Monday Morning QB: Another black-n-blue battle in Lexington; Loughdmouthings: Falcons, silly second-guessing (UGA), county records …
Who knew that ABC putting Georgia and Kentucky on prime time would actually be a really good decision?
My hand’s nowhere near raised.
Goodness.
What 97.8 percent of the populace missed was that Kentucky battled Georgia because of the line of scrimmage. Not the playbook, not the OC, not the quarterback.
The line of scrimmage dictates the success of the OC and quarterback. If you make blocks and fulfill assignments, plays tend to work a lot more, or at least better.
And sometimes, the other guy just plays better at times. Most SEC teams have a dozen players who are of starting capability for Georgia. The Bulldogs will also get better efforts, and when a team plays as it’s coached, the competition is greater.
Sometimes, a team doesn’t play well because of the other team. And honestly, it’s OK – really – to give credit to the other team. You will not lose your fan card by being, well, better than the average fan.
If folks are going to brag about the supreme command of the SEC, they have to give credit to other teams and not whine about their own team.
Kentucky giving Georgia a tussle is not news, especially in Lexington.
Teams, especially in the Gawdawmighty SEC, aren’t going to genuflect or cower when they hear barking. Teams aren’t fans who want hugs all day, every day (thus, enter college online “media” to provide those hugs with such huggable stories, like like “somebody on thuh teevee talked about our team yesterday”).
Long before Saturday, it was no stretch to consider that Georgia could lose a couple games, and would be pushed in others. For one, the season is just about three parts, and who knows where teams will be in that third part.
Georgia’s third part: Mississippi, Tennessee, UMass, and Georgia Tech. Two of those teams can beat Georgia, and one can make Georgia sweat a lot.
The second part includes Alabama, Auburn, and Texas. Two can beat Georgia, the other one can make Georgia sweat.
I’ve now been wrong for about three decades, that we were going to see national championship games with one- and two-loss teams, because there’s so much talent spread out, and going undefeated was about impossible.
OK, at the point of that prediction, college football’s coaching GOAT was with the Cleveland Browns and just starting his winning percentage of 57.6 percent career at Michigan State.
Shoot, that was so long ago, Nebraska and Florida State were good.
Finally, that analysis is closer to reality.
Fans better be prepared for it. After all, against all odds and everything right with (their) world, neither Alabama nor Georgia played for the national title.
In fact – hold on to your lunch sub – nobody from the SEC was in the championship game. Gee, the way things are, did that really happen? No investigation?
There may be two more SEC teams ranked No. 1 before we get to Thanksgiving. And for those of us who don’t care who wins and are annoyed by all fan bases, it’s going to be mighty entertaining.
Notable numbers
Central Georgia’s first-year head coaches are 22-24. …
2-2, 1-3, 4-0, 2-2, 2-3, 1-4, 0-5, 2-3, 5-0, 3-2,
22-24
FPD went from six points and 20 pass attempts to 47 points and not a single pass attempt. Wonder when the last time FPD tried less than five passes was, and how old folks are now who played in that game.
On the college campus
So much for Georgia-Kentucky being a money-game score. Props to Kentucky fans for showing up that big and strong with no indication that there’d be a basketball scrimmage at halftime on the field.
Chattanooga is “The Scenic City” and Mercer sure enjoyed its trip up there Saturday. Tattnall grad Brayden Smith – increasingly a steal for the Bears – got Mercer’s lone touchdown, making noise there despite a quiet special teams day, a rarity.
Holding a team, a good team, to under 50 yards rushing is one thing. Holding that team to 19 is astounding.
Defense and offense ruled at Fort Valley State with its 42-0 win over Kentucky State. The Wildcats’ administration better start putting money aside to keep head coach Shawn Gibbs, who has brought stability and wins. Folks might start showing up more, too.
Central Georgia’s first trip to GMC went as expected, a rout, but it’s just good to have another junior college football team somewhere in the Southeast, where the substantial dearth of junior college teams remains more than astounding.
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Loughdmouthings
As for Atlanta and Philly tonight, who the hell knows?
The Falcons should come out looking better, more of than not. Hearing more crowd noise for the other team shouldn’t be a problem. They heard more Pittsburgh fans in Atlanta last week from the start. …
Really, I’m not going to be surprised if Atlanta looks very little like last week, and I’ll be surprised if they look like last week. …
Tell me you are memory- and football-knowledge-challenged without telling me:
“Bobo (fill in the blank, with some blankety blanks).”
A. It’s OK to credit the opposition, it really is; B. If a fat boy misses a block, if a receiver runs the wrong route or drops a pass, if the snap doesn’t make it back to the QB, if somebody runs the wrong play or doesn’t play hard, plays shall fail.
The latest Bobo rants are about as ill-informed and absurd as the last rants. And the next ones. …
From last week: “OK, we can now say Florida State is out of the playoff picture. The Seminoles will get better, but there are still a few losses waiting.”
Apparently they won’t get better, and boy oh boy, are there losses waiting. …
“We gotta be balanced.”
Ran 12, passed 11 in the first half.
“We gotta be one-dimensional.”
Three runs up the middle don’t work.
“They KNOW what we’re gonna do.”
Tackle misses a block on a perimeter run, loss of two.
“We got to just pound ‘em.”
This is the brilliance Dabo and Kirby don’t wanna hear on call-in shows? …
Four Central Georgia counties – Bibb, Houston, Laurens, and Baldwin – have at least three teams.
Bibb has – good Lord have mercy – 13 teams, public and private, playing 11-man. Houston has six, Laurens four and Baldwin three.
Laurens County: 13-4; Houston County: 15-11; Bibb 28-26; Baldwin 2-12. That includes private and charter schools.
The public school breakdown changes things: Laurens County, 10-2; Houston County 12-10; Bibb County, 7-17; Baldwin County, 1-8. …
How in the world did Kentucky hang with Georgia? I mean, Kentucky put out its depth chart long before the game, and everything. …
What they’re saying: “Parents got tired of being there for 10 years and their kids never playing because of transfers every year.”
Can happen anywhere. …
What refs sometimes miss – and broadcast bozos always miss – is that a fair number of pass interference calls should be holding. And a pass may be uncatchable, but that doesn’t mean a receiver wasn’t held. …
How is it one person can sit in a living room and see things in a game that an overpaid, overrated, insecure staff of 80 with or near a headset or tablet can’t see?
Because few overcomplicate their business like football coaches. It’s fairly absurd on a regular basis.
Simple wins more games than complex, which loses more games than simple. Many great plays on offense are the result of brutal tackling, not great or bad coaching. …
Dear Tua: After you get cleared to play, take another week off during which you and Miami can discuss the financials of a retirement plan, play two games, full out, and retire.
We know it’ll be hard, we all want to go out how we want to go out, but T, life doesn’t often allow for that proper departure, and we only want the “going out” to be for football, followed by 60 years of family happiness, not “going out” of The Big Game way prematurely.