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.
Showing posts with label Iron Bowl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iron Bowl. Show all posts
Friday, November 19, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
An Animal is Most Dangerous When Cornered and Wounded
Going into this season, I had my doubts on what I would see at this point in the year. From all the projections, prognosticators and predictions, Alabama would still be #1 and undefeated in the SEC West and LSU would be challenging Bama for the title. Auburn would be managing a respectable season with a new quarterback and questionable defense and the SEC East would be a three-way race with Florida, UGA and SUC, while the rest of the division made due on scraps. At the beginning of August, it looked like it would be another typical season in the SEC with the same players fighting their way to the top.
WRONG
Through the end of week 10, Auburn sits atop the the conference and SEC West, with Bama having lost to LSU, while the rest of the West now all bowl eligible. In the East however, things are a wreck. SUC is top dog with a 4-3/6-3 record tied with Florida, UGA is 3-4/5-5, and Vandy 1-5/2-7. Only SUC & Florida are bowl eligible with their showdown next week to determine the SEC East winner. Despite the East's dismal record, they've proven they're able to make an upset when the opportunity presents itself: SUC upset Bama, UK upset SUC, and Tennessee technically should have upset LSU. With all the talk of the Iron Bowl and a possible National Title run, the game that worries me most at the moment is coming in two weeks. With UGA's 3 game win streak ended in Jacksonville, and this weekend's win putting the team at .500, the likelihood of missing a bowl game becoming more real in Athens, the Dawgs are a cornered and wounded animal, and there is nothing more dangerous in the wild.
Let's take a look at what's at stake next weekend now the Tigers and Dawgs have beat their respective FCS opponents. For Georgia, the biggest piece of the pie is the 'W' making the team bowl eligible for a possible berth in the Birmingham Bowl or the Music City Bowl. With the season the way it has been, Streit is right, its a 'Lose, lose' situation overall. Winning at Auburn and becoming bowl eligible will help ease the sting of a mediocre season for the Dawgs knowing they have a New Year's game on the horizon heading into the game with Tech. The added bonus will be beating a top-ranked Auburn team for a 5th consecutive year, and giving the team a signature win. A loss on the Plains will all but seal the fate of the Dawgs for the season, and send Georgia home to Athens to face Buzz in a last-ditch effort to become bowl eligible and finish what would be arguably be the worst season under Richt. UGA has everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Auburn will come into this meeting ranked #2 in the country, 10-0 and 1st in the SEC overall. The Tigers lead this series all time 53-52-8. However, we have lost the past 4 meetings to the Dawgs, and a 5th will even the win column for UGA. But the bigger issue is what the loss will do to the Tiger's hopes of a shot at the SEC Championship and a potential National Title game appearance. Should the Tigers lose, we will have one week to recover, not just in preparation for the Iron Bowl with a two-loss Bama, but also in the polls. The voters are already overlooking this game, and losing to UGA would be viewed as a loss to a much weaker opponent, which would most likely send Auburn out of the top 5 or even top 10. Even if Auburn were to beat a ranked Bama at that point, we'd still lose out on reaching the title game to a Oregon, Boise or TCU who would leap frog us during our bye week.
I'm not looking past UGA. Despite the play of the Dawgs so far this season, they've shown absolute flashes of brilliance. AJ Green's first game back showed their is potential for the offense as long as the play makers are given the chance to work their magic, something forgotten in the Florida game. AJ is 3rd on the team for receiving yards, but 1st for receiving touchdowns. Simply put, if he is in the end zone, toss the ball up and let AJ climb the ladder to score. Aaron Murray has shown his freshman inexperience several times, however, he has demonstrated an athletic ability to escape a bad situation by using his legs, even scoring touchdowns in the process. He has over 2000 yards of passing with 15 TDs to show, not to mention 4 rushing TDs. Aaron has 3 receivers with over 1200 receiving yards combined to use against a very weak secondary. Georgia has to be creative in this game offensively get the ball to the play makers in order to have a shot at putting up points to counter the #2 ranked offense.
Auburn has to look for ways to protect Cam Newton, Ontario McCalebb, and Mike Dyer from UGA's improving defense. Averaging 200 passing and 300 yards rushing per game, Auburn's Gus Malzahn has consistently found ways to counter defenses and rushes to keep Auburn in the fight with a balanced attack. The offensive line is fast and physical, allowing only 12 sacks. They key to this game for Auburn, as it has been all season, is play count. In Gus Malzahn's offensive scheme, the team must execute at least 86 plays for a win. I'm not going to put it past Georgia to pull an upset, especially with the history behind the meetings of these two teams. So long as Cam can keep the ball moving down field, and continue to make plays while using his weapons in Michael Dyer, Darvin Adams and Terrell Zachary, Auburn may walk away from this dangerous fight.
This annual grudge match is slated to kick-off at 3:30 eastern and air on CBS. UGA should prepare for this game as thought it will be their bowl game, because the atmosphere at Jordan-Hare will the most intense they've faced all season. It might also be the closest thing they get to a bowl game atmosphere should they lose. Auburn fans will be amped up to see if their Heisman contending QB, Cam Newton, will be able to keep the dream alive and send Auburn into the Iron Bowl as the undefeated leader of the SEC in addition to being the SEC West champion. This game holds everything for both teams; a bowl eligible win for UGA and saving grace for Richt, and for the Tigers a chance at continued perfection keeping the dream season alive in hopes of an SEC championship and National Title. This is my favorite game of the season every year. Whichever way the game goes, I plan to be there to see it all.
I will be back later this week to recap the BnE Pick 'Em after my bye week from reporting.
WRONG
Through the end of week 10, Auburn sits atop the the conference and SEC West, with Bama having lost to LSU, while the rest of the West now all bowl eligible. In the East however, things are a wreck. SUC is top dog with a 4-3/6-3 record tied with Florida, UGA is 3-4/5-5, and Vandy 1-5/2-7. Only SUC & Florida are bowl eligible with their showdown next week to determine the SEC East winner. Despite the East's dismal record, they've proven they're able to make an upset when the opportunity presents itself: SUC upset Bama, UK upset SUC, and Tennessee technically should have upset LSU. With all the talk of the Iron Bowl and a possible National Title run, the game that worries me most at the moment is coming in two weeks. With UGA's 3 game win streak ended in Jacksonville, and this weekend's win putting the team at .500, the likelihood of missing a bowl game becoming more real in Athens, the Dawgs are a cornered and wounded animal, and there is nothing more dangerous in the wild.
Let's take a look at what's at stake next weekend now the Tigers and Dawgs have beat their respective FCS opponents. For Georgia, the biggest piece of the pie is the 'W' making the team bowl eligible for a possible berth in the Birmingham Bowl or the Music City Bowl. With the season the way it has been, Streit is right, its a 'Lose, lose' situation overall. Winning at Auburn and becoming bowl eligible will help ease the sting of a mediocre season for the Dawgs knowing they have a New Year's game on the horizon heading into the game with Tech. The added bonus will be beating a top-ranked Auburn team for a 5th consecutive year, and giving the team a signature win. A loss on the Plains will all but seal the fate of the Dawgs for the season, and send Georgia home to Athens to face Buzz in a last-ditch effort to become bowl eligible and finish what would be arguably be the worst season under Richt. UGA has everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Auburn will come into this meeting ranked #2 in the country, 10-0 and 1st in the SEC overall. The Tigers lead this series all time 53-52-8. However, we have lost the past 4 meetings to the Dawgs, and a 5th will even the win column for UGA. But the bigger issue is what the loss will do to the Tiger's hopes of a shot at the SEC Championship and a potential National Title game appearance. Should the Tigers lose, we will have one week to recover, not just in preparation for the Iron Bowl with a two-loss Bama, but also in the polls. The voters are already overlooking this game, and losing to UGA would be viewed as a loss to a much weaker opponent, which would most likely send Auburn out of the top 5 or even top 10. Even if Auburn were to beat a ranked Bama at that point, we'd still lose out on reaching the title game to a Oregon, Boise or TCU who would leap frog us during our bye week.
I'm not looking past UGA. Despite the play of the Dawgs so far this season, they've shown absolute flashes of brilliance. AJ Green's first game back showed their is potential for the offense as long as the play makers are given the chance to work their magic, something forgotten in the Florida game. AJ is 3rd on the team for receiving yards, but 1st for receiving touchdowns. Simply put, if he is in the end zone, toss the ball up and let AJ climb the ladder to score. Aaron Murray has shown his freshman inexperience several times, however, he has demonstrated an athletic ability to escape a bad situation by using his legs, even scoring touchdowns in the process. He has over 2000 yards of passing with 15 TDs to show, not to mention 4 rushing TDs. Aaron has 3 receivers with over 1200 receiving yards combined to use against a very weak secondary. Georgia has to be creative in this game offensively get the ball to the play makers in order to have a shot at putting up points to counter the #2 ranked offense.
Auburn has to look for ways to protect Cam Newton, Ontario McCalebb, and Mike Dyer from UGA's improving defense. Averaging 200 passing and 300 yards rushing per game, Auburn's Gus Malzahn has consistently found ways to counter defenses and rushes to keep Auburn in the fight with a balanced attack. The offensive line is fast and physical, allowing only 12 sacks. They key to this game for Auburn, as it has been all season, is play count. In Gus Malzahn's offensive scheme, the team must execute at least 86 plays for a win. I'm not going to put it past Georgia to pull an upset, especially with the history behind the meetings of these two teams. So long as Cam can keep the ball moving down field, and continue to make plays while using his weapons in Michael Dyer, Darvin Adams and Terrell Zachary, Auburn may walk away from this dangerous fight.
This annual grudge match is slated to kick-off at 3:30 eastern and air on CBS. UGA should prepare for this game as thought it will be their bowl game, because the atmosphere at Jordan-Hare will the most intense they've faced all season. It might also be the closest thing they get to a bowl game atmosphere should they lose. Auburn fans will be amped up to see if their Heisman contending QB, Cam Newton, will be able to keep the dream alive and send Auburn into the Iron Bowl as the undefeated leader of the SEC in addition to being the SEC West champion. This game holds everything for both teams; a bowl eligible win for UGA and saving grace for Richt, and for the Tigers a chance at continued perfection keeping the dream season alive in hopes of an SEC championship and National Title. This is my favorite game of the season every year. Whichever way the game goes, I plan to be there to see it all.
I will be back later this week to recap the BnE Pick 'Em after my bye week from reporting.
Monday, November 23, 2009
BNE Pick 'Em Week 12
Well, I'm back after a week off to bring you the ups and downs for the BNE Pick 'Em. Was it me, or was there not a lot going on in football this weekend?
First up, the most exciting game of the weekend had to be LSU vs. Ole Miss. I mean seriously, what didn't this game have? Defense, offense, special teams, heroes, zeros, and surprises galore. I have to nominate Jordan Jefferson and the LSU coaching staff for the Boneheads of the Year award after the final 4 minutes of the game. After a recovered onside kick, going for it all on 4th and 26, completing a hail mary pass just 7 yards short of the goal line with 1 second left, what does LSU do? Rush on their kicking unit all ready to go on the sideline? Try a gutsy dump pass into the end zone? The ol' Statue of Liberty trickeration? No, no my friend, Les and Jefferson are much too crafty for anything so simple. They decide that spiking the ball will fool everyone and leave them with exactly one second to run a...oh, wait...yeah...1-1 leaves me with...OH CRAP!
First up, the most exciting game of the weekend had to be LSU vs. Ole Miss. I mean seriously, what didn't this game have? Defense, offense, special teams, heroes, zeros, and surprises galore. I have to nominate Jordan Jefferson and the LSU coaching staff for the Boneheads of the Year award after the final 4 minutes of the game. After a recovered onside kick, going for it all on 4th and 26, completing a hail mary pass just 7 yards short of the goal line with 1 second left, what does LSU do? Rush on their kicking unit all ready to go on the sideline? Try a gutsy dump pass into the end zone? The ol' Statue of Liberty trickeration? No, no my friend, Les and Jefferson are much too crafty for anything so simple. They decide that spiking the ball will fool everyone and leave them with exactly one second to run a...oh, wait...yeah...1-1 leaves me with...OH CRAP!
D'oh!
Almost as surprising as the game was the fact that most everyone picked that game correctly! The only other truly exciting game was Oregon and Arizona going down to the wire in OT, with the Ducks setting up a defacto Pac-10 championship game this weekend in the Civil War with Oregon State. I keep telling you, the Ducks are for real.
Jeremiah Masoli ain't pretty, but he makes sure the Ducks win
Pretty much everything besides these two games was kind of a let down from the rest of the season. Bama and Florida bullied two weaker schools in Chattanooga and FIU respectively. Tennessee failed to cover the spread...again! Meechigan lost like everyone expected and Arkansas kept the fireworks going with a win over Mississippi State. But, the biggest let down was the Kentucky vs. UGA game...
Penalties + turnovers + bad coaching = 6-5
So with the unpleasantness over with, let's see where we stand going into rivalry weekend:
1. shelt320 & dawgsman81
3. Dutch
4. DawgDai
5. yedidawg
6. bulldog91
7. Gen. Stoopangle
8. BFR
9. OneHairyDawg
10. Donald Eason
From the BNE Staff:
1. BFR
2. Earl
3. aumaverick
4. bubba
5. Streit
6. bulldawgjosh
It looks as though someone only recently joined our Pick 'Em judging by his 0-10 record and 0 points. So ruling that out, it looks like our old pal mmike032 is still sitting fat, dumb and happy at the bottom of the feeding trough. 41-91 and 236 overall, but tied for #5 this week (along with 24 others).
mmike032, keep at it and you just might climb out in time for the end of the season. I suggest some of the studying techniques from our sponsor, www.test-cram.com for tips on how to bone up on this weekend's matchups. Tips like studying, having a plan, organizing, knowing who is actually playing and remembering to enter your picks. When all else fails though, there's always adderall.
So this is it for the regular season. Its rivalry weekend! Florida vs. FSU, UNC vs. NC State, Texas vs. Texas A&M, UGA vs. GaTech, and of course the Iron Bowl between Bama and Auburn. Hate your brother, hate your neighbor, heck you might even hate your wife this week! Whatever you do, whoever you hate, remember its only for one day...every other day is just plain disgust.
WAR EAGLE HATE BAMA
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