The
great thing about the first weekend of football is that we finally get a little
idea about how good or bad teams are.
The
bad thing is, as the country is increasingly wont to do, the raging paranoia on
one side or the other.
Georgia's
inability to really sock it to Buffalo has a fair number of Dog populace
worried. Winning by only 22 points isn't terribly surprising, considering that
Georgia usually is slugging against inferior teams and wasn't anywhere near 100
percent firepower.
There
were going to be issues. And, of course, there's the fact that most fans don't
know much about teams outside of their conference, stat and brain. Thus, they
don't know much about the vast majority of teams, like Buffalo.
The
Bulls were in the top half nationally last year in rushing offense, a little
bit worse than the middle in total defense, 36th in pass defense. They were in
the bottom 25 in seven categories, and beat Ohio, which just beat Penn State,
and lost by one to Northern Illinois, which just lost at Wisconsin by six.
Having
a non-dominating game against a weak opponent is a good thing. It's why Georgia
is going to beat Missouri by 24 points.
Yup, I smell I smell something of a
smackdown from the visitors in the SEC's ninth-largest stadium.
Better to have a less-than-stellar opener before a fairly
big game. As amped as people think it'll be in Mizzou, Georgia will have made
more of an improvement this week than Missouri.
And
somebody send a Hallmark to Mizzou defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson for his
"old-man football" comment. It's just that little thing that players
can remember.
It
won't win the game for Georgia - that was going to happen anyway - but it might
lead to a little more pain for Missouri.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK
Penn
State lost to Ohio, and it was a surprise. But I'm not changing my pick that
the Nittany Lions will finish this four-year probation period with a winning
record.
Sometimes,
the first week is a little more fascinating than expected. ...
In
this mind, it's been Georgia and South Carolina on one level in the SEC East,
then Tennessee, then Florida a little lower than that, and Vandy and Kentucky.
Now?
Georgia stays even, USCE drops a little bit with the injury to Conner Shaw,
Tennessee picks up a little bit, and Vandy creeps closer to Florida with
Kentucky going nowhere.
I
like Derrick Dooley. Ya know, sometimes somebody takes over a situation that
was going downhill, takes over a getting-barer cupboard. It takes time to fix
that kind of situation (pause).
They
were a mess last year, and could have beaten Florida, Georgia, South Carolina
and Kentucky. They lost games by 10, 8, 11 and 3 to those four, and despite a
wretched running game, scoring offense, punting, defensive front aggressiveness
Losing
to Florida, last year, wasn't a great loss. Losing to Kentucky was bad. That
was about it.
Watch
the Vols. ...
Suddenly,
I have a feeling Spurrier is pretty happy that the schedule changd and Georgia
isn't his second opponent. His backup
QBs might have gotten him beat by two or three touchdowns if the Bulldogs were
next on the sked. ...
Everybody
on Vandy's schedule should be worried. If the Dores get any offense going,
they'll be a mess to deal with.
While
refs amazingly missed that interference call late in the South Carolinga game -
on 4th and 7 at its own 38 with just less than two minutes left - Vandy's issue
was scoring. The blown non-call took the ball away, but Vandy wasn't make USCE
terribly frightened on defense.
That
drive alone hints at why: it took Vandy more than three minutes to 18 yards.
Can't do that. ...
Moving
up: USC, Alabama and LSU took care of business more than adequately, avoiding
hype/pressure; West Virgina destroyed its state rival; is this year Clemson is
a playa?
Treading
water: Oklahoma took a long time to take light control of UTEP; Georgia didn't
excite, but the Bulldogs really don't often excite; Oregon scored 57, but gave up 34 to Arkansas
State, which didn't have Mike Dyer; Boise State was respectable at a top-15
opponent, but since BSU only plays one or two biggies a year, that's no surprise.
Moving
down: Michigan ain't back yet; Wisconsin beat Northern Iowa by six?; Stanford
beat San Jose State by three? ...
Maryland
fired Ralph Friedgen so it could hold off Bill and Mary by one? Randy Edsall is
disliked at UConn, where he bailed on his team without a word, and at Maryland,
where he's been arrogant and, well, 2-10.
There
may have been some tidying up to do, but it wasn't exactly a sophomore's dorm
room at Maryland. ...
The
Heisman ballott: 1. Matt Barkley; 2. Geno Smith; 3. currently vacant.
Off
the radar until further notice: Denard Robinson couldn't get much going against
Alabama in the least.
A
thought inspired by the JV announcers on last Saturday in Athens: Yeah, Jarvis
Jones is a bigger playmaker at Georgia than Aaron Murray. Here's hoping Jones
and South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney can start rising in the hunt.
Maryland
7, Bill and Mary 6. Ouch.
LOUGHDMOUTHINGS
Football's
here, so let the Mark May Paranoia begin.
Yeah,
he has absolute hate (fill in the blank) because a loss 30 years ago still
gnaws at him. Riiiight. Am still waiting for somebody to tape his absolute hate
for (OK, yeah, Georgia, and whomever else) one time so I can see it.
Selective
memory strikes again. ...
Regardless
of what the Braves do, it's hard to argue that Chipper is going out in style.
He's been a lightning rod, for whatever reason, throughout his career. If
knocking up a Hooters girl and getting married too early is all he's done
wrong, put up a statue. ...
Thank
you, New Mexico, for hiring Bob Davie. Now, is there any chance you can get him
to hire Lou Holtz for something? Anything? We'll chip in. ...
Dear
refs, please stop saying that blah blah blah "by rule" blah blah.
It's a rule. You're in charge of rules. If you make a call, it's because of the
rules, so we know that the ball is down by rule or it's a third down by rule or
the ball changes hands by rule.
Every
decision you make is by rule. Stop saying it. ...
The
SEC East: UGA and USCE on one level, then Tennessee, then Florida, and then
Vandy and Kentucky.
Vandy
is closer to Florida than the Gators are to the Vols. ...
A
leftover from the preseason prediction column of a few weeks ago:
" The yammering about a weak
schedule is silly. A weak SEC schedule is still tougher than 98 percent of any
other schedule.
If
Aaron Murray pulls the trigger quicker and the special teams is decent, an 11-1
Georgia team plays in Atlanta in December. And I don't know who the one is, but
note who said last year that Georgia would lose the first two and win the East.
"Yeah, moi." ...
Former
Perry standout Casey Hayward is doing well in Green Bay. Good. He's a good kid,
good family, hard worker, went to Vanderbilt, and became a second-round draft
pick.
That
tells you something. ...
Georgia
State isn't Savannah State and Tennessee isn't Oklahoma State, so UT ain't
going to beat Georgia State 84-0 this week. But I can smell a 50-point spread.
...
Sam
Durley of Division III Eureka College in Illinois went 34 of 52 for five
touchdowns Saturday in a 62-55 win.
Threw
for 736 yards. And didn't feel it.
"I
thought maybe high 300s," Durley said of his yardage total. "We were
so focused on driving down the field and getting the win."
Said
little about the record, worried about the win.
Nice.
...
And
from Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel:
"What was the dumber play — the Kent State
player who ran 68 yards the wrong way with a fumble on Thursday night or the
two Towson State players who tackled him before he got to the end zone?
"Let's defer to Joe
Theismann, who once said, 'Nobody in football should be called a genius. A
genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.'"
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