Which is Better: An Off Week or a Cupcake?

Watching Alabama absolutely thrash Georgia State (as expected) last night, a question popped into my head: Is it better to have an off week or play a cupcake opponent the week before a big game? This is the scenario that is playing out before the Iron Bowl next week. Auburn is off this weekend after defeating Georgia while Alabama played a first year program in Georgia State that they could have beaten with their walk-ons playing the whole game. Here are my thoughts on each:

Off Week

Off weeks are typically never a bad thing in college football, particularly when they occur later in the season. In addition to two weeks to focus on one opponent, they allow the chance for a team to get healthy. We all know that Florida often schedules an off week prior to Georgia game. As he has done in the past, Urban Meyer used this extra week this season to add a wrinkle to his offense that made it difficult for Georgia to prepare. Florida's success in the last two decades, while not entirely the result of the off week scheduling, at least shows the value it has to have an extra week to prepare. Georgia is fortunate to have its off week this week as quarterback Aaron Murray is banged up and would most likely be unavailable to play.

Cupcake Games

While having a week off is great, I almost think that scheduling a cupcake game may actually be a better option. Particularly since almost every team has at least one 1-AA game on its schedule, why not play that game the work before a big match up? You can still take advantage of the game planning you would with an off week but it also gives you a chance to put any wrinkles into action. If a starter is hurt and needs the time off, there is no fear about resting them. Plus, if the team is playing well, you won't lose the momentum you had by not playing at all.

Given the choice of scheduling a weak opponent against an off, particularly late in the season, I would lean towards the cupcake. I think Alabama will be in a much better position than Auburn heading into next week. While they may have been preparing for Auburn some this week, the Georgia State game offered them a break from the pressure of winning their biggest game of the season.

Please give your thoughts an opinions in the comments.

Welcome to BNE, AUMaverick

As some of you have noticed, there is a new contributor to the BNE staff...me. So, in the spirit of Lewis Grizzard, who loved the State of Georgia, UGA, and SEC football, I'd like to say WAR EAGLE to all you Georgia Dawgs as well as everyone else who follows this blog. I know Lewis wouldn't mind someone from "the other side" contributing to a blog dedicated to UGA and college football; afterall, the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry is between Auburn and UGA. Besides, just like CNN, FOX News and the AJC, every good editorial needs to be fair and balanced.

That being said, I'd also like to say GO DAWGS! No, you didn't read incorrectly, and no I am not a traitor to my school. I happen to love UGA and Auburn equally, except of course for one Saturday out of the year. For those of you who don't know, I was raised all over the world and I happen to call Georgia home. Belive it or not, I even lived in Athens for a short time. I have spent many nights in Athens with my Dawg friends, enjoying all the great scenery and atmosphere that only Athens can offer. My favorite restaurant is in Athens and I even met my wife in Athens one summer long ago. So, while UGA and Auburn have a very deep and bitter rivalry, it is still a friendly rivalry, and, being a great lover of SEC football and all things from the state of Georga, I too can root for UGA...most of the year.


So, from time to time, I will contribute my thoughts and observations on all things SEC football, UGA, and of course, Auburn. I will try to keep my thoughts fair and balanced, giving a voice to the others out there who may not always see the red between the black and white. I also vow, here and now, to hate Alabama and all things crimson and houndstooth. God hates BAMA just as much as he hates giant lizzards and stinging flying bugs. I make no apologies and that is the one thing I will always keep a hatred toward in my heart. However, I will keep my hatred for Bama out of the mix for as much as possible and focus soley on football.


With that, I'd like to close with a quote from Lewis Grizzard and I hope everyone enjoys the upcoming season. Lewis once said, "The game of life is a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity." Go Dawgs and WAR EAGLE!




*With this brief introduction, BNE invites you to become familiar with and ask that you please welcome AUMaverick to the contributing staff. His primary and first responsibility will be to manage this fall's upcoming BNE College Football Pick 'Em Pool, which you will learn more about in the coming days. We wanted to give AUMaverick this opportunity to introduce himself humbly to our faitful reader base in advance of the launch of this season's pool. Be sure to send AUMaverick your love & thoughts via the comments section of this post and by e-mailing him through his profile link. Go Dawgs! BFR & the BNE Staff

Terrorists Choose Alabama

I hate Florida, but this is somewhat disturbing. Notice the "ROLL TIDE" during the final seconds of the video.

Week 8: Impressions and Ramblings

Week 8 of the college football season has come and gone. Another Dawg victory, a massacre in the Lone Star state, and a scare for 'Bama are among this week's highlights. Here are my thoughts:

Georgia 24, Vanderbilt 14

- Without Blair Walsh's two missed field goals, my prediction of a 34 - 13 victory for the Dawgs would have been pretty close. Like the UT game last week, this was a game that was close on the scoreboard but not really that close on the field. Georgia once again dominated in yards (425 to 245) and one of Vanderbilt's touchdowns was the result of an interception deep in our own territory. While Georgia failed to put the pesky Commodores away, I had little doubt who would end up with the victory.

- Stafford really loves throwing the ball to AJ Green. Stafford only had 13 completions for the day and 7 of them went to Green. The second half was a struggle for Stafford, which is cause for some concern. There were a couple of occasions where he completely overlooked our tight ends who were wide open. Also, if Stafford would have taken the time to plant his feet, the interception by DJ Moore would have been a touchdown to Massaquoi instead.

You're looking at the SEC Freshman of the year.

- What was the most encouraging thing on Saturday? The play of the Georgia defense. A great defensive game overall kept Vanderbilt from making any big plays (they had 0 plays of more than 20 yards). Game balls go to Darius Dewberry (who had his best game as a Bulldog), Daryl Gamble (who is becoming a very good linebacker), and Asher Allen for the huge hit he laid to make Vandy turn the ball over on downs late in the fourth quarter. The only bad thing I saw out of the Dawgs on Saturday was the regression of Bryan Evans. Teams have continued to pick on him this season, and it seems like he is backing away from the challenge. I hope Vance Cuff can step in at the outside corner when we are in the nickel package, because Bryan just isn't getting it done.

- Every week Knowshon Moreno amazes me with his heart and play on the field. It is my opinion that there is no player in the SEC more valuable to his team right now than #24. Over 170 yards on 23 carries, another touchdown, just another day at the office. It will be a real shame if he isn't at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York in December.

This is the definition of walking in untouched.

Alabama 24, Ole Miss 20
- Alabama stopped Ole Miss from converting a 4th down late in the 4th quarter and ended the Rebels' hopes of upsetting another top 5 team. Alabama is starting to show signs that they can be beaten, especially with the injury to Terrence Cody. I've seen conflicting reports about what the injury is, but they all seem to think he will only be out a few weeks. I doubt it. When a man that size either badly sprains or tears a muscle in his knee, I don't see how he will be back at full strength in a few weeks. Mount, it's up to you to prove me wrong.

When Cody hit the ground with a knee injury, a 6.5 was measured on the Richter scale.

Texas 82721320, Missouri 1122993
- Missouri looked worse in the first half against Texas than we did in the first half against Alabama. Has the Big XII just decided to completely ignore defense? I know Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and others have good skill players, but when both teams are putting up over 500 yards of offense, it is a little ridiculous.

Why do the 'Horns score so many points? Ask Roger Clemens.

Ohio State kills Michigan State

- I thought MSU had a good chance to win. Javon Ringer has looked great this year, and I finally thought the Spartans may be for real...Never mind. Now we have to hear about Ohio State (along with USC who beat poor Washington State with their 4th string QB 69-0) as being a contender for the National Title.

ACC = Parity
- Your top team in the ACC this year- Georgia Tech. What year is this, 1990? Maryland knocks off Wake Forest, Virgina has suddenly won 4 in a row and knocked off UNC, and preseason top 10 Clemson is now under .500. With Duke actually looking better this year (they were leading Miami into the 3rd quarter on Saturday), there is very little difference from those teams at the bottom and those on top.


Overall, another good weekend for the Dawgs. We're 6-1 and headed to a showdown in Baton Rouge with the Bayou Bengals. The game has been chosen as the CBS game and will kickoff at 3:30 PM EST. Thank God. Most of the Bubba 'N Earl crew will be there this week as we celebrate my bachelor party. It should be one hell of a match up.

GO DAWGS!!!

*Pictures courtesy of the AJC, ESPN, and texassports.com

FTW!!!

Yeah, we lost. Bad. Real bad. Yeah Bama, you beat the hell out of us. I can't really defend our performance because the first half was unimaginably awful. My brain did melt at your supposed greatness, and the Heisman will in fact be re-named the J&J trophy after last night's clobbering.

However, as expected, Bama fans waited until about just before halftime to start claiming things they did not yet have.

Let me bring your ego in check: You are a good, even a great football team. You deserve you're new high ranking in the polls.

However, despite your believed birthrights and statements from some that I heard after last night (although the Bama fans around us at the game were great), you have not won the SEC and the national championship yet. You are certainly in the hunt and as of this week you're at top of the contenders for those titles. But, you haven't even played LSU or the rest of your schedule for that matter.

So, congrats on your win, you earned it, you deserve it. But, you might want to hold off on your claims to winning it all before you actually do it (take a lesson from USC).

As for my fellow Dawgs, do not be too disparaged. All is still even in the SEC east with both Floriduh and the Volz losing. Hopes to make it to the SEC Championship are still alive and well, and that's always the main goal of our program.

RAMMER JAMMER, YELLOW BANANER

Paid endorsements by coaches are one thing, but I think Saban went off the edge with his dedication for the endorsement of the Joe Dirt hotline. Then again, he's really reaching out to the quintessential Bama fan.

My previous post (click here) on the torment that is Bama has come to fruition. In fact, as hard as it is to believe, it is worse than imaginable. They truly are UNBEARABLE.

Bama fans have said that they are going to “expose” UGA because we’re frauds and we’re overrated. We’ve proved nothing. Go to AZ State and win? Garbage. I mean, they truly are the dominant team in college football. This team, after four weeks, is like the manifestation of pure and utter domination in human form. They have proven so much in these four weeks, that we should all quit before our minds melt at the greatness we will witness this Saturday.

I mean, their performance against Tulane proves this. They didn’t score an offensive touchdown against Tulane, but that’s okay because OMG BAMA IZ #1! BEST D-FENCE ALL TIME!!!!!! D-FENCE TD IZ BEST WAY TO SCORE!!!!

Juh-Jones and Jawn Pawkuh Wilsun have obviously become the number 1 and 2 Heisman contenders, and it will soon be re-named the J&J Trophy. That Heisman guy wasn’t that good anyways. I mean, he didn’t even play for Alabama!

Their offense will score 78 touchdowns against our worthless defense. Juh- Jones will pass to JPW, JPW will pass to Juh-Jones, and they will even play our entire defense alone! 2 versus 11, disaster for any other team, but an easy feat for the Tide.

Terrence Cody will show that he is the greatest defensive player of all time. He will extinguish each member of our offense in a single blow and then eat 47 cheeseburgers, wishing he had ordered some french fries to add some variety.

If it weren’t for the fantastically amazing skills of Juh-Jones and JPW, Cody would be the 2nd defensive player to win the Heisman, excuse me, the J&J Trophy.

This is all pure speculation based on my part. We can only receive the crimson crushing we so rightly deserve if our team has enough gas to even get to the stadium. I mean, Bama will make it for sure because they fuel their buses off of undeserved arrogance juice (the richest reserves of which happen to be located in Tuscaloosa).

My fellow dawgs, we are doomed this weekend as we will truly learn what greatness is at the hands of the big crimson elephants.

Don't we all wish we could be as wonderfully amazing and successful as Bama fans?

Alabama!

Remember Dawg fans, these people will be trying to steal your tailgate spots Saturday:



Go Dawgs!

Weekend Garbage

GREAT LEAP FORWARD

Knowshon puts Mao to shame. Communism loses, again.

RAMMER JAMMER, YELLOW...WHAH?

The greatest team ever to exist in the first week of college football didn't score an offensive touchdown until the third quarter. It's okay though, they were playing the mighty powerhouse of Tulane. Oh, wait...

LOSING VOTES

Ohio State went from 15 first place votes in last week's AP Poll and 10 first place votes in the USA Today/Coaches Poll, to receiving only 1 first place vote in each poll. This is probably deserved. Almost getting beat by the Bobcats will do that to you.

Last week, we had 20 first place votes in each poll while being knocked down to number 2. This week, we gained 3 more first place votes in the AP Poll, along with USC, Flori-duh and Mizzou benefiting from Ohio State's display of Big 11 dominance.

However, we actually lost 2 first place votes in the Coaches Poll. WTF? What more do we need to do? USC gained 11 more first place votes, and Oklahoma received 1 additional first place vote.

We either lost one vote to Oklahoma and one to USC, or both to USC (LSU, despite not playing, also lost a first place vote). So, we beat Central Michigan 56-17 and we lose at least 1 vote to a team that didn't play.

Well, there's only one explanation for this, and that's ESPN. ESPN did not show the GREAT LEAP FORWARD by Knowshon. Had they showed that, we would have received all first place votes and taken the national championship from Bama.

URBAN CRIER

Please be aware, if you ever pull that garbage again, rather than just running out the clock with less than a minute left in the game, you will end up with players with broken appendages. Potential nfl careers will be jeopardized for your arrogance. The truly sad part is, you wouldn't care. Its sad when MIAMI has more integrity and character than you.

PAC-10 REFS

Pac-10 refs have made an unprecedented move after this weekend of college football. Instead of screwing over teams from other conferences, they are now screwing over their own. Ty Willingham is the first beneficiary of this policy, as if he didn't need anything else going against him.

PITCH AND NOT CATCH

Just pitchin' and ketchin'. Well, that didn't work this time HBC! Your ass has now lost 2 in a row to your former beating horse. Please rank the Dores while it is still possible! Moronic pollsters ranked South Cacalacky after their win over NC State (because they obviously didn't watch the game, no surprise there).

RETURN TO DOMINANCE?

Free Shoes University made their comeback, although to far less fanfare than Bama, against that other powerhouse in the tobacco state, Western Carolina. Wait, who? Oh, that team we also crushed last year. Well, let's wait until next week when they will demolish...UT-Chattanooga. Oh. Well, what's after that? Wake Forest?! Oh, They'll get their ass kicked that game. Nevermind. Continued mediocrity for the forseeable future.


*The picture of Knowshon is from georgiadogs.com

UnBEARable

It's happening again. For several years, it had been suppressed by scandals, mediocrity, and being the second best team (an argument can be made they are third), in the wasteland known as the State of Alabama.

But the second coming of their lord has turned Bama fans back into what they have always been: UNBEARABLE.

There is no better word to describe Bama fans. Not only because of the inherent irony, but simply because that is what it is like to listen to them talk about themselves. Whereas Florida fans speak out of pure arrogance and a need to be obnoxious, Bama fans have the most unobjective sense of self pride that exists in our universe.

Nick Saban's ascension to the throne of Houndstoothland has brought this quality of Bama fans back and in full effect like we've never seen. I'm sure it was worse than this in the '60's and '70's. But, they were actually winning national championships back then. Most of them now even forget that they won the '92 title under...some guy that looked like Bear Bryant, so we'll just say it was BEAR, WOO-HAH!

Part of me was quite naive going into this season. I figured the 7-6 season and the multiple embarassments that summed up Bama's 2007 season was a reality check for their fans.

WRONG.

Before the Clemson game was even over, Bama fans were already claiming the national championship in an undefeated season, as well as an unprecedented two Heisman Trophy winners in one year, Jawn Pawkuh Wilsun and Juh-Jones.

Assholes like Kirk Herbstreit only throw gasoline onto this bonfire by stating that Bama has reached their greatness in only the first game of Year 2 of Our Lord Saban, rather than Year 4 or Year 5 (All Praise Saban).

First off, Herbstreit's doing a terrible thing by making Bama fans think they will reach the peak of dominance...ever. They already think they will, giving them a timeline only encourages them even more. Saying it's this year means you're asking for an asteroid of self-importance to blow us all to bits.

Bama fans are already out preaching the gospel on call-in shows. Yes, they are the only team in existence that can reach a level of pure dominance over all others in college football. And, it will last for centuries to come, upon which time our nation will become the United Sabans of Bear's America.

This is the type of dribble we are having to deal with and they've only won one game. By the time they reach the Classic City, it'll be the beginning of AROUND THE BOWL, DOWN THE HOLE, ROLL TIDE ROLL!