UGA vs. Auburn: The Sunday Treatment and a Trip Around the Dawgosphere

(#15) UGA 34 - (#9) Auburn 7

Box Score

I still say Tech is UGA's biggest rival. Even though it hasn't been much a rivalry lately, I believe that because I feel that Tech is the team I hate to lose to the most, and I think that is the ultimate deciding factor. But, as I discussed yesterday with my buddy that went with me to the game who believes Auburn is our biggest rival, I could probably honestly say that I enjoy defeating Auburn the most. So...perhaps they are our biggest rival. Really, who cares...

I just know that I love beating that crowd. Especially big. It never gets old. The 2011 and 2012 beat-downs helped make up for the 2010 game and I think last night went a long way towards getting the bad taste of last year's game out of my mouth. And since the 2005 heart breaker that was also a late night game in Sanford Stadium against the wareagletigerplainsmen, we are 7-2 in this series. That's pretty great.

Where to start? Man...just such a great team performance. Chubb and Gurley. The special teams. Man - the defense! Pruitt is obviously a great DC and he obviously has a knack for stopping the Gus Bus. To me, that's as good a defensive performance we've seen from the Silver Britches in the last decade. And let's not forget about the crowd. Several players and coaches made a point to thank the crowd. I've been going to UGA games over 30 years and I can honestly say that was as good and fired up a crowd as I've ever seen. I think it was even louder and more intense than last year's games vs. SCAR and LSU.

Not all is good, however, as #3 Toddy Gurley suffered a knee injury towards the end of the night. No official word as of yet, but I don't think it looks good. Seems like he might have some ligament damage. If that's the case, I sure do hate it. Doesn't seem right. But, if that is the case, I think Gurley is the type of guy that can come back better and stronger than ever and will have the opportunity to achieve everything he deserves at the next level. Regardless, he will always be considered one of the greatest of Damn Good Dogs and will always hold a status as one of the greatest to ever put on the Silver Britches.

Anything to complain about? The officiating, for sure. Calling back that beautiful fake punt was as bad a call as we've seen all year. We still seem to have some issues with punting the ball, but all in all did okay in that respect. Our kickoff coverage was excellent although I'm still not sure why we're not putting it in the end zone every time.

Truly a great game for our Dawgs. What a night!

Let's get the pulse of the Dawg Nation and take...

A Trip Around the Dawgosphere:

• The Senator is thinking about framing Auburn's drive chart. I'd put it up on my wall. Seriously, after that first drive, we just weren't giving Auburn hardly anything. What a night for the D! 
• Bernie's pumped up. That always get me pumped up!
• Tyler's Sunday Morning Comes. Very good point about Bobo continuing to go deep just enough to put the AU defense in a tough spot. Bobo has called several great games this year but last night might have been his best.
• DawgSports' 15 Thoughts. Ditto!
• A take on that magnificent defensive performance from the Macon paper.

As I type this, it seems as if reports are surfacing that Gurley's knee injury is a season-ending one. That's terrible. I hate to hear that so damn much. Man...Also, it is now official that Muschamp will be stepping down from Florida after this season. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted although not so much for this year's edition of the WLOCP. I'll be curious to see who UF goes after. Mullen? Possibly Stoops from Kentucky? An NFL guy? We'll see...

GO DAWGS!

The Sunday Treatment & A Trip Around the Dawgosphere: 12/29/13

Greetings. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. Man, time kind of got away from me this month. The posting has been light in December and basically non-existent for the past few weeks. For that, I apologize. I manage a package store and obviously the Holiday season is crazy for us. It's yet another reason why I have so much respect for so many of my fellow Dawg-bloggers for being so prolific and consistent with their posting. My hats off to those folks, for sure.

I'm just basically going to combine the Treatment and Dawgosphere sections with this one: 

Definitely been some Dawg news going on the past few weeks. A few suspensions have got many of us wondering about our secondary in the Gator Bowl, but I think we'll be alright. Also in that story from Emerson is news that we'll be losing Christian Lemay after this season as he plans to transfer. Can't say that I blame the young man. With Bauta coming on strong and Ramsey having the skills he does, I think Lemay wouldn't crack the top-3 once again this year. He is reportedly planning on enrolling at Jacksonville St. where he might be looking at a starting job. Speaking of Faton Bauta, he is looking more and more like a player that can really contribute. I enjoyed watching him in the closing minutes of the Kentucky game.

The Hoop Dawgs had a nice little run going there for awhile, albeit it against inferior opponents (W. Carolina, Lipscomb, Gardner-Webb, UT-Chattanooga), but that streak ended last night at the hands of a very good Colorado team.  I still think our Dawgs could end up as a pretty decent team this year. We've got some serious players and some pretty good depth. I still say we're going to surprise some folks.

This probably made the rounds a few days ago but I didn't see it until an Auburn friend of mine (of all people), posted it on my FB page yesterday. When you see stuff like this, it makes you proud to be a Bulldog and that Mark Richt is our coach. Such a wonderful thing. Thought and prayers are with that young man.

After New Year's I'll be back on a more regular basis. Hope everyone has a wonderful 2014!

GO DAWGS!

The Sunday Treatment & A Trip Around the Dawgosphere: Championship Weekend Edition

Great day of college football yesterday. I savored pretty much all of it all the way to the Mountain West CG that wrapped up in the early Sunday morning hours. This is always a bittersweet time of year. It's exciting to know that bowl games are coming up, but we all know that our college football is coming to a close and we won't don't have much more until we'll have to be without it for about 9 months. Let's break down the big ones:

SECCG: Auburn vs. MIZZOU

Well, it was an entertaining game. I'll sure say that. Seems like everyone is jumping on the lack of defense meme in the SEC. Myself included! Hell, it's like A&M and MIZZOU join and we turn into the Big 12 or something. But they say that sometimes it takes a year or two for defenses to catch up with offenses. I think we'll probably see lower point totals in the SEC next year. With that said, I personally think the biggest reason why we've seen such an explosion in points-per-game is because the SEC, for whatever reason, decided to basically quit calling holding this year. You'll see a penalty or two per game for very egregious violations, but by and large, they're just not calling it anymore. I mean, come on, Auburn is basically just running the old-school Wing T set. But, if you have a legitimate passing threat, it can be tough to defend. I'll give credit where it's due - Auburn was the better team last night. And at this point, I'm inclined to agree with some others that even though FSU will probably be the overall better team, you've got to figure that there is no way that Auburn won't win it! 

One other thing. The targeting rule, nationwide, has been as huge as anything. That, coupled with the aforementioned lack of holding being called in the SEC, has probably been the biggest factor. But, there are some very interesting and hard-to-defend offenses in the SEC this year: A&M w/ Johnny Football; Gus and the Delaware Wing-T; MIZZOU, USCe, and Ole Miss running various variations of the Zone Read/ Jet Sweep type stuff. They're all factors. Also, to score another one in the category of unintended consequences, wonder why we've seen all of these blown knees? Maybe because defenders are going low? There you go...

In terms of how the defenses can catch up, I don't know the game enough, defensively, to give you a good answer. But I'm sure they will. 

One more thing. I think you've got to hang this loss on the MIZZOU coaching staff. What was up w/ that 3 man front. It would get ripped every time and they kept going back to it. And what was the one thing they did well all night offensively? Passing the ball. But late in the game they kept trying to run it playing right into the AU defense. To me, it looked like Pinkel et al were not quite ready for prime time.

tOSU vs. Mich. State

Pretty much everybody called it. The Buckeyes were just not that good. In fact, Ohio St. would lose by 2-4 touchdowns or possibly more to the following teams: Alabama, Auburn, Stanford, Oregon, Clemson, Missouri, South Carolina, LSU, probably Georgia, and about 5 other teams. They were exposed for exactly what they were. A fairly decent team with a very easy regular season schedule. Also, the previous bit about the MIZZOU coaching staff not being ready for prime time - ditto with the OSU staff.

The Other Stuff

I wonder if Mack Brown is squarely back on the hot seat? I'm sure he is. I really like Stanford. They're a damn good team. Same with Baylor. And you got to tip your hat to Duke. They gave it all they had. It just wasn't anywhere close to being enough. And how 'bout them Rice Owls? Their first conference championship in over 50 years. That's a good story.

And let's check the pulse of the DawgNation and take...

A Trip Around the Dawgosphere

• I've felt this way for the last seven years. Bernie's right on the money
• Over at the Grit Tree I find myself agreeing a lot of the time with CorbinDawg. Not so much with this other guy.
• To my point about the chances that Auburn has in the big one. From the Senator. Yeah, football gods, FTW - Fo Sho! Either Gus & company have been living right or, more likely, they all sold their souls to Satan. 
• Tyler's thoughts on the new lack of D in the SEC.

Alright. Guess we'll find out who's going where later on tonight. As for us, I'm still pulling for a match-up vs. Michigan in the Gator Bowl. We'll see. Go DAWGS!
 

The Sunday Treatment & A Trip Around the Dawgsophere: THWGT Edition

DAWGS 41 - NATS 34

For me personally, it's as if the 1999 game has finally been fully exorcised. No, 2002 didn't do it. 2004 Reggie Ball? Nope. 2006 and 2009 might have finally gotten 1998 paid back. No, it wasn't until last night that I truly felt like things, in a karmic perspective, were finally set right. We ripped their hearts out and broke their noses.

The techies are in a bad way right now. I mean really bad. After enduring perhaps our most heartbreaking loss ever just a few weeks ago, I could almost feel myself feeling a little sorry for that crowd. Almost. I mean, it's Tech. So...no - not really. It seems as if most of the tech crowd is turning against CPJ. That's a shame...

What a crazy game. And after the season we've had, would you have expected anything less?  After being down 20-0 and then 20-7 at halftime, it seemed as if the Golden Tornado finally had our number this year, but that just wasn't gonna happen. Todd Gurley was going to make sure that wouldn't happen. The same with Hutson Mason, Chris Conley, our O-line, the D in the 2nd half. It was a true team win, and it was absolutely beautiful. And the final play of the 2nd OT? We batted the pass DOWN. Gotta love that.

So let's check the pulse of the DawgNation and take...

A Trip Around the Dawgsophere 

• Probably my favorite recurring Dawgblog post: Dawgsports' Mark Richt Victory Watch
• Tyler's Sunday Morning Comes over at Georgia Sports Blog
• Good take over at the GOTTASUPPORTEM Blog
• Seth Emerson, from the Macon paper, gives his recap.
• The Senator hasn't posted his recap yet, so be sure to visit later today.[UPDATE: "Observations from the 20: UGA-GT Edition]
• Bernie thinks it's a great day for America. Agreed!

Five in a row. 12 out of 13. Like I said yesterday, Richt owns Tech so bad that he pays Fulton Co. property taxes! All is right for another 365.

GO DAWGS! 

Staring into the Abyss & a Trip Around the Dawgosphere

Last night was the toughest loss I've ever dealt with in 30+ years of being a Georgia fan. It was soul-crushing. I think what made it so bad was the fact that we basically had gotten our doors blown off early and then it seemed as if we would hold our own in the 3rd quarter to at least keep it from getting out of hand. Then, all of the sudden we have this miracle comeback only to see a bigger miracle comeback at the very end. And then, and this is something that hardly anyone is talking about, we witness an egregious helmet-to-helmet hit against our QB in the final play that should have given us one more snap. 

You know what else made this one tough? Those damn Auburn fans. Always pretty much nice and friendly until after a win and then they show their asses. Of course, the whole Nick Marshall thing was another dynamic. After their $scam Newton hijinks, the plainsmen pull a redux taking the player that stole from his teammates. Winning at all costs, I guess. Ends justify the means and all that. I honestly think a fair amount of people, Auburn fans included, didn't fully know that he committed Grand Larceny against his own teammates. I mean, who does that?  But because Richt made it a point not to prosecute and get the police involved and simply cut the young, troubled man loose, there has been a bit of a whitewashing of the Nick Marshall story. So, it's just really an additional sting given that background and then to see the reaction of so many of the Tiger nation. But, that's just how they roll. Every staff they've had all the way back to Shug Jordan has been basically been found guilty of cheating. Well, you reap what you sow - we saw that with the 2012 edition of Abuurn.Call it sour grapes if you want, but I'm especially happy and proud to be a Bulldog on this dreary, rainy Sunday. And I'm so glad that Mark Richt is our coach.



One other thing: Penn Wagers. To hell with him. He's awful. At this point, it's just beyond ridiculous that he is still calling Georgia games. He's proven with his actions, and publicly with his words, that he cannot be impartial and neutral when it comes to UGA. And, as I mentioned in the first paragraph, the non-call on the blatant helmet-to-helmet hit on the game's last play was just icing on the cake as far as that is concerned.

As for the game: well, this one was all knotted up at 54-54-8 and it seemed fitting that the game, and so many of the stats, were basically even. They had 29 first downs and so did we. We finished with over 530 yards of total offense and they had a few more. It was basically anyone's game at the end. And Auburn, with the flukiest of fluke plays (he didn't even see the ball until it was coming down right into his hands), just broke our damn hearts. This basically becomes their "Belue-to-Scott" play. It's a tough, tough one. Like I said - the toughest ever for me.

Let's check the pulse of the Dawg Nation and take...

A Trip Around the Dawgosphere:

• Always a Sunday must read: the Senator and his observations. Spot on, as always. 
• Bernie's right: Aaron Murray is so damn clutch. He deserved to win this one. We really need to show some love this Saturday. Let's pack Sanford, y'all! 
• And Tyler's right: Ramik is the man! DGD! 
• The Macon paper's Seth Emerson, the best UGA beat writer out there, keeps on keepin' it real.

Well, we got to shake this one off and get ready for Kentucky. I know they've basically been awful this year but they got some talent, and some pretty good coaching. We've got to get ready for that crowd. Also, this will be our final home game so we really need to pack it out and show some love to our Seniors, especially Aaron Murray.

GO DAWGS! 

The Thursday Treatment and A Trip Around the Dawgosphere

Well, usually I do these things on Sundays, but I didn't do it this past Sunday. In fact, I've only posted once in the last ten days. Sorry about that. What can I say? I've been busy. But hell - we're all busy. As a part of the Dawgosphere now, it makes me truly appreciate the guys like The Senator, Bernie, Tyler, the Lady, and others who are pretty darn prolific with their posting. I tip my hat...

I attended the Appalachian St. game with my wife and daughter. We had a really nice time.It was great to see Aaron Murray break the SEC record for passing TDs. With this, and after the SEC yardage record that was already broken, there's no denying he's the greatest to ever play in the SEC. Well done, AM. You're a Damn Good Dog! It was also nice to see so many backups get some quality playing time in the 2nd half. We're set up nicely next year with Hutson Mason at QB, aren't we? The first half was pretty frustrating though, right? Oh well. It was a big win. 45-6. We'll take it... 

Lots of stuff going on this week...so why don't we take "a trip around the Dawgosphere." 

• Looking at the different teams' strengths, Tyler thinks the Dawgs have an excellent shot at winning on the Plains in a couple of days. I'm inclined to agree. 
• I vividly remember watching this one on TV as an eleven year old boy. What a game. And what a Damn Good Dog! And to hell with Auburn for pulling that crap. T. Kyle King is right - anyone who thinks that Auburn is a "gentleman's" or "brotherly" rivalry just doesn't get it!
• Lugnut over at the Grit Tree is also feeling good about Saturday. 
• What's the best UGA beat writer saying about Saturday? It's the run defense, stupid!
• The Mumme Poll, Week 11. My ballot is very similar but I had OSU instead of tOSU. 
• A very good write-up about the upcoming game over at the GottaSupport'em Blog. I like this guy's stuff - he does a good job.

I'm planning on getting at least a few more posts up before kick-off on Saturday. As I mentioned earlier, I'm feeling pretty good about this one. What does Auburn's O do best? And what does our D do best? Will we be able to score some points on this crowd? Who's currently got the momentum in this rivalry? Those are some of the important questions and the answers are looking pretty good so far to me. We'll see... 

The Sunday Treatment and a Trip Around the Dawgosphere: UGA vs. UF

UGA 23 - UF 20. What a win! That's three in a row vs. the Gators, 4 of the last 7, and puts us at a 5-5 tie over the last decade in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party (WLOCP). You can say what you will about any number of things: no points in the 2nd half, some seriously frustrating offensive play-calling, and some other real head-scratchers (how you gonna have 12 men on the field coming out of a TO?!), but you know what - who gives a sh*t? We won the dang thing, and it was a big, big win.

Looking at the numbers, here were the biggest things that stuck out to me on offense:

• UGA on 3rd downs: well north of 50% at 7 out of 12. That was simply huge, and obviously a heck of a lot better than last year's numbers (1 out of 11). 
•  Even though he came in with two wins against the reptiles, it was nice to see Aaron Murray finally have that killer performance that we've all been waiting to see:16 out of 25 (64%) for 258 yards with a TD and no INTs. Averaging 10 yards per throw with an impressive 163.89 QB rating.
• MVP of the game? Who was our leading rusher, receiver and scorer? No doubt about it: Todd Gurley. We most likely don't win without him. He's a DGD and one of the greatest players in college football right now.

• It was nice having Bennett back, wasn't it? All five of his catches were very important.

I was very proud of our defense. They rose to the occasion. For starters, it was their best scoring performance all season - lowest amount given up all year, even a point better than North Texas. Just as impressive - it was their 2nd best yardage performance of the season as well (North Texas). Also of note, the last three games have been three of the D's best with each week getting better than the previous. Sure, Florida's offense is pretty anemic, but still, a really good defensive performance for the Dawgs. And how about Garrison Smith? It was nice to see him really break out and have the type of game he did.

Special teams? They didn't cost us any points so we'll give them good marks as well.

And now for our Sunday tradition:

A Trip Around the Dawgosphere 

• Tyler over at GA Sports Blog: Sunday Morning Comes
• I'm thinking that the Senator was feeling pretty good last night: 3 in a row!
• Marc Weiszer over at the Athens paper does a good write-up about things especially the high emotions that were running.
• Seth Emerson, my favorite UGA beat writer, does his usual great job of summing things up. He mentions some hard truths, doesn't sugar coat, and keeps it real as always.
• The Mark Richt Victory Watch over at Dawgsports

And let's take a look at what the Gators are saying:

• Alligator Army: "Gators die hard in wild Cocktail Party"
• Gator Country's takes

So...our Dawgs are now 5-3 and still have a very faint glimmer of hope in the SEC east. A few questions: When might we see Conley on the field again? Will Gurley have to miss the 1st half of the App. State game? Will Aaron Murray finally break the SEC passing TD mark next week (he's now at 113 - one ties and two takes it)? How good, really, is Auburn?

So far I think 2013 is still a pretty good year. Wins against South Carolina, UT, LSU, and Florida. That's awesome! Where might we be without all of those injuries? Hell, who knows. But it doesn't matter. There's still so much to play for. If we could add AU and GT to the list of teams we've defeated this year and 2013 will go down as a great year. Let's continue to get healthy and play a good game against Appalachian State.

GO DAWGS! 

The Sunday Treatment and a Trip Around the Dawgosphere

Well, dang - that sucked.

Other than what I posted yesterday and this photo that I posted earlier today, that's all I've really got right now:

Thoughts of targeting, our special teams and our playcalling in the fourth quarter...

A Trip Around the Dawgosphere

We'll have to let the pros handle the heavy lifting today: 

• The Senator's "Observations from the armchair"
• Tyler's "Sunday Morning Comes"
• Dave's 15 Thoughts over at Dawgsports
• Kind of a scary read over at Dude You Crazy
• Some classic hardcore negativity from the evil one - CC.

Actually, I've got a little more than that - I still think if we can get some folks healthy, work out some shit, figure something out with special teams, and get back to calling offensive plays like we were, regardless of who's on the field, then I truly believe that we could win out. But like some have mentioned, at this point, 7-5 or even 6-6 is in play if we don't get a bunch of things figured out. Losing at least one more is likely.  Also, one last thing - and call me crazy or stupid but the numbers support this - for the second week in a row, our defense has shown improvement in my opinion.

I've never remembered our Dawgs needing a bye week as badly as we need this one.