Central Georgia Sports ReportComment

Monday Morning QB: Ws & Ls, and Loughdmouthings galore

Central Georgia Sports ReportComment
Monday Morning QB: Ws & Ls, and Loughdmouthings galore

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Let us all join hands, figuratively, and closer our eyes and look up to the skies with one simple plea:

          “No lightning or storms this weekend, please. And thank you.”

          It poured at Mercer on Thursday, nary at drop at Westside. Games from coast had weather issues.

          Note: Weather issues to happen all the time, about every year.

          Getting through those issues – especially lightning that shows up like it’s trying out for a part in a horror movie – without tragedy is worthy of great thanks, and more prayers.

Dubs and Ls

          The number of 0-3 Central Georgia high school teams: 6. (Fellas, paying attention to the snap count and avoiding the completely avoidable pre-snap penalties does absolute wonders. So does tackling from the ball on down. Wonders).

          The number of 3-0 Central Georgia high school teams: 6.

Stat stuff

          First Central Georgia quarterback to 1,000 yards passing will be Jones County’s Devin Edmonds, who is at 821 yards.

          Now, That’s as per MaxPreps (as of noon Monday). Remember: MaxPreps stats are based only on team input. Teams have to input the stats. If your team isn’t represented on MaxPreps, ask the coaches why.

          It’ll be awhile before any Central Georgia running backs sniff 1,000. Brentwood’s Zach Denton has 440 yards, less than 100 yards ahead of Northeast’s Reginald Glover, Westside’s Kadiphius Iverson, Dublin’s Xavier Bostic, and Northeast’s Nick Woodford.

          Ditto pass-catchers. Jones County’s Jaivon Solomon is at 357 yards, not far ahead of Perry’s Kiel Sparks. Then there’s a gap.

On the college campus

          Georgia: Is it time to give Malaki Starks a couple snaps on offense? With those hands, good grief.

          The Bulldogs are off to quite a nice start, but we still have to wait and see what Clemson is to really determine how strong a win it was.

          Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets did a nice job of getting past the Florida State win and taking care of Georgia State, which put forth a good effort, too.

          Mercer: Sure, the Bears were a big favorite, but turning that kind of night with the weather mess and in a coaching transition is impressive.

          Fort Valley State: First home opener in years, and the Wildcats kinda stumbled against Clark Atlanta. Expect Shawn Gibbs to fix it pretty quick.

          Kennesaw State: No, the Owls shouldn’t be in I-A – OK, OK, FBS – just like so many others, and the crap that the greedy … a different rant. But it was a nifty debut, at a decent Texas-San Antonio team.

          Georgia Southern: Make a few stops – in a game with 70 rushes and 81 pass plays – or give up on e fewer touchdown of 70 yards or more, and the Eagles have a nice little upset. …

 

Loughdmouthings

          Ye of the jerking knees: No, neither Florida State nor Clemson nor LSU, among others, are out of the playoffs.

No, Georgia Tech nor Southern Cal nor Miami are in the playoffs.

Shoot, Miami is “back” as often as Tiger Woods, and he ain’t been back in a decade. Pummeling a are-they-really-that-bad? Florida team equals Tiger going nine holes without a bogey. People get goofy. …

          It’s again time for a high five and fist bump to the schools who will play teams from The Other Association. Such scheduling is a sign of maturity, of professionalism, of logic, and some guts.

          Let’s say a GHSA team loses to a good GIAA team early in the season. Fine, the yahoos who know little about football and a lot about blather will grumble, and maybe some with power will grumble a little more, and knuckleheads in charge might listen. OK, well, knuckleheads in charge listen to yahoos with some “power.”

          The point of playing good teams – no matter the association – is to get better. Losing such a game in September can lead to improvements and maybe humility and to progress that can mean wins in October and November.

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          Maybe showing the nincomtwits a calendar and reminding them that no rings are awarded for the first three or four or five games is a thought. Or pointing out teams that dined on pastry when the temps were 93 but became region or playoff pastry as folks cruised through Halloween.

          Good teams are good teams. Lessons are lessons. …

          Speaking of MaxPreps: TURN OFF THE SCREAMING VIDEOS AND ADS, because it’s rude and anti-customer. …        

          “Vanderbilt beat Virginia Tech in OT” and “Vanderbilt had to turn away students for the game” are two sentences you sure didn’t expect in 2024. …

          Brian Kelly’s is mad about how LSU didn’t finish, and the nation’s top college football TV second-guessers, who’s often right, blamed Kelly for players not finishing, says Kelly has to coach better.

          Do he see Kelly just strolling around? Did the camera miss Kelly or coaches yelling at players? And, well, do these media clowns thing coaches don’t spend all week preaching stuff that seems ignored on gameday?

Blame players for effort, blame coaches for not pulling them out and then calling them out with “We had to put in players who played harder.”

          Sitting ‘em down is the best wakeup call. And don’t worry, the quitters or money-grubbers going going to transfer anyway.