Monday Morning (eh, whatever day) Quarterback: Mark Georgia down; Loughdmouthings - Falcons, HS upsets, coaching moves, Valdosta, more
OK, I’m done.
If Georgia doesn’t win the national championship, well, holy crap.
No more breaking down how the Dawgs will be challenged on a given week – although the same “how” scenarios stand for the playoffs, which will have by far better competition than Georgia has faced all year, which will also be an issue, as will be potential micromanaging and overthinking from The Head Headset.
But somebody else is going to have to play flawlessly, and have some creativity coming from the sidelines. It can happen, but it’s hard to see it. Objectively.
It’s not about talent. Many schools have mostly equal talent, the internet sucker bet known as “recruiting rankings” aside, but few have as much.
Who plays the best football, the most consistent football, the most fundamental football, those are the teams who win.
Georgia makes plays, but much more impressively, Georgia really doesn’t make many mistakes. They don’t make the blunders they’ve made, including every year under Kirby Smart until this one. They don’t make the mistakes that have lost them The Big Games.
The cornerbacks just cover their guys and don’t try to make plays they can’t, as with busts in big games before.
Oct. 27: The playoff picture is clear and fuzzy; Central Georgia polls; Loughdmouthings
Aug. 30: High school, college, pros; Loughmouthings; area HS football polls
There aren’t loads of missed tackles. Or busted blocks that lead to blindside hits on a QB. Or dropped passes.
Or penalties. Georgia averages 5.4 flags a game. About one a quarter.
For a suddenly elite team with depth and playmakers, and in the SEC, that’s mighty good.
There are just so very few “Hooooly (bleep), what the (bleep) are those (bleepin’ bleepers) doin’?” plays.
Folks shouldn’t worry about perceived snubs with awards, because there’s so much depth. It’s dazzling.
Yes, the same “what if” scenarios exist when the playoffs hit. Yes, Georgia can be beaten. But, again, the impressive thing is that the Bulldogs have allowed others to beat themselves, and they haven’t answered with their own mistakes, with playing down to an opponent’s level.
They are subtle in their dominance, and a pleasure to watch simply because they do their jobs, across the board.
And that – not the garbage about “stars” – is what wins football games.
Loughdmouthings
OK, yeah, so there was this post Sunday: “Your weekly ‘The Falcons are better than people 'think' or realize and will be closer to sniffing a winning record than those people 'think' reminder. And today, theyyyy are America's Team. No reason to think they can't win. Hey, they have visitors' field advantage.”
DOH!
Well, Tom Brady has a pick-6 and a two-INT game in short order and the Bucs lost to Washington, Arizona got hammered, the Rams gagged, so, ya know, stuff happens.
Dallas won’t play that well the rest of the year, period, and Atlanta is what Atlanta is: a roller coaster ride that sometimes is really fun and sometimes makes you throw up. But you keep riding.
Nobody gets a ring for a great game, nobody gets two losses for a bad loss …
As per the Georgia High School Football Daily’s Maxwell Ratings, there were four upsets “upsets”/upsets involving Central Georgia teams last week.
Houston County was a 15-point favorite, lost by nine. Baldwin was a 19-point favorite, lost by 19 (wow). Stratford was an 11-point favorite, lost by two. And Dublin was favored by three, lost by two.
A year ago, Central Georgia went 15-11 in the GHSA first round (excluding inter-area games). This year, the area went 10-13. …
Warner Robins is playing its whole second road playoff game since this run began in 2017. The Demons beat Blessed Trinity 35-28 in last year’s quarterfinals.
So they’re without standout running back Malcolm Brown, and on the road at undefeated Cartersville, winner of 13 straight home games and 30 of its last 31 at home.
Note that the Demons have played a tougher schedule. And a quick look at numbers as of the meeting this year and last year: The Demons are scoring 14 more points a game while the Purple Hurricanes get two more points a game than last year, and Warner Robins gives up four fewer points and Cartersville is about the same.
Last year, things sure looked even. This year, eh, seems like the Demons might be better. Of course, last year’s meeting was in the middle, not on a home field. Warner Robins losing at Ware County – think South Georgia might be rowdier? - might lead to a win at Cartersville. …
Last week, you read here about the inevitable coaching changes that were coming.
Jasper County was a surprise. Houston County wasn’t.
Black Monday came to Highway 96 in Warner Robins when Ryan Crawford was cut loose after five seasons.
Houston County has had its place in the unofficial transfer portal for awhile, and Crawford tried to stabilize the roster, try to keep kids who were there for the team and program and not business.
One who stayed was Wesley Steiner, a major prospect who’s now at Auburn.
Usually it’s tough for a coach to follow The Man. In this case, Crawford followed The Quarterback, whose four years playing for the Bears led to unreal expectations.
Or raised standards, thanks in part to a convergence of talented players in a variety of positions heretofore not experienced at Houston County or since. A few player departures didn’t help.
Crawford is a young guy, only 36 when he got the job, and has a solid resume as a defensive coach.
The successor has work to do, from the younger levels of the program to varsity. Expect an offensive minded hire, because the Bears went from dazzling with the ball to, well, not. And one never really knows what machinations may develop in the county with zones and discouraging transfers and other such things.
Now, we can all focus on the interesting rumors regarding candidates for the ACE job, which is proving to be a better gig now than a few months ago.
Interim coach Sam Zanders deserves every consideration as a legit candidate, even if his resume isn’t as long or as heralded as some of those who will apply or be strongly urged to reply. There are likely to be more notables in the hunt than most expect, but it seems like Zanders has handled a lot of issues that existed and were fermenting when he took over. …
All the grief and criticism and scolding the Valdosta school board has taken over the past few years? Turns out it’s deaf and dumb – dumb, not mute – after all.
The board unanimously – seriously? – voted three weeks ago to remove the interim label for Shelton Felton as head coach.
Felton’s seventh job in the last decade ended with him being fired for cause, at Tennessee. Fired for cause doesn’t happen much. And he worked twice – once at Colquitt and a little bit, technically, when he was hired as an assistant while somebody was on leave – for Rush Propst.
So, um, well, so much for teach kids the right way to do things. Again.
Polls
Reminder that we split up the polls into divisions, because, well, it makes sense. A so-so record by a bigger school against better competition likely means deserving a higher ranking in an overall poll than a smaller school with a better record.
One game is one game. Polls are big-picture items. Who would beat who right now? If they played 10 times, who’d win more? Tis mere reality.
This is more fair, allows for more teams to be ranked. And there are many more 3A, 2A, and A programs in Central Georgia than larger programs, so they deserve more rankings.
Alas, we’ll put the polls on ice until the end of the season. Then, multiple polls: a full Division I and full Division II poll, with all eligible teams based on division, and then a top 25 with everybody involved.
Quote of the day
“I love seeing all this blue in here,” Northeast coach Jeremy Wiggins said Monday on Georgia Southern night at the Macon Touchdown Club, pausing. “I played at App State.”