorry for your soul and your butt, because your soul has no hope and your butt should be firmly planted in Athens.

2) We'd better run hard. We give you the ball, you take off with it. When you get hit, you fall forward for extra yardage. The first man that hits you should never be the first man to take you down. For every red shirt that falls down, there'd better be five blue ones taking him to the ground.

3) We'd better catch the ball. They'll grab you at the line. They'll bump you in coverage. It's your ball, and show how thankful you are to have your QB throw it to you by catching the damn thing. Fight for your space, fight for the ball, and then fight for extra yards.

Special Teams

1) Should we stall on a drive and have to punt, we need to kick it deep, high, and cover. We do those three things, we'll have no problems.

2) Should we have to kick a field goal, put it through the uprights. Simple, right?

3) If they punt, we try to block it. If they get the punt off, we try to catch it and score with it.

4) If they kick a FG, we try to block it. If we don't and they get three points, as long as we have one more than them at the end of the day, I'll be OK with that.

What I think will happen

I don't know what I'm going to eat for lunch tomorrow, much less have a damned clue as to what's going to happen in this game. I've been disappointed some this season. It ain't the first time I've felt it, and it damn sure won't be the last.

But in regards to this game, at 12:30 on Saturday, we'd better whip ass for 60 minutes. There should be scoring, there should be determination, and there should be domination.

Anything less is unacceptable.

UGA 42, UK 20

Until next time kids.

Be safe (and Go Dawgs!).

Georgia Defense Needs Change We Can Believe in

Kit Kitchens — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:02:00 -0500

Editor's Note: Yes, this is a blatant ripoff of the excellent work Doug did in the offseason, but I had an idea I thought was funny, and I ran with it. I hope Doug won't mind, but if he does, please know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It also should be noted that I voted for McCain.

From the desk of President-Elect Barack Obama:

My fellow Americans,

Look how far we've come. As I write this, I am now the new President-Elect of this great nation, and I humbly accept the honor that you have bestowed upon me. Today is a great day. A day of hope, a day where change is beginning, and a day that I will consider to be the first of great things to come for this country.

However, more change is required, and until I get into office officially, there are still some things that need to be addressed.

You heard me speak of how the middle class is eroding. That's right—the heart and soul of this country is fading away, leaving people feeling as helpless as ever. In a place where opportunity, freedom, and hope go hand in hand, situations like this need to be addressed.

Since I have no official policy-making authority right now, I have decided to use my newfound position to influence areas where my voice can be heard. Where I can inspire and give hope to those who need it the most.

College football.

You see, while campaigning last week, I was able to catch the annual UGA-Florida game from the road. What I saw was a Defense that needed hope, a helping hand, and a chance to get back on its feet.

I saw the heart and soul of this Defense, the Secondary, lose the ability to stop the Florida Gators from putting up massive amounts of points. Points that should have gone to the Georgia Bulldogs.

In an effort to "spread the wealth," I have developed a plan that will lift the UGA Defense back to where it should be. Back to being the heart and soul of this team.

Right now, gone are the days of Erk Russell and Brian Van Gorder. Gone are the days where an opposing team steps on the field against the Dawgs and feel like they may never get an edge Offensively.

Those days will come again.

My opponent, Urban Meyer, would like for you to believe that I'm soft on Defense. That's simply not the case. I'm actually very hard on Defense, but for too long have we had "soft" Defense on this team. We need change, ladies and gentlemen. Change we can believe in.

This Defense has had a "bend but don't break" mentality. Standing up, if I bend over, I may not be broken, but I'm twice as close to kissing someone's feet or being a prisoner's boyfriend. That is unacceptable in Barack Obama's world.

In my world, we stand tall, we talk with our hands, we motivate with our actions, and most importantly, we WIN.

My plan is simple. We must do the basics right. We must create a Defense that is fair, balanced, and accepted across the ENTIRE Dawg Nation. Here is my plan in four simple steps.

1) Raise the responsibility of the Secondary

For far too long, the front seven of this team has borne the brunt of an opposing Offense while the Secondary sits back and fails the rest of the team. That's not to say those people in the Secondary are bad people. I care about them all. However, they cannot keep going at this pace and keep true growth from happening over the entire Defense.

We must raise the tax of responsibility and coverage on the Defense in order to ease the struggles of the front seven. It will not be easy, but in my plan, only the top part of the Defense will get taxed. If this works effectively, the taxation of the front seven will only lower in this regard.

2) We must limit and fix injuries

As you all know, health and well-being are important things to me. I want this team to be healthy, and I will do whatever it takes to keep them that way.

Under my plan, Jeff Owens would have a robotic knee. My ultimate goal is to see players succeed, and in order to do that, they must be healthy. So, at the government's expense, the next player to be hurt will become a Robo-Dawg.

3) We need strong, aggressive leadership

You saw my campaign ads. I go for the jugular. We need a coach on the sidelines that feels the same way. I'm not saying Willie Martinez needs to be fired, but he certainly needs a change in attitude.

Martinez, as a red-blooded football man, needs to find that aggression he had when he sacked Colt Brennan 2,439.5 times in last year's Sugar Bowl. In my eyes, that's the only surge that worked (ha ha!). That aggression has been lost under the last year of the Bush administration (and who can blame him for that), but no longer.

I will meet with Willie personally and show him how to be ruthless, aggressive, and condescending, even with a smile on his face. I did it all through the debates and in my ads. Trust me, we can make "Evil Willie" something else other than a bad name for a porno flick.

4) We must associate with other badasses

As you can tell, I like to have people around me that have the ability to blow sh*t up at any point in time. Take my association with William "Bill Brasky" Ayers for example. That man could make a bomb out of a strand of hair, a stick of gum, and a Mickey Mouse doll. I see nothing wrong with that.

In fact, I would suggest that UGA re-associate themselves with resident badasses like Brian Van Gorder, David Pollack, Odell Thurman, Thomas Davis, and Greg Blue. We need to do dinner with these bloodthirsty maniacs and let our association with them breathe fire into this team. BOOM!...heh, just kidding. That wasn't a real bomb.

Citizens of this great country, join me in this fight for a restoration of the middle of the field. Help me keep the greedy "let's let them get as many yards through the air as possible" Secondary in check by raising the tax of responsibility and lowering the tax of humility for EVERYONE.

We can do this. The hope is there. The change is necessary. The difference is YOU.

I'm President-Elect Barack Obama, and I approved this kick-ass message.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

The Rant: Georgia Football Continues to Struggle

Kit Kitchens — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:50:00 -0500

Seriously, we're not going to discuss what happened on Saturday. Though we are going to talk about what has happened and continues to happen to Georgia. Especially in big games.

Let's go ahead and clear the air. Florida has earned the right to gloat and Urban Meyer is a classless bleep. Above all though, I believe Georgia WANTS to win games like this.

However, our team is lacking something. Not just pressure on the front line or complicated blitz packages to force turnovers. Georgia needs something else in order to achieve the success we've seen as little as three years ago.

This is not a rant about "heart." We have plenty of desire to win every game we play. I can see that within our players. I know it must've killed them yesterday to experience the total domination that was the second half of that game.

This is about our aggressiveness, nasty streak, ability to embarrass opponents and our swagger. We have NONE. Haven't had it all year—especially on defense. It's a shame to say it, but gone are the days of Junkyard Dawg-dom and who know when, or if, they'll ever come back.

I love UGA and UGA sports just as much, or more, than most people out there. Hell, I've spent three and a half years writing about it for free. You would think that I care just a little bit about what's going on, and at the same time, have managed to keep some objectivity along the way.

But I can't take this anymore. I miss the "Lips Jar." The jar created by Brian Van Gorder for opposing players' paper lips (or maybe even entire heads) to be placed in after a large hit. I miss the headhunters of Greg Blue and Thomas Davis. I miss the motor of David Pollack and the determination of Charles Grant. I miss the speed and tenacity of Odell Thurman.

What I miss is someone on that sideline who turns the players we have on the field literally sweating talent, into players like the ones mentioned above. You can scream about leadership in that locker room all you want, but it starts and ends with the coaches.

I could never see a situation where I would want Mark Richt fired. I'm not the guy that is screaming for his head. However, some of the things we're seeing right now need to be fixed and fixed quickly. Now while a good portion of the Dawg Nation has called for the head of Willie Martinez, I have held off.

I'm breaking that silence now.

In order to go to the next level, we've got to stop just playing defense and start playing Dawg Defense. We need fire, aggressiveness, and an attitude that is only found in some of the top defenses across the nation. I need an Erk to come to UGA and have some Dawgs ready to take heads off, protect the middle and go crazy at the sign of a big hit.

I need a defense that makes offenses tremble. While I believe most of the problems are on the defense, I also need an offense that scares defenses with touchdowns instead of field goals. I need an attitude that we had last year, but have yet to see this year.

Somewhere along the lines, it appears that we believed our own hype. That our talent alone would somehow get us to the SEC Championship this year. Well guess what, our preseason No.1 ranking hasn't won us a damn thing other than some excellent TV coverage so that we can get our butts kicked in front of a national TV audience.

Look, I'm not asking for heads to roll, but I'm asking for something, ANYTHING, to put the actual fire into the red and fear into the black that we don for games. I don't care how it happens, but we're a long cry from Willie Martinez jumping into the arms of Dannell Ellerbe after an interception against Hawai'i.

Please get aggressive, please be feared and please do not take a business-like approach to preparing for Kentucky. The quotes after our loss to Florida are a joke. I don't want you to cry, but I certainly want you to be less like you were after getting your ass whipped, and more like you should be feeling when you're ready to fight back.

Now's the time to get mean. I'm ready when you are.

UGA—UF: Hate Week 2008 Part I

Kit Kitchens — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:33:00 -0400

Well, Hate Week 2008 Part I is slowly drawing to a close as the game approaches. There's not enough posts in me to really tell you how much I hate the University of Florida. I guess at some point I'm going to have to quit my childish behavior and act like someone who knows a little bit about football.

As always, you can find Jody's information overload here and Doug's preview here.

So, let's not waste any time talking about the rivalry and spend a little bit of time talking about the game.

When Florida has the ball

Geez, where do you start? I mean from the top to the bottom, there's a ton of play makers in every spot of the Gator Offense. Obviously Dawg fans feel that Tebow is beatable, but he's still a top talent and a game changer at his position.

His ability to buy time in the pocket pays off in dividends because there's only so much coverage you can lay down on Harvin and Co. before they eventually get open.

Also when looking at Tebow, you have to give respect to his ability to throw the long ball. While I would say that Stafford has the stronger, more accurate arm, Tebow can still put the ball on the money and anyone who disagrees is flat-out wrong.

At WR you have the all-everything in Percy Harvin. Once considered to be one of the fastest players in all of college football, he's now more known for his elusiveness as much as his speed. He's ridiculously tough to tackle and he catches the ball quite well. It's also tough to call him just a WR because he's just as likely to go into the backfield and receive the ball.

However, it's nearly as tough to defend other players in Jeffrey Demps and Chris Rainey. Rainey has come on the scene much like Noel Devine did for West Virginia last year and Demps is now dubbed the fastest player in college football. Those two players are doing an exceptional job in running the football as well as catching it, but have really picked up the slack left by the not-so-impressive Emmanuel Moody, the USC (the real one) transfer.

The one real weakness of the Gator Offense is actual on the Offensive Line. There's all this talk of "wider splits" to give them easier access to hit their blocks, but the truth is, they have not done a superb job of keeping Tebow upright. They haven't given up nearly the sacks of the 2003 UGA team, but you can still get pressure on Tebow if you try hard enough and go hat-on-hat with those guys.

Our key to winning here is to do three things. We need to get adequate pressure with four to five guys up front, keep Florida in fourth and long and we need to force Florida into field goal situations. The first is easy enough to do if we can just play the dominant football we're capable of instead of what we've seen so far. I know that's easier said than done, but we have the athletes up front to play pressure football; It just hasn't clicked yet.

On the second point, we've got to shoot for fourth and 3+. A situation like 3rd and long means nothing if it results in fourthand 1 because Meyer will go for it every time. Most likely, if he goes for it, he'll convert and that will just wear out Defense down physically and mentally. We have to find a way, whether through incompletions, proper tackling (another "easier said than done" thing) or sacks to get Florida into punting situations. We'll touch on their Special Teams later, but I'd much rather Florida kick anything than for them to run another play.

Lastly, we have to make Florida settle for three instead of seven. It's obvious that the Gators score points, so to think that they won't get their fair share on Saturday is ludicrous. What we have to do is limit opportunities and if they get points, make sure they're the kind that doesn't kill you. Sure, it sucks to give up any scores at all, but I'll take Florida kicking 4 field goals and have UGA get two touchdowns. Wouldn't you?

The real magic number here is 3 seconds. Keep that in mind because that's the amount of time Tebow has to either get rid of he football or take a sack. If he has to throw that football within 3 seconds, then the chances of a mistake GREATLY increase if we exercise proper fundamentals in coverage. However, if he has all day back there to throw the football, we're toast.

When UGA has the ball

Well our little-baby-look-how-cute-and-injured-they-are Offensive Line grew up last game didn't they? They blocked well and protected well in route to helping us rack up 52 points on LSU in Death Valley. They made me one proud Dawg that day and we're going to need another solid performance from them in this game.

We already know what we have with Knownshon and Stafford, but we're going to need exceptional play from our Fullbacks in order to really make the running game effective. I'd still expect to see a lot of plays where Southerland is lined up as a TE because we'll stay with the toss-sweep as long as it keeps on working for us. An interesting matchup will be Southerland versus Brandon Spikes, who has turned out to be a dominating LB for the Gators.

Not to be forgotten in all this is how well Florida's Secondary has played in comparison to their effort last year. We absolutely torched them but it's going to be a little tougher this time around, even with better WR play from MoMass and A.J. Green.

Our key to success here has got to be our ability to score points on nearly every drive. Should our Defense not be able to stop Florida's Offense like we'd hope, then we're going to need superb play from every position in order to put us in good shape to score points because the Gators will probably match us score-for-score for most of the game.

It's imperative for this game to be won and lost through the legs of Knowson Moreno, much like we did against LSU last week, although, we were pretty balanced from the get-go as soon as we snapped the ball. If Bobo can keep the aggressive attitude and gameplan for this game, then we might be in for a good day.

Stafford's play is going to be crucial as well. I thought he played an exceptional game lat week by stepping up into the pocket and keeping his mechanics in check, especially under duress. We'll need some really poised play from him because he will feel the heat a time or two. I'm positive that Charlie Strong has some big things planned for Saturday.

Special Teams

Well, Florida's got themselves a version of Beamer Ball, don't they? All the way from their exceptional blocking and returning, to forcing tons of pressure on the punter or kicker to get the ball off early and high.

When it comes to punting, I trust Mimbs will get rid of the ball in plenty of time and I'm almost positive that we'll give him plenty of time to do so. We don't cover punts well, but we've had moderate success in blocking for them this year. However, what worries me is that when Mimbs tried to punt directionally, like in the Alabama game, he caught a severe case of the shanks. The chess match we're about to get in on Saturday is going to be all about who does the small things right and field position is going to play into a big part of that.

In the returning game, Florida is probably the most dangerous team we've played to date in that regard. Brandon James is a man with the ball in his hands and he has the ability to break one at any point in time if we kick it directly to him. So we either have to learn to directionally kick, or we'd better cover like our brains on fire.

Now, in regards to kicking field goals, I think Blair Walsh has the edge here. Florida opts for touchdowns instead of FGs, so their kicker has not been tested like ours has. I think if we put the game on their kicker's shoulders, then we have a great shot at winning.

In the return game for us, I'm still no sold that Prince Miller and Logan Gray should be splitting time back there since to me, I think Miller is a much better option back there. Watch me say something like that and then Logan Gray will bust one for a score this weekend. Hey, I'm fine with being proven wrong in that regard.

The Intangibles

Usually, I don't touch on stuff like this, but for this game, it's going to be the real engine that drives the winner. We've talked about The Celebration. We've talked about our game last year, we've seen the film, we've all heard about how the Gators really feel about what happened last year and everything else you can think of.

Florida is out for revenge and UGA is out to prove it's legit. This game has national and SEC title implications. The winner is all but guaranteed a slot in Atlanta in December, whereas the loser is looking at the Capital One Bowl at best.

both teams have too much to lose in this game, which is why my blood is itching so badly for us to kick this thing off. There's too much hype in this game and even though I'm excited as hell to get going, I'm really enjoying the national attention we're getting surrounding this game.

The truth is, Florida has more to prove here than we do. We're the ones that got the best of them last year and we're the ones that left them dumbfounded after our first score. Now, does that put more pressure on Florida to perform or does it put more on UGA to match that level on intensity?

We know our fans will be in the game and this is the first time in a long time that I think the entire Dawg Nation agrees that we have a legitimate shot to win. That new mentality will keep us playing hard in Jacksonville for years to come.

The team that masters these intangibles of revenge and legitimacy is the team that will stroll out of Jacksonville with a win on Saturday. If Florida is so hell-bent on revenge that they forget their fundamentals, then they'll lose badly. However if UGA thinks that they don't have something tp prove as well and play their game based on how Florida plays, we'll get crushed. We have to do things our way again, just like last year in order to be happy on Sunday.

What I think will happen

Florida has been playing on all cylinders for weeks now, whereas UGA finally looks like they've put it together on both sides of the ball. This game is too close to call if you just look at the paper statistics, but if you did just go off of that, then you have to say Florida will win on Saturday.

You have to look at the whole picture and see which team you think will perform well under the pressure. The team that understands and handles the pressure adequately will be the one claiming bragging rights for the next 364 days.

Look for the game to get off to either a very slow start or an extremely high paced one. For UGA to win, it MUST score early and often and force the Gators to play from behind, which is something they haven't been used to for much of this year. If I'm Mark Richt and I win the coin toss, there's no doubt in my mind that I want the ball first. If we can score, maybe we can deflate the Gator team early on.

However, what I think will happen is that we'll sputter right out of the gate and that Florida will just want the game a little more than we will. There won't be any special celebration from them or anything like that, but their response i going to be to hit us in the mouth as early as possible and as hard as possible in order to let us know they're here to play.

Florida will score first and we'll be playing catch up the rest of the game. I hate to say this, but we'll bring it close but not close enough to ever really put the future of the game in doubt. Florida gets their revenge and we stay angry until this time next year. Just like last year, however, I'm BEGGING to be proved wrong.

UGA: 38
UF: 45

Until next time kids.

Be safe (and Go Dawgs!)

Hate Week 2008 Part I - The List

Kit Kitchens — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:26:00 -0400

I don't have time to write a fancy intro to this thing. Hatred is abounding. Must. Write. List.

The Ten Things I Utterly Hate About Florida Fans

10) They Don't Respect Stafford

Even after last year's complete domination through the air (as well as on the ground), the Gator contingent still thinks that Matt Stafford couldn't hold Tebow's jock. Well, I hate to tell you, but everyone else outside of the state of Florida disagrees.

There's a reason why Dawg fans are sweating and that's because Stafford has a real chance of going pro shortly after this season and by doing so—he could be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

You don't hear any of that talk around Gainesville, do you? Watch Tebow on Saturday and see how many times he, ON HIS OWN, audibles the team into a different play. Superman's got the physical tools, but apparently he shipped off of Krypton before he got that mental prowess that Stafford has.

I want a QB that can RUN an Offense. Not one that can merely execute it.

9) Nothing Good Ever Came Out of Florida

"Heaven's Waiting Room" is nothing but a sand pit, surrounded by ocean. Sure, you've got that cool space shuttle launch once in a while, and I can't disagree that Daytona, Miami and PCB are some of the best places for spring break, but seriously what has Florida contributed to the world lately?

Oh that's right, y'all do that whole "orange juice" thing. But seriously, I haven't drank a drop of Simply Orange since I saw Urban pimp it (shout out: Mackie).

8) Gator Fans are Stupid

No, really. You guys are morons. Thank God you have a genius like Orson Swindle keeping part of the world thinking that some of you have some sense. However, most of us with half a brain know the truth and, that is something in the water in Florida has convinced all of you that mullets, Trans Ams and being on COPS is still cool.

7) You Don't Dress Up for Games

Seriously, what good fan of college football in general doesn't see Gameday as a time to strut your best stuff? Instead you wear T-shirts and parade around in your Sunday afternoon's best. Save that sh*t for the NFL.

6) I Think Tebow is an "OK" Guy

Alright, this might not have much to do with the fans, except in regards to their undying love for him, but man I can't force myself to hate the kid and that drives me nuts.

J.P. Wilson, Rudy Carpenter and Steven Garcia are all people I despise, but for some reason, I just can't hate the kid and he BLEEDS Orange and Blue.

He's a good kid, he sets a good example and he always says the right things to the media. What I REALLY hate is that he ended up at a place like Florida. I do hate that "jump up and down while waving arms" thing that he does AND I think the jump pass is flat-out stupid. So, I got that going for me I guess.

5) You People Ignore Math

Without sounding like a Georgia Tech geek, I despise the fact that you want to point out your total domination of UGA since 1990, but still ignore the overall record or the record over the last 5 games.

Wake up Florida people; we're not the same team you dominated for all those years. At least ACT like we have a shot of winning because, much like last year, if we do win you'll look stupid for another 364 days.

4) You're Hypocritical

Yeah, we've had some kids get arrested in the offseason for doing things like driving drunk, carrying around an UNLOADED gun (which was later dropped) and touching some pregnant chick's belly, but at least none of our players SHOT OFF AN AK-47 or STOLE A DEAD GIRL'S CREDIT CARD. Until we have a guy do that, you morons have ZERO right to talk. PERIOD. CAPS!!1!!11!!

3) You Believe Offense Will Win You Championships

You fools really think Chris Leak won you that National Championship? Seriously, there should have been two separate lines of ass kissing: one that lead to Ron Zook for recruiting those players and another that led to Charlie Strong for keeping you in those games.

I can't wait until Strong moves on and you guys realize what you REALLY need to do in order to win. Offense is cool and chicks dig the long ball. I get it. However, Defense will keep crystal balls in your trophy case and allow UGA prospects to knock them over and break them.

2) You're Screwing Everything Else Up

Tommy Tubberville is on the hot seat right now because thought this "Spread" idea was a good one. Wonder where he got that from? Don't get me wrong, I hate him, but man, your disease of this "Spread" offense is, well, spreading.

I'll be honest, I think the Spread is a flash in the pan and more teams nowadays are figuring out how to beat it. You had about a two-year head start where guys said "man that team is fast, we need to get faster players on Defense" and that's what they did.

Beat up on UK all you want to, but speed won't win EVERY game. Sure didn't look that fast against Ole Miss.

1) Urban Meyer is Your Head Coach

No need to go any further. The guy is a tool bag if there ever was one. Here's a list of some of his accomplishments:

"Top 1% of 1%."
"Trust me, Jevan. Tebow is going to play LB."
"OK Ronnie, you can work out with the team and hang around the team but you are NOT on the team, OK?"
"Tim Tebow is the Greatest Player of Our Era."
"It was a bad deal. And it will forever be in the mind of Urban Meyer and in the mind of our football team. So we'll handle it, and it's going to be a big deal."
"It's two teams battling it out for the SEC East, and it has no bearing on it whatsoever..."

I could keep going, but there's no need to. However, via Ally, Gators Wear Jean Shorts has this gem:

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Well, there you have it. Now you know WHY I hate Florida fans so much. So, join in down in the comments section and let me know why YOU hate them so much.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Georgia-Florida: Hate Week 2008 Part I—The Celebration

Kit Kitchens — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:00:00 -0400

"That wasn't right. It was a bad deal. It will forever be in the mind of Urban Meyer and in the mind of our football team. We'll handle it, and it's going to be a big deal." —Urban Meyer in Urban's Way

Look, there's a nice way to kick off this week, and the best way to do it in my mind is to talk about what everyone's been talking about since it happened nearly 365 days ago.

The Celebration.

According to Urban Meyer, The Celebration was something that somehow wronged him in some way. It was something that he didn't see as necessary or important. He saw it as a slap in the face to good sportsmanship and his team.

However, what he apparently missed in all this was the ass-whipping he and the rest of the Florida Gators took shortly after that first touchdown was thrown.

You see, the big problem with what happened in Jacksonville last year was that the whipping boy decided not to get whipped anymore. Instead, said whipping boy stood up and dared the other to hit back. When that happened, the bully didn't know what to do.

I mean, let's think about it like this. We had heard over and over again about the 15 of 18 and how much the Gators were in our heads. However, surely a master motivator like Urban Meyer would have enough of his wits about him to realize that we were going to get tired of it and actually try to play a football game.

I mean, no one likes losing, right?

Well, when UGA said, "this song will not be the same this year," they meant it and dared the Gators to change the jukebox.

The funny thing is, they did.

What gets lost in all this jumbled-up mess of dancing, players rushing sidelines, and all that is the fact that Florida REGAINED the lead.

That's right: We hit them in the mouth, and they responded. They responded well enough to take a 17-14 lead in the second quarter. It was on a 43-yard FG by Joey Ijjas.

So did our dancing in the first quarter really do that much damage in the second quarter? If I recall correctly, we only did it once, so was it post-traumatic stress? Did you see a replay and it freaked you out again?

Was Trinton Sturdivant's boogaloo that horrific to where it burned the image into your retinas and you couldn't see to defend Stafford's bomb to Massaquoi, or Knowshon's scores, or our FGs? Did we really scar you that badly?

Look, I don't know the outcome of this weekend's game. If I did, I'd lay the house on the winner and quit my job shortly thereafter. However, what I do know is that the crying needs to stop.

No one gives a rat's ass about The Celebration. No one cares that Tebow was a little banged-up.

All people care about is who won the game—and in 2007, you didn't. I hope to God you don't win this year, but you can't change the past, and the past says we beat the hell out of you last year.

So I'm looking forward to seeing what this weekend holds, but as far as I'm concerned, Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators need to be on notice. No tricks this weekend. No motivational ploys. We've already hit the bully in the mouth. Now we're waiting for the rematch.

Well, waiting is such a strong word. I'd more say that we're really, really, REALLY looking forward to it—so much so that "Hate Week 2008 Part I" is now in full swing. Get ready to Celebrate.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Georgia-LSU: Geauxing to the Outback Bowl

Kit Kitchens — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:42:00 -0400

Man, I'm having a helluva time focusing on getting this recap out for a variety of reasons. The main one is because today kicks off Hate Week 2008 Part I. We're going to get to all that shortly, but we've got to recap that ass-whipping in Red Stick before we go any further.

This may be shorter than usual, but I'll try to make it worth your while.

The Stats Say

That our offense finally took stats and turned them into points. The most important stat of the day was 52, and really, nothing else matters as much as that. Of course, we took care of the football and caused LSU to make mistakes with it. That helped translate into points as well.

Now, the 38 on the LSU side of the scoreboard is a little disconcerting, but then we could point to the stat that shows that LSU gained roughly 180 of those yards in the fourth quarter alone. We also kept pace with them tit for tat in that we both racked up 14 points in the fourth, extinguishing any hopes of them having a comeback.

The Good

1) Matt Stafford

Seriously, the kid had an exceptional day. He took care of the football and threw for 249 yards and two TDs, and he rushed for one as well. If you were looking for efficiency out of your QB, you needed to look no further than No. 7 on Saturday. He managed the game well and ran the offense nearly flawlessly. It really was the complete game we were looking for from him.

2) Knowshon Moreno

He ran the ball extremely well on Saturday and netted himself 160 yards. I'd be interested to know when the last time was we had a running back who rushed for 150+ in back-to-back games. He is quietly becoming Herschel-like in dependability when it comes to getting yards, and you always know you're going to get his best effort.

3) Darryl Gamble

Thirteen tackles and two INTs that were returned for touchdowns. That's a HELLUVA game.

4) Gary Danielson

I know he's an announcer, but damn he was dead-on this past Saturday with calling a good game. Everyone knows that I'm a huge fan of Uncle Verne, but Gary Danielson has been just as good. In fact, he's gotten my respect ever since he was the first to mention the Celebration was planned, and his performance yesterday just solidified that he, in my mind, does just as much research as anyone else when getting ready for a game.

The Bad

1) Giving Up 38 Points

Look, as long as we win, I don't give a damn how many points we rack up, but it's important for our defense to flip the switch and intimidate some folks. Now, we did get two sacks for a total loss of almost 30 yards, but I really wish we wouldn't have gotten eaten up so poorly with the simple plays.

I mean seriously, Charles Scott is not fast, and we did not clog the middle and try to force him to the outside. On top of that, we went and let LSU eat us up with screens. We do that against Florida, it's curtains for sure.

2) Poor Tackling

Yeah, this one happens sometimes with us, but we flat-out got freight-trained on some of those runs from Scott. What's scarier than not being able to tackle a guy who could hardly outrun some of our LBs? Not being able to tackle guys who run faster than any guy on our team. Much faster.

If we don't cure that "missed tackle" thing that's plagued us a little bit this year, we'll get gashed bad this weekend.

3) Getting Carved Up on the Run

Man, if you would've told me that LSU could tally 200 yards of rushing against this team, I would have told you that you were insane. However, they certainly did just that, and it's scary knowing that since we're going up against a team that does so good of a job of getting the ball in their playmakers' hands in open space. We've got to curb that kind of performance.

The Ugly

1) Missed FG

Hey, I really feel like I'm reaching to find stuff for the "ugly" list, so I'll just throw this in here. The truth is that in the past two games, Walsh has had a hard time getting the ball through the posts, and even though he connected on one FG attempt, he missed the other.

Thankfully we have been in positions where those misses don't totally come back to bite us, but there's a real possibility that we will be this weekend. We just need to make sure we capitalize on as many opportunities as possible.

2) Retaliation

Darryl Gamble let the cat out of the bag after the LSU game when he said the seniors have "something up their sleeve" for this upcoming game.

Look, if the seniors have anything planned other than whipping Florida Gator ass, I don't want any part of it. This is a week to pack a lunch and some Advil, because it's going to be a damn long week followed by an absolute war on Saturday. We HAVE to stay focused to win in Jacksonville.

Well, there you have it. LSU is in the past and Florida is in the future. Time to make it happen.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

* Editor's Note: I did pretty good with the recap except I forgot one HUGE piece of the puzzle, and that was the offensive line. Those guys played lights out and should have not been forgotten by a bumbling idiot like me. Congrats to all of them, not only for keeping Stafford out of serious trouble all day, but also for keeping the penalties down for the second straight game as well.

Georgia-LSU: Bulldogs Steel Themselves for a Battle in the Bayou

Kit Kitchens — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:35:00 -0400

How does one start a post like this? We've talked about the beginning of this stretch of games all year. As UGA fans, it's all we've heard about since before the season began. Hell, I think it ended as soon as LSU won the championship last year.

So what's different from then to now? Well, our defense is not exceeding expectations by any means, and to be honest, neither is LSU's. Our offense is better than expected, and LSU's is about where we thought they were.

Yet I'm more worried about this game than any other game we've played this year. I'm optimistic that UGA can come out with a win, but it's going to be a damn hard fight in order to get one.

No sense in wasting any more time worrying. Let's get to the X's and O's. As always, Jody's Information Overload can be found here and Doug's preview can be found here.

When LSU has the ball

You have to wonder at this point in the season if LSU would be a top five team if Ryan Perrilloux would've gotten his sh*t together. However, Miles has done a superb job keeping LSU in games with the two-QB system.

Part of that lies in the balance that LSU has in the running game, led by big MOFO Charles Scott. Scott reminds me of T.J. Duckett in some ways because he's a big bruiser that runs downhill and invites contact. You can't forget Mr. Track Star himself, Trindon Holliday, who is small and quick in the mold of a Darren Sproles without the strength.

LSU has a decent set of WRs as well, who all possess speed, but they suffered from a case of the drops last week against South Carolina. They're big though, with Brandon LaFell being their main target and the one who is on the receiving end of a good share of passes.

What scares me the most? An O-line primarily recruited and partially coached by Stacey Searels himself. If I'm correct (and I may not be on this), LSU still employs the same zone-blocking scheme that Searels coaches at UGA today. If LSU is anything on offense, it all starts up front behind those big uglies.

The way UGA beats LSU in this matchup really lies in our D-line. If they can step up and get consistent pressure while not giving up large chunks of rushing yardage, we should be OK.

However, we've got to be just as balanced in the secondary as well, since our tallest CB (Bryan Evans at 5'11") is a good four inches shorter than LaFell. Tim Jennings proved years ago that small CBs can play big, but we REALLY have to play big in the secondary to have any shot as well.

Pressure up front is key, though, and we need to do our best to make LSU as one-dimensional as possible in order to win.

When UGA has the ball

The craziest thing about this year has been the role reversal from having a dominant defense to a great offense. It really struck me today when a poster on the Dawgvent listed about 20 reasons why he "guaranteed" a win against LSU and you had to get all the way to No. 13 before he even mentioned the Defense.

Granted, it's message board chatter, but it still holds some weight because statistically, we're more set up to win a shootout than we are a defensive struggle.

More so than LSU, our success depends SOLELY on the offensive line. As always, in Stacey Searels we trust, but we are facing one of the more dominant D-lines in the conference, and one that gets all-world defensive tackle Ricky Jean-Francois back.

It doesn't stop there though. LSU is very deep on the D-line, and it's going to take all we have up front to keep pace.

I expect us to see a lot of toss sweeps again in the running game, especially since we'll see Brannan Southerland back at TE after Chandler had a setback this week and will see little, if any, time. We need those dominating FBs out on the outside to try to spring Knowshon, which also gives some of our better WR blockers like MoMass opportunities to block downfield.

In the passing game, Stafford's got to limit the turnovers. The LSU fanbase is like a starved pit bull, and if you turn the ball over, you feed the beast. Stafford, in my opinion (as well as Jody's), is the key to this game. He's the leader on this team, and he'll be the one to calm everyone down when that crowd is trying to break our spirit.

Special Teams

Well, we've talked about Blair Walsh being relatively unproven until he kicks that crucial field goal in Death Valley. Now he gets his chance. Brian Mimbs also needs to have a big day as well, because there will be some times where we can't get anything going and we'll need to make LSU drive the length of the field and earn their points.

LSU is just as balanced on special teams as we are. They have a solid FG kicker and are decent in the return game. While they're not as solid on special teams as, for example, Florida, they're still formidable in that area.

A LOT of pressure is on Remarcus Brown to do some great things on kickoffs. He's definitely the man now, and we are going to rely heavily on him to put us in decent field position. We'll really need to be strong in this area, like every other area, as well.

What I think will happen

Man, I really think this is going to be a tough one for us. While I'm not ready to predict a loss, I am ready to say that if we don't bring our best football to Baton Rouge, we'll walk away with a loss.

The thing that scares me the most are the distractions we've had this week. From rumors about Kiante Tripp, to injuries that include Aaron White's shoulder and Akeem Hebron's season-ending ankle dislocation, I'm super worried about our focus. I'd be lying if I said that I think we spent enough time game-planning for this contest.

Add in the fact that our most crucial game of the season is next week versus Florida, and even I'm completely distracted.

Expect UGA to come out and really try to establish the ground game. A lot of speculation this week has included questions about whether or not we take the ball if we win the coin toss. My opinion is that we choose to kick and see how our defense is going to stack up against their offense.

LSU fans are always crazy, but to me, they'd be slightly LESS crazy about three to four minutes into the contest with an LSU offensive drive that stalls. Of course, people have asked the question "How Loud is Loud?" and the truth is, no one really knows.

We'll have to stop LSU on the first drive and then score first and make them play from behind. However, we've got to put in 60 good minutes of football in order to pull off a win...just ask South Carolina about that.

This game is won and lost on the feet of Knowshon and our O-line. I think we go out, stop LSU, score first, and then just try to keep the game in check for most of the way.

I don't think we blow them out by any means, but a workmanlike performance ain't gonna fly either. UGA's gotta hit LSU directly in the mouth, and we've got to have a "man-enough" mentality here.

I think regardless of the distractions this week, we actually do that and we walk away from Baton Rouge with a hard-fought win. It'll be ugly because it always is, but I think our talent on both sides of the ball outshines what LSU has.

The biggest part of what we do needs to be to find the spark that ignited our run the rest of the way down the line from last year. It's imperative that we start playing not to lose and start playing to win. We've got to get mean and stay mean as hell for the next month.

I think we can do it, and I think we do it here. We'll definitely earn the win, though.

UGA 24, LSU 20

Until next time kids.

Be safe (and Go Dawgs!).

Georgia-Vanderbilt: Bulldog Fans Should Be Happy With Hard-Fought Win

Kit Kitchens — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:51:00 -0400

There are a ton of people out there who are absolutely disgusted with our performance on Saturday, but I'll be honest, I'm really really REALLY pleased with this win. All in all, Vandy is a damn tough team. They have the record to reflect that. They've also played—and in five cases, beaten—teams that are very good and very competitive.

We'll break down the game, but before I go any further, everyone needs to understand one thing and one thing only: We won.

The Stats Say

The stats indicate that this game could have been a blowout. Think about it like this: Blair Walsh missed two field goals, resulting in six points not making it to the board. Take that and couple it with the points we gave Vandy on turnovers, and you have a totally different ballgame.

However, you could've seen it coming from a mile away. Vandy is a ridiculously opportunistic team. They lead the SEC in turnovers taken, and every game they've been in, they've been in it because of their defense.

Nothing was different on Saturday. We gashed them on the run, we blocked well downfield, and we executed well on some long passes. If Stafford doesn't turn the ball over twice (the second time he's done that in as many games), and we convert on those field goals, then the score is more like 30-7.

At that point, I think we would have been excited about the game, right?

The Good

1) Forcing Turnovers

Darius Dewberry and Reshad Jones both had good days in capitalizing on turnovers, even though we dropped at least another two possible interceptions in the game as well. However, it's nice to know we could finally get some interceptions in there.

2) Commitment to the Running Game

I absolutely love the toss sweep, and I'm a huge fan of Bobo using it to perfection. Knowshon had a helluva day running, racking up over 170 yards of offense, including a touchdown. Nothing wrong with that at all.

3) Shaun Chapas Continues His Dominance

Last week Chapas busted out and showed great balance, not only with blocking, but also running the ball and catching it out of the backfield. This time around, he continued to do the same thing.

I'll admit, I've been extremely worried about the departure at Southerland at the end of the season, but if Chapas continues this trend, I'll be really pleased and less worried.

4) The Little Things

There's a ton of things that went right on Saturday. Too many to mention, honestly, but honorable mention goes to the offensive line, fewer penalties, holding Vandy to less yardage than they've put up on average this year, and racking up more yardage on Vandy than they're used to.

The Bad

1) Stafford's Play

Look, I'm a HUGE fan of Stafford, but I've said repeatedly that his mechanics are shot when he gets in a rush. However, this past weekend, he was hardly in a rush at all, yet he managed to look at his receivers so long that his passes were batted, and it caused interceptions.

Granted, he still did a lot of things right, but turnovers resulting in points like what happened on Saturday will NOT fly in Baton Rouge this weekend.

2) Missed Opportunities

I touched on this earlier, but we've got hands of stone lately. It's incredibly important for us to capitalize on mistakes when they present themselves. To keep on winning, we have to force turnovers and create opportunities from them. Asher and Darius both dropped for sure interceptions on Saturday. Great coverage, but missed opportunities.

The Ugly

1) Lack of a Pass Rush

This has got to change soon. We've got to get better doing this, and we've got to do it quickly. It was right about this time last year when all this turned around for us, so we need to find that spark and make it happen again. Until it does, we're cruising for some losses.

2) Off-the-Field Issues

Ugh. So Vince Vance gets arrested for driving on a license that expired on his birthday seven days ago—you know, the day he tore his ACL. I guess while the swelling goes down, he should've gotten his ass to the DMV. I'm totally saying that tongue-in-cheek, by the way.

Also, Brandon Wood gets arrested for DUI after blowing barely over the limit. Now, the reports I've heard say that B. Wood did well against all the field sobriety tests, and the cops were really excited about busting him, but that's neither here nor there.

Either way, it sucks to lose B. Wood for at least one game when we're already razor thin on the DL. S-U-C-K-S.

3) Fan Post-Game Reaction

OK, I get it that people are pissed at Bryan Evans, but let it go. The fade route to the back of the end zone wasn't his fault.

If you're going to blame anyone, blame the offense for putting the defense in the position to work with such a short field. Points were going to be the result of that drive any way you slice it. Plus, that fade route was one of the best throws I've seen all year.

Then we get fans not only blasting Evans for his play (which I will admit has been less than stellar), but also blasting the whole team because we didn't blow Vandy out. Here's a hint: Be glad we won, and let's move on from there.

You may not like the way Evans played, but he's a DGD and deserves the respect anyway. Trust me, no one's beating themselves up like that guy is. I guarantee that.

So there you have it. Feel free to tell me how dumb I am.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Georgia-Vanderbilt: Running Game, QB Pressure Keys for Bulldogs

Kit Kitchens — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:16:00 -0400

Before I get started, is it just me or does this week not feel like the week before a big game? The problem with Vanderbilt is that EVERY team in the SEC looks at them like they're Vanderbilt of the old instead of Vandy of the new.

The truth is, I don't hate them too much, and I like to see them do well against other teams. Hell, I'm their biggest fan in regards to them becoming bowl eligible—just as long as they don't do it against us. I know, I'm a bad fan.

Even though I should be worried about playing yet another Top 25 team, another SEC foe, and another team with a scrambling QB and scrappy defense, I'm not. I should be worried about all these things, but I'm not. It's dangerous and crazy for me to do these things.

So starting right now, I'm worried about Vandy. Worried as sh*t about Vandy.

As always, you can read Jody's Information Overload here and Doug's preview here.

When Vandy has the ball

Vandy's offense is probably one of the worst, if not the worst, in the nation, and the stats back up the former of the two statements. Vandy is near the very bottom in offensive statistics, but they have the amazing ability to make big plays at the right times.

Vandy's in the catbird seat of the SEC right now, even though no one gives them a chance to win it all. Hell, you could say the same thing about UGA and Florida as well. Right now, you've got a helluva matchup setting up in Athens, and we all know how the last two games have gone for UGA vs. Vandy.

Vanderbilt runs a spread-type offense that is a light version of what Wake Forest has done. Under Bobby Johnson, the idea is to get fast players and teach them fundamentals to make up for their lack of size. It's working amazingly well for them so far, wouldn't you think?

For Vandy, it begins and ends with QB play. Mackenzi Adams has technically been the backup for the past two seasons, but he's always come off the bench strong.

In fact, Adams played very well against UGA last year and has played lights out in most of their games this year—not in terms of statistics (more of that "but he's not good 'on paper,' is he?"), but in terms of making plays when he needs to make plays. Just ask Auburn and they'll tell you.

Vandy runs an option-type-zone-read-type offense that creates a lot of balance between QB rushing yards and RB (led by Jared Hawkins) rushing yards.

In Vandy's win against UGA back in 2006, the QB (at that time it was Chris Nickson) ran all over UGA. We were not prepared for that kind of speed from a QB or a RB, AND NEITHER OF THEM ARE FAST! They were just faster than what we expected.

Luckily, we have a HELLUVA D-line that is absolutely gobbling up rushing yards and spitting them back up as losses. Another wonderful thing about what's going on is that UGA is facing a team that has been absolutely horrible in throwing the ball.

So what do we do? Well, Vandy's going to try to spread us out by running a lot of three and four WR sets out of the shotgun so that we're off-balance against the run and in tough situations against the pass. The good news is, we are talented enough to keep this from being a major problem as long as we isolate the big play.

If Vandy is in a 3rd-and-9, or even a 3rd-and-1, we have to get them off the field and keep them from converting so we can keep them from getting into a rhythm and keep them from gaining confidence. If we get them on the ropes, we should be able to keep them there relatively easy.

We really need the secondary and the LBs to step up and give some solid support to the D-line, who will have their hands full. The key is going to be to keep passing plays under four seconds. Keeping a passing play under four seconds means we have either sacked the QB or forced him to throw to a covered man.

We've got to keep the pressure on the QB at all times and trust the blitzes. Not only trust the blitzes, but love the blitzes.

When UGA has the ball

Well, we pretty much just need to do more of the same. I know a lot of folks weren't happy with the play calling efforts of last week, but I was actually a big fan of the job that Bobo did.

Aside from Stafford making a mental error or two, we actually called plays that gave us an opportunity to let our playmakers create. We ran toss sweeps, quick throws to WRs with tons of cushion, and stuck to the short and medium range passes.

Although the injury to Vince Vance sucks, I really think that we'll be fine with Boling at that position. The main thing we can't have is more injuries to the line. We are as razor thin on the offensive line as we were in 2003.

The plan right now is to keep up the short to medium range stuff and keep those toss sweeps coming because it gets our speed guys on the outside and limits the chances for Stafford to be sacked.

Again, I know that many think Bobo did a poor job last Saturday, but that last drive by UGA in the fourth quarter was a thing of beauty in my eyes, and it's a staple of winning the Richt way.

Vandy is smallish and somewhat young on defense, but they have a ton of speed and are very fundamentally sound. They are big threats in turnovers and sacks, and we've got to be very smart with the football (aka run the hell out of it) in order to win this game.

Knowshon should see 20-25 carries for us to win, and we should absolutely run it to the outside to give guys like Brannan Southerland and Shaun Chapas a chance to pave the way with speed and big bodies.

Special Teams

How about that Blair Walsh? Kid is going to be a good one, based on what we've seen so far. Hopefully the game won't be like last year's in the sense that we have to kick a game-winning field goal. But, if we do, I don't feel as nervous as I did earlier this year.

What's the best way to hide your poor kickoff coverage? Well, you give your punter very little work to do (because you're too busy SCORING), and you kick the ball out of the end zone. I'm happy with that overall plan.

That also helps us keep the ball away from D.J. Moore, who is Vandy's very dangerous return guy. Yeah, we should kick it AWAY from him.

What I think will happen

Well, right now, the spread is UGA -14.5, which means for all intents and purposes, we will not cover the spread. Vandy always plays us close, and I expect Saturday to be no different. While I don't think we'll necessarily be in danger of losing, we could easily give this game away if we lose focus and forget how to play fundamentally good football.

On paper (I love that phrase) UGA is incredibly more talented than Vandy in a lot of aspects, but it's important for us to remember that Vandy has a TON of fight in them and know how to come from behind and win. In fact, all of their victories to date have been in come from behind situations.

The Commodores are on bowl eligibility's door, and they are not afraid to kick it in.

Look for a very workmanlike performance from UGA. We're not going to amaze anyone, but we're going to play fundamentally smart football, grind the clock, and be as efficient as possible until 60 minutes are up. It's time to put on the hard hat, because we've got some work to do to win this one.

UGA 30, Vandy 17

Until next time kids.

Be safe (and Go Dawgs!)

Georgia-Tennessee: Can't Spell "UT Sucks" Without "UT"

Kit Kitchens — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:15:00 -0400

Yeah, the title is lame. Sorry, but it is what it is.

I apologize for the lack of posting over the past couple of days, and you'll notice that this week's List may be nonexistent or at the very least, late. That's because my Aunt had a health scare today that took my time away.

Everything looks good now, but if you haven't told the people you care about that you love them, take some time today to do so. Just my two cents.

I know I'm not the only one that left the game a little underwhelmed, but I also know that I'm not the only one that was excited as sh*t about a win on Saturday where the score didn't indicate the total domination that was the game.

As always, we had some things to be proud of and some things to be really pissed about, so let's get to all that right now.

The Good

1) Matt Stafford

Aside from his two interceptions (one of which was not his fault, but the other was), he had a great day throwing the ball and tallied up his first 300-yard game of his career.

Sure, we never threw the deep ball (which I think sucked more than anything), but we did complete some high efficiency passes, and we got the ball in some of our playmakers' hands and let them create. That's the point of throwing it to them, right?

2) The Defensive Line

Man, is there anything better than holding UT to only one rushing yard? Granted, some of those yards they gained on the ground were lost due to sacks (yes, we actually pressured and sacked the QB some this game), but to hold a team with hosses on the O-line and the talent behind that to only one yard is pretty impressive.

On top of that, we always have that aforementioned pressure and sacks. We all know how much I love pressure.

3) Prince Miller and Asher Allen

Those two guys played lights out on Saturday. Asher had some really good pass breakups, and there were times where Stephens wouldn't even throw it towards that side of the field, whereas Prince Miller played great as well, had some good punt returns, and even recorded a sack.

The Bad

1) Safety Play

We've gotten burned a few times due to some blown assignments lately, and this time around was no different, especially on UT's second touchdown.

Part of the problem with our zone scheme is that the CBs will "release" guys into coverage, expecting a safety to float over and provide help. However, that hasn't happened as much lately as we would like. Reshad is a good talent and C.J. Byrd is as well, but these guys have got to step it up soon.

2) Lack of the Tight End

I know a lot of this has to do with injuries, but is Aaron White so bad that we can't have him run routes at all? Maybe we're saving things for a rainy day, but having the TE not be a factor in the game at all is troublesome to me.

I'm hoping that we can utilize that weapon soon because the TE is a big fixture in the success of Mark Richt's offensive scheme.

3) No Dagger

There were a couple of missed opportunities in the red zone and out of it that kept us from putting that deadly dagger in the heart of UT. The game was much closer on the scoreboard than on the field, and we probably left at least 14 points out there due to not making the right play calls, stupid turnovers, and bad calls from the refs.

The Ugly

1) The Injuries

Man, it SUCKS losing another offensive lineman for the year. Big Vince Vance was trying his best to hold down the most crucial spot on the offensive line, but his torn ACL (on his BIRTHDAY, no less) is a crucial blow to our young O-line.

The good news is that Clint Boling is a VERY talented player, and given enough reps, he might turn out to be a force on that side. In Stacey Searels we trust.

2) The Redcoat Band Drumline

Look, this is my band dork moment of the day, so bear with me. I have NEVER heard the band sound that bad...EVER. I'm not a drummer and I damn sure don't pretend to be one, but I know what sounds like sh*t, and the Redcoat Band sounded like sh*t on Saturday, especially the drumline. Trust me, I'm not alone in thinking that either.

While the drumline was trying to be cute, they were sloppy to a degree that made the whole band look bad. Seriously, if I were still in Redcoats, I would've been embarrassed on Saturday. Get your sh*t together guys.

Well, I'm sure I'll draw a little bit of heat here and there for that recap, but it is what it is. What else stuck out to you guys this past weekend?

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Georgia-Tennessee: Dawgs Looking for Revenge, Respect Versus Vols

Kit Kitchens — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:19:00 -0400

Well, the wounds have been licked, and the time has come to go out and prove that 'Bama was a fluke. At least that's what we're hoping for at least.

I'm actually kind of proud of the rhetoric I've been reading on the message boards. Unlike the days leading up to the 'Bama game, the Dawg Nation knows this game is HUGE for us, and we're going to be in for one helluva fight.

Now on paper you would think that UGA should dominate UT in all kinds of ways. However, statistics don't win football games, as we all know. They might set up game plans, but the plays have to be made on the field.

As always, you can find Jody's information overload here and Doug's preview here. On our end, though, how about we go ahead and get to the meat and potatoes of this game below?

When UT has the ball

Tennessee has had all kinds of problems this year offensively. If there's one thing you can say about Phil Fulmer, however, it's that despite all their offensive woes, they still have their crappy offensive coordinator.

Dave Clawson has not done anything worth noting as of yet, and it turns out that UT's best game offensively so far has been against UCLA in a LOSS. They have been barely worth noting the rest of the season, including an absolutely putrid performance last week against Northern Illinois. I'll say that again...NORTHERN ILLINOIS.

Let's be honest though, UT has recruited well over the years, and if they have anything, they have big uglies on the offensive line that can make holes when necessary. On top of that, they have enough of a QB (regardless if it's Nick Stephens or Jonathan Crompton) to hand it off to their talented—and fumble-prone—running backs.

Expect UT to not try and get too cute right when they come out of the gate. If I'm UGA, I'm giving UT the ball first and putting seven in the box to force Nick Stephens to try short passes like John Parker Wilson. However, this time around, we've hopefully learned enough to keep from getting our asses handed to us by the dreaded "three-step drop."

I swear, after reading so many articles about the three-step drop, you'd think it was something brand spanking new.

UGA's got to get after Nick Stephens and put as many on the line as possible before the snap. Whether we bring the heat or not is irrelevant, but with a QB that's playing in the biggest game of his career (which also happens to be the SECOND time he's ever started a game), we have to make him think we're coming after his ass and scare him to death.

On top of that, we need to press UT's receivers and dare them to beat us deep. The best way to combat the dreaded three-step drop? Kill the timing by bumping the WRs.

When UGA has the ball

People think that UT has a craptacular defense. For the most part, I would agree based on the scores I've seen and the games against Florida and UCLA. However, statistically, UT is a very good defensive team.

As important as it is for us to come out and confuse UT's offense, our offense has to be absolutely mind-bogglingly (not a word) good. We have to be able to set up the run first (from all aspects of the game) and then pass with high efficiency.

Stafford needs to really rely on those short to intermediate passing attempts, and the WRs have to help him out by getting open early and catching the ball when it's forced in there instead of being laid in the basket.

The best thing to mention is that we get Brannan Southerland back after his foot injury, which has kept him out so far this year. He's the most dominating blocker we have and will be crucial to taking pressure off the O-line to spring those big runs. Plus, he's a great safety valve coming out of the backfield for Stafford.

In the running game, I expect us to pound the rock much more often in this game than we have so far. This game is the first in a stretch of games in which none of them are easy...for the rest of the year. It's imperative that we get Knowshon his reps, but Caleb King and Richard Samuel need to get theirs as well.

Trust me, games will be won and lost on the legs of Knowshon, but he has to be fresh and healthy enough to get us through this stretch. Expect a heavy rotation of RBs on Saturday.

Also, the O-line has to begin playing like they've done this for years. There's no more scheming around other defenses. It's not going to happen. Those guys have got to stand up, hit someone in the mouth, protect Stafford, and open up gaping holes. It's a lot to ask from a young unit, but it's necessary.

Special Teams

Well, Walsh is good, and I think we've found some new options for punt returner in Prince Miller and kick returner in Richard Samuel. In those aspects, I think we're going to be OK. However, our punting has got to be drastically better than it was against 'Bama. Also, our coverage is getting there, but it's still got a ways to go.

As far as UT goes, I know that they're getting Britton Colquitt back after his suspension, so you know their punts will be good. Hopefully we can GATA and block another one this week.

What I think will happen

Look, I'll keep this short and simple. This is a game that means a lot to us on many different levels. This is a revenge game, it's a game where we have to prove to the world we weren't a fluke, and it's a game where we can show the maturity that we need to show in order to make it through this brutal stretch of games.

We need to come out aggressive as hell. More importantly, we need to be aggressive from toe meets leather until the Chapel Bell rings.

UT is going to play us tough because they have to. Phil Fulmer is fighting for his life here. A loss to UGA puts UT at 2-4 on the season and puts them in the Peach Bowl AT BEST. At worst, it costs Phil Fulmer his job in the middle of a season.

Either way, it makes UT a very dangerous team between the hedges.

The biggest difference? UT traded David Cutcliffe for Dave Clawson. THAT will be the difference in the game on Saturday. I fully expect the Dawgs to GATA and score our points. We'll be in a fight, but I fully expect us to play fundamentally good football, cut down on the stupid penalties, and come out with a hard-fought, solid win.

UGA 24, UT 13

Until next time kids.

Be safe (and Go Dawgs!).

The List: 10 Things Georgia Must Do Against Tennessee to Reassure Fans

Kit Kitchens — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:00:00 -0400

Well, the bye week has come and gone, and now we're smack dab in the middle of Tennessee week, where we hear yet again about how Phil Fulmer's seat is so hot, it'd melt the Krispy Kreme right out of his fat ass.

As always, we're going into the Tennessee game with almost more questions than actual answers. From the Alabama loss, you would think that we've gotten our ass whipped the whole season so far.

There are still glaring issues like our lack of a pass rush and the fact that Ron Courson is the busiest UGA staff member. Things like that just absolutely kill a season, and hopefully we can get through these next two games relatively unscathed.

Anyway, in honor of our current out-of-body experience for two years in a row, this week's List will be...

The 10 Things We Need to See on Saturday to Feel Good Again

10) At Least Three Sacks

Tennessee does one thing right consistently: They always have big ol' boys up front on the offensive line. If we can find a way to sack Stephens/Crompton three times or more, then maybe we'll find our niche, much like we did last year after the bye week going into Florida. We've got to get a solid pass rush, or we are seriously looking down the barrel of mediocrity.

9) A Solid Effort from Caleb King

Knowshon was banged up last week, and for some reason, we've seen him come out hurt more often than we have before. Even if he is back from an elbow contusion (see: deep bone bruise), he still isn't probably 100 percent. So what we need in order to make it through this stretch is to get some good solid play from Caleb King & Co.

We need to run Knowshon and have these other RBs come in and see very little drop-off in effectiveness. It'd be nice to have teams see us as an offense that can run the ball all the time, regardless of who's in the backfield.

8) No Sacks on Stafford

As important as it is to get after UT's QB, it's just as important to make sure that ours has as much time as possible to throw the short, intermediate, and long range passes to our hopefully open receivers. Stafford couldn't stay upright against Alabama, and we need our big boys up front to make it happen this upcoming weekend.

7) At Least Two Kickoffs in the End Zone

Blair kicked it pretty well against Alabama from what I can remember, so hopefully we can see more of the same this weekend. Remember, if they can't take it out of the end zone, they can't score a big return against us.

6) Brian Mimbs Needs to Get Back on His Horse

Mimbs was as solid as a rock through the first four games, but against Alabama he got bit by the shanks big time. I still think he's one of the best punters around, but he's gotta put this past game out of his head and get back to rocketing the ball off his foot. I'd much rather out-kick the coverage than have the coverage outrun the punt.

5) Punch UT in the Mouth Early

The best way to get a team that's down on their luck to give up is to not give them a reason to fight. If we come out and buzzsaw the Big Orange like they did to us last year, I guarantee you that you won't see them fight in the second half like we did against Alabama.

I promise if you get UT down by three scores, the orange-clad boo birds come out and their seats empty in a hurry.

4) Go +3 in Turnovers

I know that's kind of a tall order, but in order to be successful in the SEC, you have to consistently win the turnover battle. Our goal should be to force enough fumbles and get enough interceptions to leave UT guessing as to which method of offense is safer for preventing turnovers.

Arian Foster (Mr. Pterodactyl himself) has the tendency to be a fumble machine, and Stephens is thus far unproven as a QB. Let's try to punch that ball out and confuse Stephens enough to make some mistakes when passing. Momentum shifts will play a huge role in this game.

3) Expect UT's Best Shot

As recent history will remind you, the University of Tennessee is actually a MORE dangerous team the hotter Phil Fulmer's seat gets. There's enough money in his contract to give him a long enough leash to try to salvage the season, fire a few coordinators, and try to move on.

There is still no doubt in my mind that UGA is the most talented team in the SEC, but if we don't go into that game thinking that we're in for the fight of our lives, we'll lose on Saturday. No doubt.

2) Put Everything Behind Us

We have played GREAT football up until the Alabama game sans a few areas, so we need to remember that before we hit the field on Saturday. Sure, people want to know how we're going to respond, but all we should be worried about is getting back to business.

1) Just Win Baby

The best way to feel good again? Whip UT's ass. Plain and simple.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Kit's Mumme Poll Ballot: An Unbiased Way to Rank College Football's Top Teams

Kit Kitchens — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:36:00 -0400

If you're not reading Get the Picture (what the hell are you thinking?), the Good Senator has created the Mumme Poll, which is a poll to combat voter bias.

The method behind the madness is that by not ranking the teams and instead just listing your top 12 teams (and designating five of those teams as the best five), you should be able to get an idea of how the teams should be ranked based on popular vote.

Anyways, I figured I'd post my ballot each week when I submitted it to show 1) that I'm not scared to list my ballot, and 2) to get feedback on my ballot from you guys. My inaugural Mumme Poll ballot looked like this, with comments included.

(Bold = Top Five)

Oklahoma

Alabama

LSU

Missouri

Penn State

Texas

Georgia

USC

Texas Tech

Vandy

BYU

Ohio State

Alabama stayed in my top five even though Texas made quite the impressive showing against Colorado. It's hard to argue for either of those teams to NOT be in the top five, but winning ugly to me is still winning. I think the Red River Shootout is going to prove whether or not Texas is for real.

What also hurts Texas is the fact that they have yet to be tested until the game with Oklahoma. If they totally sh*t the bed against the Sooners, they might fall out of my good graces altogether.

Also, is there a more dangerous team in the land than Penn State? Sure, a 20-6 showing against Purdue is nothing amazing, but to hold the pass-happy Boilermakers to under seven points is pretty impressive to me.

Penn State's got a good offense and a very fast defense. I'm excited to see them this upcoming weekend against Wisconsin at night (even though I HATE Wisconsin).

As far as the others go, it's one of those, "you didn't lose, so I didn't kick you out" kinds of deals. Missouri is awfully impressive, and their pass defense looks better than it did against Illinois, which is a good sign of improvement. I think they're cruising for a Big 12 Championship appearance against the winner of the Red River Shootout.

It's tough to say anything further about LSU since they're on a bye this week. I think they're a very dangerous team, but I definitely see a stumble or two upcoming. Their only real test so far was against an Auburn team with NO identity, and I honestly think a team with a better offense might give them fits.

That's why I'll be glued to the TV for their showdown with the Gators. LSU's OFFENSE versus Florida's DEFENSE might be the best matchup in college football this week.

In order for LSU to be legit, they have to 1) score more than 24 on the Gators, and 2) beat Florida with whatever score comes out of my first point. If LSU wins 10-7, either Florida's defense is way better than we thought, LSU's offense has not found its niche, or both.

For me, I think LSU has the edge because the Gators should not be able to stop LSU's D-line. Man, they're mean.

As far as the rest of the poll goes, I've only kept BYU in there because nobody seems to be able to beat them. I still don't find them to be OVERLY impressive (remember, they're one football toss over the shoulder away from possibly losing to Washington), but they are good.

I think a BYU/Utah game should produce some fun highlights, but we won't know anything about that until WAY further down the road. By that time, I expect BYU and Utah to be battling for a BCS spot, with the winner getting one...unfortunately.

The Dawgs have to do a lot this weekend for me to keep them in my top 12. I hate to say it, but a weak showing against UT will drop them out for me. We've got to dominate them to even show we can do something with the talent we have on that team.

Oh, and I was THIS close to putting Vanderbilt over Florida. You know what, now that I think about it, I'm making the change. Vandy gets the spot over Florida because they are undefeated.

Vandy has faced three middle-of-the-road SEC teams and have won all three while coming from behind. This team has a ton of fight in them. Florida has faced two decent ones and one bottom dweller, and their record is 2-1 (* editor's note: I had forgotten about Florida's win over UT in the original e-mail, so I changed it here).

I think Vandy beats Florida this past Saturday if they weren't playing Auburn, and I'm of the mindset that they have two good options at QB and a VERY fast defense. To me, if Vandy and Florida play on a neutral field, Florida might edge them out, but Vandy's ability to get after the QB and Florida's inability to protect Tebow makes me think that Vandy has a legitimate shot. So they get my vote over the Gators at the very last moment.

Finally, Ohio State sneaks in after going to Madison and beating the Badgers at night. I think Pryor's inexperience at QB will bite the Bucks sometime this season, but right now, he's giving them the spark that they need. I think this OSU team with No. 2 at QB is much more dangerous than the efficient machine that was the Buckeyes last year.

OK, that's it for me.

Time Breakdown

Ballot: Five minutes

E-mail explaining ballot: 15 minutes

Well, there you have it. Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments section below.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Georgia-Alabama: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from the Blackout

Kit Kitchens — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:48:00 -0400

Man, what a disappointing loss. We fought in the second half, but it surely wasn't enough against a VERY good Alabama team. Give Nick Saban and Co. credit—they are punching people in the mouth right now and daring them to hit back.

Let's just get through this because honestly, I don't want to talk about this longer than I have to. A lot of things went wrong on Saturday, but I'll try to hit some of the finer points and leave the obvious stuff out, since you've probably already heard enough about those things already.

The Stats Say

You won't see a more black/white (poor analogy?) first and second half than that in a very long time. For everything UGA did wrong in the first half, they mostly got corrected in the second half.

Penalties are again killing us: It turns out we've had 54 penalties in five games. THIS is a problem that will make us easily an 8-4 team if we don't get it corrected soon.

I'm not saying we win last night if we don't have those early penalties in the first drive that kept that Alabama's drive alive and negated a turnover, but I'm saying it gives us a much better chance. UGLY, UGLY, UGLY play on both sides of the ball penalty-wise.

Also, they say we're getting adequate pressure on the QB, but it's when we're on offense. Stafford was flat getting killed last night, and it forced him to scramble, throw off his back foot, and look like he hasn't looked since UT last year. He forced the ball, missed his checks, and threw into covered receivers all because he didn't have time to make better decisions.

The Good

1) Fan Participation

If you would have told me that we'd be down 31-0 at halftime and our fans would not only stay in their seats, but also try and rally this team back, I'd have told you that I also have oceanfront property in Colorado.

The fans were jacked from the very first snap until maybe three minutes left in the fourth quarter. If you aren't impressed by that, I don't know what to tell you.

2) Lack of "Quit"

As ugly as the first half game was, our team did their best to try to come back and did one helluva job doing it. We were aggressive in the second half like we should have been in the first half, and even though Alabama still had a comfortable lead, you have to acknowledge that their starters were in there for a reason.

This game wasn't so out of hand that Alabama just cruised in the third and fourth quarters, but it was never so close that we had more than a fighting chance either. Anyway, the team came out and made some pretty big plays when we needed them desperately. I'll take that silver lining.

3) Rennie Curran

This kid is a monster. His height may keep him at UGA all four years, but his talent level should suggest that he could play on Sundays as soon as he's eligible. This kid is a DGD.

4) The Recruits All Seem to Have Had a Good Time

This ties back into points one and two, but every recruiting scoop I've read so far lists that game as one where the crowd and the second half performance saved us a lot of face. A lot of the kids we had visit last night, like Branden Smith, Jarvis Jones, and Orson Charles, all gave good reviews of the game even though we lost.

With as much exposure as we had with that ass-whipping, it was nice to know we still made a good impression on (possible) future Dawgs.

5) The 'Bama Fans

I'll be honest, I admired the fact that they traveled so far to watch their team. After the game, I had a couple of really good conversations with 'Bama fans. They aren't bad like LSU fans in the sense that if they win, they won't go TOO out of the way to make you hate life.

'Bama fans are somewhere in between UGA fans (because they like Southern football) and South Carolina fans (because sometimes they are flat-out delusional). Aside from "Beat Down" in the comments section on the last post, most of them just said "Good game. Hope we see you in December." I admire that kind of sportsmanship.

The Bad

1) First Half Gameplan

Ugh. There's not even enough room on this limitless blog to tell you how flat and unprepared we were yesterday. Coverage was blown, gaps weren't filled, tackles were missed, and penalties were created on the defensive side. On the offensive side, we tried to run it up the gut, Stafford was pressured, and penalties were created.

The problem is that when we knew it wasn't working, we tried to do it anyway. We didn't toss sweep, roll the pocket, or anything to try and give our guys some space to work with, and on defense, we stuck with the soft zone even though it was obviously failing. Yeah, we changed the gameplan in the second half, but man, it was WAY too late.

2) Brian Mimbs

I hate to call the kid out because he's usually automatic, but not every single touchdown was the defense's fault. When the opposing team starts from the 50 because your punt netted 10 yards, you have a problem, and it wasn't just one or two poor kicks. They were all bad. Mimbs has got to shake it off and get the boom back.

I did hear on the 5th Quarter Show that they thought the problem was Mimbs was trying to directionally kick the ball because Arenas was so good and our coverage isn't solid, but if Mimbs can't directionally kick, just have him boom it and hope our gunners get there to force a fair catch. I'd rather out-kick my coverage than have a punt only travel 10-20 yards. No-brainer.

3) National Exposure

Well, Dawg fans, you've been clamoring for more love from ESPN and whining about not getting enough love. Well, it filtered all the way to Bristol, CT and the WWL, and it turns out that we totally crapped the bed when they came to town. Now all I see are Dawg fans asking for ESPN to never come back to Athens.

Look, you can't have it both ways. Trust me, we want ESPN there because it's an AMAZING recruiting tool and it's great exposure when we win. There is no "GameDay Curse" or anything like that.

However, the road to national prominence runs through ESPN, so do me a favor and stop crying. We had our chance and blew it. Now we have to win seven straight in order to get the love again. Whose fault is that, really?

4) Chewing on This Loss for Two Weeks

A win here and we take some serious momentum going into the UT game, but a loss takes the wind out of our sails and we have to practice with the thought of being embarrassed again in the back of our minds.

I said earlier that "pressure breaks pipes," and I can tell you that the players know anything short of domination of UT means we will be considered "overrated." I hope we use that idea to get motivated to destroy Phil & Co., but who knows how this team will respond?

The Ugly

1) The Injuries

Man oh man, are we a razor thin team now. Knowshon, Chandler, and Ellerbe are all questionable for Tennessee, with Knowshon being more on the "probable" side. Durham is going to be gone for quite a while, and it turns out that Bruce Figgins is most likely lost for the year.

We're so thin at TE that we moved Kiante Tripp from the OT spot. Now that's another post for probably tomorrow, but I do like the idea of moving KT.

However, we've got to get healthy and get healthy quick. Getting Southerland back against UT helps, but man, it's as bad as I've ever seen it.

2) Losing the Blackout

I'm a fan of the Blackout. It gets the players excited, gets the fans excited, and gets the recruits excited. I don't think it's "gimmicky" at all. I also don't think the black jerseys cost us a game. I'm absolutely amazed by the folks on the message boards who think the Blackout should never come around ever again.

We didn't lose the game because we were too worried about our wardrobe. We lost the game because we got punched in the mouth and didn't respond.

That being said, I do think it's time to take the stance of making the players EARN the Blackout instead of just setting a date for it. Last year it was a reward—this year it was a certainty. I say keep the Blackout, but let's hang it up for just a little while until I get this taste of "embarrassment" out of my mouth.

3) Being Out of the National Title Race

We'd have to win seven straight games, including away games at LSU and Auburn, in order to get back to Atlanta for the SECC to probably face 'Bama again. IF we somehow run the table and do that, we have to hope that whoever we play in Atlanta is ranked high enough to give us a significant bump in the polls.

Then we also have to hope that every team ranked ahead of us currently takes a loss (or another loss), which is possible, but not entirely probable. At that point, we have an OUTSIDE shot of playing for the crystal football.

That, my friends, sucks.

Well, there you have it. I'll write some more on the move of Kiante Tripp probably tomorrow.

Also, for the commenter named "Beat Down" who took nearly every word I wrote in my preview and showed where I was wrong, I appreciate it. You've earned the right to gloat and certainly earned the right to show me where I made my mistakes.

However, at the end of the day, I'm still from Georgia and you're still not. Thanks for proving my point.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Georgia-Arizona State: Duel in the Desert

Kit Kitchens — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:20:00 -0400

This preview is one that I'm going to consider to be the toughest one to write to date. As always, there are other previews out there you should check out, namely Jody's Information Overload and Doug's Preview at Hey Jenny Slater.

Before I go forward, I'd like to pass along to our Dawg Brethren to be on their best behavior this weekend. I'm not saying that you shouldn't talk sh*t (I mean we all know that you're going to do that), but go into Tempe, have a good time and get to know the folks out there because they'll be coming to Athens next year.

Everything I've read from any ASU message board has been their fans welcoming us to their city and wanting us to party and celebrate a good football game. I can't fault them for that, so make sure you "Do Unto Others" this weekend, OK?

Now, let's get to talking about UGA whoopin' that ASU ass in between the pleasantries of Tempe:

When ASU has the ball:

It seems as if the college football world is on the fence about Rudy Carpenter. The stats say that he's an extremely accurate passer and the leader of this offense.

However, if you go back to 2007, the stats would say that when he's hit early and often, he gets rattled and becomes wildly inconsistent.

I say Carpenter is the kind of head case you'd expect out of a QB who probably thinks he's better than he actually is. No disrespect to Carpenter, but I watched that USC game last year on Thanksgiving and all I saw was Carpenter bitching at the refs, his O-line and the Trojans.

So, now that you know Rudy Carpenter is high on my "douche bag" list, I have to give him his props as a QB. If he can keep his head in the game, he's a very accurate passer and does a great job of eating up a zone scheme. Let's not forget that he's being coached by a good coach in Dennis Erickson. He's a vagabond, but he's a good coach.

Now, as far as the running game is concerned, there isn't any. Don't get me wrong, they have guys that can run the ball, but so far this year, the ones who haven't been sidelined by injury haven't produced up to par.

So, the deal is that the Defense should be able to contain the run like last week, but if you think that ASU offensive coordinator wasn't licking his chops while seeing UGA get carved up last week, you'd be dead wrong.

Carpenter is a very effective passer in all aspects of the game and he will find ways to get to him if we don't get pressure. However, as Mark Richt noted, he's good against the blitz as well. So, what do we do?

Well, we have to get pressure with our front four and maybe only bring five on certain downs. Yeah, we can blitz, but we're not going to be able to blitz every down.

We'll have to twist linemen and delay a linebacker (hopefully Curran) to confuse this young O-line and keep them guessing throughout the game. With the threat of the run being taken out of the equation, we have to have the mentality of "we dare you to beat us with your arm in under three seconds."

If we can get consistent pressure and just enough to rattle Carpenter, history has shown that he'll become erratic and start making some costly mistakes.

The players who need to step up are Bryan Evans, Prince Miller and whoever else might play in the nickel slot. Asher's going to have his guy locked down, but the other side is a major concern for me, especially on big plays.

Other than that, our defensive ends have GOT to record at least two sacks in the first half if we're going to establish any kind of "we're going to get you, Carpenter" mentality. If we can get him thinking about what side he's going to get hit from rather than what guy is going to be open, we win the battle on the defensive side of the ball.

When UGA has the ball:

It all starts with Knowshon Moreno. When KnoMo touches the ball, good things tend to happen. Other things that tend to happen include the opposing defense keying in on the run, which obviously opens up our dangerous play-action pass.

The real key here is going to be whether or not our Offensive Line can dominate given the recent shake-up in starters. Look for B. Jones to start at Center, with Boling and Anderson on the right and Vance and C. Davis on the left. Hopefully the shake up will give us a chance to get some road graders up front who will blaze the path for us.

So, what we need to do is get the ball often to Moreno and let him electrify the crowd out there in the first half. Then, as time wears on and ASU thinks we're not going to abandon the run, we need to start lighting it up short, middle and long.

The key to this game is going to be our third-down conversions. The way we do that is to run it first and second down and then leave ourselves in third-and-short situations. If we can do that, we'll put together long, sustaining drives that will keep our defense fresh and wear out their defense in the process.

The players who really have to step up in this one is everyone that plays on the O-line. Whoever it may be, they have to give Stafford time, protect him from all sides and allow him to step into his throws. When Stafford's mechanics stay true to form, he has an excellent shot of completing the types of passes that no one else in the country can make.

Special Teams

Well, I think we're as solid here as we could be. Brian Mimbs is showing out and Walsh has been able to make the kicks we've asked him to make.

However, we've got to find a way to kick the ball deep on kickoffs and do it in a way that allows our somewhat-questionable coverage to pin ASU's return man in a very tough situation.

As far as ASU is concerned, the goal is to get them to punt and punt it often. Sorry for my laziness, but I haven't done extensive research on their kicking game, so I'll just say this: I'll give up ASU's kickers knocking it through the uprights all game long as long as none of those kicks come up on a point-after try. Sounds good to me. How about you?

What I think will happen

In my opinion, UGA fans are overly optimistic after ASU dropped last week's game to UNLV. I hate to say it, but ASU is a much better team than UNLV and they basically just got caught with their pants down.

If we think that we're going to waltz in there and basically steamroll a team with a moderate defense and a very good offense, we're dead wrong.

Granted, when we play a stout defense, we've struggled a bit (with the USC game being the only indicator of this, however), but this game has all the makings of UGA fans seeing the Dawgs grasp the lead only to have ASU respond.

While I don't expect a high-scoring affair, I really do think that we'll get our points and ASU will get theirs as well. Their offense is too good for us not to let them score some, and their Defense is only fair enough to give us an opportunity to get our points, too.

The key to this game is for UGA to go out there and score early enough to give us a decent lead going towards halftime. I imagine if we see a 10+ point lead going into the rest of the game, we might just see things turn out really well for us.

However, with the size of the game and so much pressure on both teams to make a statement with this game, I really see it being quite a tight affair until the Dawgs open it up later with better conditioning and superior talent.

Don't get me wrong, though, ASU's going to make a game out of it. The good news is that no matter what happens, we're going to find ourselves still in the think of the SEC hunt, and hopefully we can be focused enough after whatever happens to get ready for a big game next Saturday against Alabama.

UGA: 27

ASU: 17

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Georgia Fans' 10 Most Irrational Complaints

Kit Kitchens — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:18:00 -0400

If you haven't noticed yet, I use Wednesday's List as a way for me to rant and rave about whatever is currently ticking me off at the moment. This Wednesday isn't any different. The only minor difference is that this week, I'm b*tching about our own fans.

So, let's not keep anyone waiting and talk about...

The 10 Most Irrational Complaints/Theories By UGA Fans Right Now

10) Matt Stafford Throws Too Hard

Every time I hear someone say this, I have flashes of Uncle Rico dance through my head. It's unfathomable to me that after three years, our receivers still haven't gotten used to the fact that Stafford has a cannon for an arm.

On top of that, do we really want to be the only school to have the problem of having a QB that's too good?

9) We Have to Throw the Ball to A.J. and MoMass No Matter What

Yeah, this makes total and complete sense. By all means, let's take our QB (who throws too damn hard, by the way) and make him force balls into double coverage. If it gets intercepted, no one will care. I mean, that's a part of the game, right?

8) We Were Saving the Playbook for Arizona State

Let me tell you one thing: We were in the fight of our lives this past Saturday. The plays we called were plays to win the game. We weren't holding anything back, just like South Carolina wasn't holding anything back when they played Vandy.

The truth is, I believe the Dawg Nation would be more happy about losing to ASU and winning the SEC than losing to USC, UT, or anyone else and only having "well, we beat a Pac-10 team" as our bragging rights.

Breaking News: They don't award BCS berths for beating the Sun Devils.

7) The Polls Really Do Matter in Week Three

All right, this needs to be let go of quick, fast, and in a hurry. If we're more concerned with being ahead of Oklahoma, USC (the real one), or anyone like that than we are about winning the next game, we're going to get embarrassed. THEN let's see how well that preseason ranking turned out for us.

6) We're a Worse Team Than We All Thought

OK, this one is absolutely ludicrous. Yes, sometimes it happens that teams return loads of talent, only to not play up to that talent level. For example, you can look at Ohio State, who returned more starters than UGA.

However, to think that we're not living up to the hype is a huge understatement. Are we playing our best football right now? HELL NO. And you know what? I don't want us to play our best football right now! If we do that, we peak too early and then we take a loss.

Mark Richt had an excellent response to this type of ASSessment last night on the Bulldog Hotline, and it was, "Good teams are supposed to get better every week."

Well, ain't that just novel? It turns out that the head coach doesn't want us to play our best football against Central Michigan. He probably thinks something completely off the wall like our best football should be played against Florida. What the hell is he smoking?

5) Mark Richt Plays WRs Who Normally Ride the Bench to Protect Their Feelings

This one has gotten WAY out of hand. In fact, I saw a guy on the message board earlier who had loaded our WR rotation in an Excel file just to make a point about it!

You see, geniuses, when MoMass and A.J. Green come out of the game, it's to let them REST. You know, get a breather? It just so happens that when people run a lot, they get tired, and they slow down the more tired they get.

Wouldn't it be amazing if MoMass was just as fast in the fourth quarter as he is in the first? Well, that's what we're doing.

On top of that, some of our WRs are better run blockers downfield. In a crazy twist of that game called "WINNING," if we block downfield better, it's more likely that Knowshon can break one for six points.

4) Jim Rome Is Worth Listening to

All the time, that asshat known as Jim Rome talks his "smack" about UGA—and for some reason, people seem to think that what he says matters.

Do you know why Jim Rome has a show on ESPN in the middle of the day? Because the ice skating season isn't year round.

Seriously, NOT ONE SINGLE TIME have I ever heard anyone, from a blogger to a professional journalist, mention a single topic or news story that Jim Rome has commented on.

When "real" sports journalists do or say something controversial, they talk about it on PTI. When Jim Rome does or says something controversial, people snicker and point like he wet himself. That should tell you all you need to know.

He's the last pick in the NFL Draft—Mr. Irrelevant.

3) We Should Bench Tripp Chandler

Yeah, this kind of crap comes from the same people who "boo" our players when they drop a pass, yet get gassed walking to the stadium on GameDay.

Look, Tripp has been a helluva player for us, not only in the passing game (does anyone remember the amazing grab and subsequent hit he took for a first down against Alabama last year?), but also in regards to blocking.

I was just as frustrated as you on Saturday, but Tripp's a senior, he's a leader, and he has the respect of his teammates. If Matt Stafford, Knowshon Moreno and MoMass respect him, I think we should probably give him the benefit of the doubt, don't you?

2) THE WHOLE MEDIA HATES US

OMF(riggin)GROTFLMAO, let it go. PLEASE, I'm begging you all to just drop it.

I've even heard crazy stuff like "Gary Danielson is anti-UGA." Why? Because he said we weren't covering Jarrod Cook properly? Or maybe because his reasoning was wrong when he questioned our move to go for two against USC?

Look, just because an announcer stays objective doesn't mean that he or she hates our guts. I LOVE Uncle Verne, but it's not like he's UGA's announcer. If he says something is boneheaded, he's just trying to call it like it is.

All you folks who are complaining about UGA's lack of coverage need to wise up to a few things. One, if we whine about not seeing our team enough, it makes us look pathetic. Two, if we whine enough and lose, we'll catch hell on TV, in the papers, on the Internet, and in the polls.

Shut your mouth and get concerned with cheering on the Dawgs. Nothing else matters. There's a phrase that goes "act like you've been there before." Do that.

1) Anything Short of a National Title Is a Failure

Mark my words, this is the most controversial one of the whole group, and I'll probably get blasted for it. However, you've got to bear with me and hear me out on this one.

Think about it like this: every year there are numerous teams who are "good enough" to be National Champions. BUT, in every year, there can be only one, and that team has to play well, play hard, and get a lot of luck along the way.

We may be the best team in the country. We may be the second-best team in the country, or we may be the 10th-best team in the country. Trust me, with as hard as the SEC is and as hard as our schedule is, I'd be ecstatic with an SEC Championship. It's an honor to even be in the damn game.

The stars might not align for us to hoist the crystal football this year, or they may align perfectly for us to run the table and rout everyone we play. I don't know what the future holds.

But I do know that if we are lucky enough to beat Florida and fortunate enough to get past LSU and gamble enough to squeak by Auburn and get tricky enough to pull one over on Tennessee and pummel Georgia Tech into the ground, you won't be able to wipe the smile off my face.

Nothing's better than being the champions, but being better than your rivals doesn't suck either.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.