Carolina is Done, On to Mississippi

The Georgia Bulldogs completed their two game set against schools from South Carolina on Saturday with a 59-0 domination of Coastal Carolina. And while everyone expected the Dawgs to easily dispatch the Chanticleers, they did in convincing fashion which has not been the norm for Georgia against cupcake schools. This was a domination in every sense of the word and it was just what the Dawgs needed after two tough opponents to open the season. Just a couple of quick observations:

• The burst that Crowell had on his first quarter touchdown was ridiculous. This kid is the real deal, both running past people and through them. Let's hope for 20 touches this week.
• The line was dominating. Even though they did not record a sack, they were making plays in the backfield and keeping the quarterback on the run from start to finish.
• Blair Walsh has some issues right now. One second he misses a 35 yards, the next he makes it from 56. One kickoff looks horrible, the next sails through the back of the end zone. We need him to get this right.
• Great game by Shawn Williams filling in at ILB. It makes me feel a lot better about facing Miss State without Ogletree.
• Aaron Murray is struggling right now. He throws into coverage too much and seems to have lost the ability to throw on the run. Wasn't that one of strengths last year?
• Happy to see Ray Drew finally make his debut. He looked pretty good, making a few tackles and getting some good pressure on the QB.
  

Lots of freshmen played and some backups, including Hutson Mason, got some work. Overall, it was a near perfect game between the hedges. This week, the Dawgs head to Oxford for the first of two games against the state of Mississippi. In 2006, Georgia swept Mississippi, but only after struggling in both contests. Ole Miss is coming off a bad loss to Vanderbilt and looks to be the weakest team in the conference this season. Hopefully the Dawgs can pick up their first SEC win of the season and continue the improvements we have seen over the last two weeks.

A couple of other thoughts:

• I attended the most insane high school football game I have ever seen in the Georgia Dome on Saturday night. It was my high school (South Gwinnett) vs. my wife and step brother's high school (Central Gwinnett). The final score was South 63, Central 55. The game featured over 1,300 yards of offense between the two teams, ten turnovers, and about 40 penalties. Apparently, no one plays defense in high school football anymore (I'm kidding, just not in this game). Malaci(sp) Jones, the younger brother of Notre Dame wideout TJ Jones, had like 280 yards and five touchdowns. We need to make this kid an offer.
• Penn State has to score late to beat Temple. Ohio State gets beaten by Miami. And Notre Dame knocks off Michigan State. People want to talk about the SEC East being down, but they need to be talking about the Big Ten getting beat up as well.
• Pitt and Syracuse are joining the ACC...and I don't really care. This definitely feels like a basketball move. The Big East is pretty much dead. The team I feel bad for is TCU, who was finally moving to a major conference only to see that conference dissolve before they get there. Maybe Boise State will them come back to the MWC. With the ACC growing, don;t expect any of those schools to jump to the SEC. West Virginia or Missouri are the most likely candidates for team #14.
• Florida State is back...almost.
  
• What a devastating injury for Justin Hunter of Tennessee. That leaves Tyler Bray with only Da'Rick to throw to. We'll see how is stats hold up.
• LSU at West Virginia on Saturday night in Morgantown is going to be a hell of a scene.

And lastly, I want to mention that Georgia alum Kyle Chandler won the Emmy last night for his portrayal of Coach Eric Taylor on Friday Night Lights. I have mentioned quotes from the show numerous times on the blog and it was one of my favorite shows on TV. I was sad to see it end, but glad to finally see Chandler's excellent performance recognized.

Coastal Carolina Prediciton

No preview, just a prediction.

Georgia 48, Coastal Carolina 13

How the University of Georgia helped Coastal Carolina Create a Football Program

As many of you know, Coastal Carolina has only been playing football at the varsity level since 2003. In only 8 years, they have won 4 Big South Conference championships and currently have 4 former players in the NFL. But most Georgia fans may not know that Coastal Carolina may not have developed a varsity football team without the help of the University of Georgia.

In 1987, Coastal Carolina was a small school that was a member of the University of South Carolina system of school. The school colors at the time were red and black, similar to the garnet and black worn by their parent school. That fall, the school would field its first football team, all be it on a club level with Georgia native Andy Lanier as coach. With limited funding, Coach Lanier reached out to both South Carolina and Clemson about donating old equipment for the team to use that fall. Both schools were unable to help, but another school stepped into to help the new team out.

That school was The University of Georgia, who gave them used helmets and shoulder pads. And since they were wearing red black, just like UGA, there was little need to spend extra money redoing the colors on the helmets. As a thank you gesture, the club team would call themselves the Coastal Carolina Bulldogs, instead of the school's traditional mascot, the Chanticleers. The success of the club team, and some funding from alumni, helped Coastal Carolina build new facilities that would eventually allow them to create their varsity football program.

10 Things I Want to See this Saturday

1. A win, plain and simple. Shouldn't be that hard against a 1-AA school, but tell that to Ole Miss.
2. 25 touches for Isaiah Crowell. He may not get them if we are playing well, but it is just fun to watch him with the ball.
3. No interceptions from Aaron Murray. He has two in the first two games and both were costly, especially the one against South Carolina. Hopefully, we get to see Hutson Mason get some playing time as well.
4. At least one defensive touchdown. The Dawgs have created three turnovers this year, but they have amounted to a grand total of 3 points.
5. Brandon Boykin playing well...on defense. He did have a pick last week and we have seen him play great on offense and special teams. I would love to see our senior leader make a big hit or get another interception.
6. Blair Walsh making all of his field goal and PAT attempts. This is a guy who was a Groza Award finalist, he can't be missing 33 yarders.
7. Sacks from Jarvis Jones and Cornelius Washington.
8. Ray Drew making his Georgia debut. The shoulder injury set him back, but I think we need to get him in if he is going to be a part of the defensive game plan when we play Miss State.
9. Marlon Brown and TK making catches. I thought they would step up this year, but clearly I have been wrong. Malcolm Mitchell has passed both of them in my opinion. I also want to see our tight ends (Charles and White) making plays in the passing game after being shutout last week.
10. Continued improvement. Last week was like watching a completely different team than the one we saw in the Dome. It will be hard to judge the progress against Coastal Carolina, but if the Dawgs eliminate the mistakes and put away a cupcake like an SEC team should, then I will feel good.
    

Just Something You Don't See in the SEC

In looking for some information about our upcoming opponent this Saturday, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, I came across the football page on Coastal Carolina's athletics website. The website had some insightful information about their team, including the 2011 Media Guide and Coastal Football History. But at the bottom of the menu section, I saw something that just seemed out of place:

FOOTBALL TRYOUT INFORMATION

Now, I understand that Coastal Carolina is a 1-AA school and one that has only been around for about a decade. But to have a link to tryout information on the team's website just seems...odd. What I found more interesting is that their tryout date for football was listed as August 22, a little over a week before the beginning of the football season. I don't know about you, but if I was planning to walk on to a football team, I would want to do it more than a week before the season started. I mean, what do they expect you learn in a week other than how to hold a tackling dummy and get the crap knocked out of.

Anyway, this is not meant to be harsh (as I know I will get the inevitable comment about not being mean to a 1-AA school) it just seems very out of place. This definitely something that you would not see in the SEC...even at Vanderbilt.

This is the coach of the team we play next week

WOW.