Everyone knew Georgia would have to play a flawless game in order to defeat the number one team in the country. Although they came out of the gates looking as though they were ready to pull such a performance off, it was not to be. An old nemesis from last year came back to haunt them , the dreaded drop pass syndrome. A familiar nemesis also continued to rear its ugly head, inept special teams play. Although the Bulldogs held LSU to zero first downs in the first half (unheard of!), the final two offensive possessions of the half by Georgia showed that the tide was indeed beginning to turn in favor of the purple and gold. The better team won the SEC championship, no argument whatsoever about that. Is Georgia really that far behind the Tigers in terms of being a 'great' team? Defensively, the Bulldogs are almost there. Offensively, they must develop a stable of tough, talented tailbacks. The running game is almost nonexistent for Georgia. Quarterback Aaron Murray is very good now. He will be great with a running game to assist him. Mark Richt must find a way for his Dawgs to play good, consistent football on special teams. This area is a glaring weakness at this point. Georgia might be getting very close to getting back to the level of the elite teams in the conference. They aren't there yet, and there is still much work to be done. It will be imperitive for Richt and his staff to recruit well again this off-season. A tremendous amount of solid groundwork has been laid since the 2010 season. The Bulldogs have come a long way, but they aren't where they need and want to be yet. Say tuned, bigger and better things are on the horizon.
Georgia is somewhere in the neighborhood of a 13 1/2 to 14 1/2 point underdog to LSU in the SEC Championship game Saturday afternoon. This line really doesn't appear to be that far off, after all the Tigers are the undefeated and top-ranked team in the country. But does Georgia have a legitimate shot at knocking off the mighty and powerful team from Baton Rouge? I think they do, but several aspects of the game have to be positive for the Dawgs. As in so many football games, it all starts up front. Georgia's offensive line, led by senior center Ben Jones, must be able to allow their offense to establish some semblance of a running game. They also must give quarterback Aaron Murray time in the pocket to locate and hit open receivers. I realize this seems redundant because it's always true in any football game, but especially so when you're facing the number 2 ranked defense in the nation. It is also crucial because Murray needs to have the game of his life Saturday, as does offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. Defensively, Georgia has a tendency to come out of the gate a little slow in games. If the Dogs can withstand LSU's opening drive, that will be a great sign because Todd Grantham's group usually plays strong after their opponents first possession. From a special teams perspective, Georgia cannot afford to let the Tigers have big returns. That means that it is imperative that the Bulldogs do a great job of covering punts and kickoffs. They have to play with the discipline and intensity they showed against Auburn. I understand LSU is not Auburn, but Georgia must have that same fire as a team, from the opening kickoff through the fourth quarter. I think Georgia has the attention of LSU, and I think this game could be just as tough for the Tigers as their earlier encounter with Alabama. Georgia just has to do a lot of things right for that to happen. Win or lose, we will probably know all we need to know about this 2011 edition of Mark Richt's Bulldogs after Saturday night. I personally like this team, and I think they have much more than a fighting chance against LSU. After all, that's why they play the game.
In spite of all that has happened at Penn State this week, as well as all that has been written and been said, the two teams meeting at mid-field prior to the game was a class act all the way. The players and coaches kneeling in prayer showed what is still right about collegiate athletics, irregardless of all that is obviously wrong. Whether or not the Penn State football program is able to put this deplorable scandal behind them is of no consequence at this point. However, whether or not the victims of the abuse are able to do so is of the utmost importance. Never underestimate the power of prayer, and hopefully our government will see the above photo and realize it is more than o.k. to pray in public. It isn't the least that can be done, it's the most.
Offense, defense, special teams, coaching. You name an aspect of a football game and Georgia totally dominated it in their 45-7 rout of Auburn University. The Dawgs thrashed the Tigers as badly as they have been whipped in quite some time. Auburn was completely routed and run out of town on a rail. They had no paid junior college transfers to bail them out this year, but it would not have mattered anyway. They ran into a runaway train that was the Georgia Bulldog football team, and they got their rears handed to them on a platter. I personally have been waiting for Georgia to play a complete football game so that we could know just how good this team could be. Now that they have, I'm convinced they are an impressive group. They have come a very long way since the debacle that was the 2010 season. They deserve to soak up this win and enjoy the fruits of their labor. But only for one more day. There is still much work to do this season. Just like Tom Cruise said in 'Top Gun', "but it's looking good so far"!
Patrick Witt faces one of those super-tough life decisions that literally tears you apart. It's one of those desperate calls that makes you wish you could be two places at one time, doing two totally different things simultaneously. The Yale quarterback is scheduled to play his final college game Saturday against Harvard at 12 noon, and he also has an interview in Atlanta the same day for the opportunity to be selected for a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Witt has an Ivy League GPA of 3.91, has already been offered a full-time job, and has NFL scouts considering him for a future in professional football. This kid has his act together, but that still does not make the choice on Saturday any easier. He has a lot of blood, sweat, and tears invested in football. He has coaches and players who depend on him. He will never wear the Bulldog uniform again. He will never receive another shot (not guaranteed to be selected at all) to be a Rhodes Scholar again either. He will be passing up the chance to study international relations at Oxford University in England. It would be the 'Super Bowl' of learning. Now you have a better understanding of what Witt is facing. He is the only one who can make the call because he alone has to live with his decision. It will be interesting to see the choice he makes. What do you think he should do?
Joe Frazier, the boxing heavyweight, died of liver cancer yesterday. He finally met an adversary that he couldn't out punch. The unrelenting, steam engine of a fighter was 67 years old. Frazier, who won a gold medal for the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, will best be remembered professionally by his three epic bouts with Muhammad Ali, culminating with the famous "Thrilla in Manilla". The grass roots fighter with the heavy hands and the big heart was a two-time heavyweight champion. Godspeed Smokin' Joe!
Now let me see if I have all this down correctly. Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt will resign at the end of the 2011 football campaign, which is to say in three more games. This is not a shocking development, because you don't buy yourself more time on the sidelines when you've lost ten conference games in a row (even if you are Ole Miss and you don't have very much of a football tradition to begin with). Now for the next administrative change in the Ole Miss athletic department, athletic director Pete Boone will step down from his responsibilities no later than December 2012. Boone stated when he hired Nutt that this would be his last head football coach hire. I'm fine with that, no problem there. But why hang around for another 13 months? This means that the new coach will not know who his athletic director is going to be, and the new athletic director will have had no input into the hiring of the new football coach. Is this the proverbial 'cart before the horse', the verbally incorrect 'bass-ackwards', or just "the way things are done at Ole Miss by damn"? And to top that all off, 'ole number 18, Archie Manning himself will be an integral part of the search process for the new head coach. Now who will have the upper hand in the hallway of the football offices, the guy who Archie hired or the athletic director who Archie won't hire? My money says Archie's money speaks loud in Oxford, Mississippi! Thus, we've solved the potential conflict for the Rebels, or is it the Black Bears(?), before it ever arises. But to tell you the truth, the only uprising that will ever occur over football in Oxford is when anyone tries to change the hallowed custom that is known as simply, "The Grove". Hotty Toddy! That's all anyone at Ole Miss cares about anyway.
Georgia -vs- Auburn, "The South's Oldest Rivalry", resumes again this Saturday. This edition will be number 115, with Auburn currently holding a slight edge over the Dawgs at 54-52-8. Georgia does enjoy a slim lead in points scored at 1809 to 1771, testifying to the overall closeness of the series. The rivalry has had so many games that were meaningful in the conference picture, not to mention several significant outcomes regarding the national polls. This year is no different with respect to the former, with the SEC East title at stake for the hosting Bulldogs. Although the series has always been looked on as a "friendly rivalry", that all changed last year due mainly to the cheap shots committed by AU's imported nose guard Nick Fairley. Fairley's two very late and very cheap shots to UGA's quarterback Aaron Murray were at least successful in removing the 'friendly' moniker from the description of this annual battle. As you can plainly see in the 1996 photo above, the Georgia-Auburn game has never been friendly as far as Uga is concerned. Like the old saying goes, "track 'em Dawgs, just like beagles. To hell with you, you damn War Eagle"!
Isaiah Crowell spends a lot of time on the Georgia sidelines when his offensive teammates are on the field. The freshman tailback has had a succession of nagging "injuries" since his indoctrination into college football this fall. I'm not implying that his injuries aren't legitimate, or even serious, but he does take himself out of ballgames with some frequency. He has said the hardest part to being a college football player is time management. I understand his point completely, especially coming from a high profile athlete as Crowell is now and was coming out of high school. I'm sure he meant this comment to mean off the field management more so than on the field. However, I think his biggest adjustment on the field has been the fact that a tailback playing in the SEC gets hit hard and often on every play, with 'hard' being the key word here for Crowell. Isaiah Crowell is a tremendously gifted and talented running back. He has all the natural ability a player needs to be a great and special collegiate tailback. However, you cannot be a great player standing on the sidelines. Dare to be great, Isaiah. Toughen up.
You can take the Volunteer out of the hills, but you can't take the Hillbilly out of the Vounteer! Rock on 'Rocky Top', they're playing your song. But you'll be seeing an awful lot of RED before Saturday night is over.
...and I thought you didn't get much exercise riding in a golf cart. At least you have to get your rear end up and down and in and out of it. These guys in Lohmar, Germany are doing absolutely nothing. I wonder what the ruling is if your ball lands on the belt and gives its golfer some extra yards? Go figure... 
In a matter of a few months, Ben Jones will embark on his fourth campaign as the starting center for the University of Georgia. And he wants it to count. So either lead, follow, or get out of his way. He is determined to do everything in his power to turn the Bulldawg program around, and he wants every one of his Georgia teammates to feel the same sense of urgency that he does. Jones has already called out his fellow offensive compatriots this spring, and he has no plans to let up until he has played his last snap in Bulldawg Red and Black. This spring he's not just Georgia's center, he's the center of attention. 
Shaka Smart has decided to remain as the head basketball coach at VCU, as opposed to joining up with the Wolfpack of N.C State. Pardon the pun, but 'smart' decision. It hasn't been that long ago that practically any basketball coach in America would forsake all to become a head coach in the once powerful round-ball world of the Atlantic Coast Conference. And along with that the conference member programs could go after and get almost any coach that they so desired. My how times have changed. Those changes obviously include N.C. State individually as well. The once-proud Wolfpack program always prowled along the border of the first and second tiers of the conference's basketball hierarchy, always just a pounce away from the Tarheels and the Blue Devils. However, now State is considered a 'bottom feeder', and I suppose Shaka Smart wants eat a little higher on the hog than that. 
Tiger Woods failed to win at the Dubai Desert Classic this weekend. But he did not fail to rasp the hearts of golf purists everywhere. By a flagrant act of spitting on the 12th green, he once again showed his disregard for timeless golf etiquette. There's no spitting in golf, just like there's no crying in baseball. Golf is different from any other sport. Its key framework is built on a foundation of honesty, sportsmanship and etiquette. To disregard any of the aspects is to degrade the great game. Tiger Woods just disgraced golf. It has nothing to do with talent, but everything to do with class. Or lack thereof...
I remember that after Major League Baseball shut everything down several years ago, they realized they had a helluva lot of work to do to win back baseball fans. Attendance at the parks, as well as general fan interest in the game, was at an all-time low. I believe that was the beginning of players throwing baseballs in to the stands to build up a new rapport with the fan base. They continue to do that each season with regular frivolity. It must have worked, because now most fans have bought back into the game. Also, time is a great healer itself. Now it's pro football's turn to weather the storm of intense labor negotiations. Whose greed will eventually win out, the players or the owners? Who will be willing to sacrifice more for the sake of the fans? For the sake of the game itself? If they choose to lock-out, they better look out. After all, Rawlings baseballs are a lot cheaper than Wilson Duke footballs. May the best team win.
