Beware of the Orange Despair

Last year, I distinctively remember driving to Knoxville for the game and being amazed at what I heard on the radio. All of the talking heads on East Tennessee radio stations were picking Tennessee to get beat. This never happens. It does not matter who UT plays, their homers ALWAYS pick the Vols. Always.

I should know. I’m originally from Knoxville. My entire family is from East Tennessee. My Dad and other family members went to UT, and I myself grew up a Vol. The areas surrounding the Smoky Mountains are mine and my family's home, even though I spent most of my life as an army brat (by the powers of HOPE Scholarship, I saw the light, went to Georgia and received a blood transfusion to red and black).

Here’s a typical sample of what you would hear on a radio station in Tennessee: “Well Jimmy, I know we’re on our second string quarterback and we’ve got injuries all over the place, but we gonna beat these sum bitches tonight. I just know it. The Vols are just damn better, I don't care what the records are. Vols 38, Dawgs 21. Go Big Orange!”

Last year was vastly different. They were in such despair at their situation (and many wanted UGA to win in order to have an excuse to fire Fulmer), that almost all of these radio hosts were picking us to win. One guy even picked Tennessee and said he was doing so just to do it because he actually thought the Dawgs were going to win.

Even though I was shocked at this strange happening, I was suckered and bought into it. I already thought we would win. Now I was confident that their despair meant we’d crush whatever confidence they had left.

WRONG. Wrong, wrong, wrong. They caught us off guard and sucker punched us.

So, when you hear Tennessee fans talk about how they’re going to lose, they’re going to fire their coach and that humanity is about to end with a giant orange nuclear implosion, don’t listen to that garbage.

If you hear or see this orange despair, it is a reverse psychological trick they are using to try and beat us. Just ignore it if you come across it.

I’m sure this tactic was created by Cutcliffe (a.k.a. Dawg Kyrptonite). Hopefully, it is just one more thing they cannot pull off without him.

SEC Weekend Games of Interest: 10/11/2008

We had another solid effort going 4-1 last week, improving our season record to 33-7. Vandy was our lone loss and I’d love to have perfect picks this week with only 4 games outside of UGA on the schedule. Unfortunately, we are going to be pretty short this week because of some pending work issues and stick just to the football. Here is what’s happening in your neck of the woods:

South Carolina at Kentucky: A solid game between two teams that have solid mid-season records. Both the Wildcats and Gamecocks have been very good on defense while struggling at the same time with continuity on offense. Carolina’s D has a lot of size and underrated speed, despite playing people out of position and Kentucky, on paper, looked to validate their statistically dominant defense against Alabama. A closer look at that Bama game will give the Ole’ Ball Coach everything he needs to attack Kentucky. The Wildcats surrendered over 280 yards rushing and a fumble inside the UK 10 yard line combined with a missed field goal really kept the game from being a blow out on the scoreboard.

Look for SC to come out and try to establish the line of scrimmage early. They are most likely not going to be as successful as Alabama was but they will take a lot of pressure off of Chris Smelley, who threw for over 300 yards last week against Ole Miss. Overall, Kentucky doesn’t have the offensive power or consistency to keep up with Carolina. Their running game is less than stellar and Mike Hartline is essentially a 3rd string QB everywhere else in the SEC with the exception of Mississippi State. I see the Gamecocks walking out of Lexington with a 24-14 victory.

Vanderbilt at Mississippi State: This could be the classic overlook game for 6-0 Vanderbilt. They are coming off of an emotional, hard fought victory and have the opportunity to make a statement next week against UGA, a team they arguably should have a 2-game winning streak against (Luckily, this honor now belongs to Spurrier and South Cackalacky, Zing!) Sylvester Croom’s Western division Bulldogs play very hard nosed defense, even when they are not a strong squad. This grit and determination is what has allowed Mississippi State to sneak up on teams and defeat superior competition once or twice every year.

Statistically, both of these teams are towards the bottom of the conference in Total Offense and Total Defense. The difference here is Vandy’s ability to create turnovers and take advantage of these turnovers while MSU makes a tremendous amount of mental mistakes with the football. Vanderbilt is a great example of why football is played on the field and not on the stat sheet and Bobby Johnson will have his Commodores ready to play. I expect a tough, workman like 28-17 victory for Vandy on the road.

Arkansas at Auburn: Arkansas hung tough against Florida last week for 3 quarters and has a talented tailback in Michael Smith. This is about all I can say for the Hogs as they give up 38 points per game as a defense and still have all of the same issues that we have focused on in previous weeks. Just think, only two years ago an unproven Razorback squad came into Jordan-Hare with freshman QB Mitch Mustain and sophomore RB Darren McFadden and dominated Auburn. Arkansas thought they were back and had every reason to. A short two years later they have chased off a coach that loved their institution and are looking to have a 2-10 season. Be careful what you wish for discontent fans, things don’t always get better when you chase a proven coach out of town.

This is a great lead in to Auburn’s season. The Ron Franklin experiment didn’t quite work out and I was wrong with one of my Auburn-Tennessee predictions, as the losing OC in that game didn’t get fired first. The situation on the Plains has unraveled very quickly, leading the small fraction of Tiger fans to come out and want Tommy Tubbs' head. We could go on and on with this story and we look forward to see how it progresses. However, this week Auburn will look better and it’s hard for them not to when playing this uninspired Arkansas crew. Getting slightly back on track, the Tigers win 24-10.

Louisiana State at Florida: The biggest SEC game of the weekend and second biggest game nationally looks to be a real doozie. Last year, Florida held a 24-14 lead in the 4th quarter before getting “Lesticaled” and losing 28-24. The game promises to be as intense as any conference game this season.

Florida has underachieved to an extent this season on offense. They still lack a consistent running game as Urban Myer does not trust any of his tailbacks. Teams are being very aggressive when Tim Tebow commits to the run as he isn’t elusive in the open filed. Earl and I had a long discussion about Tebow while watching his game against Arkansas last week and don’t see a lot of on field composure from him. Not to take anything away from him as a player as he is a tremendous talent but if teams are able to get to him and knock him around, he has a tendency to get amped up to the point where he can be a detriment to his team’s success (Something I like to call Reggie Ball Syndrome). LSU has a fantastic defensive line and we all know that Ricky-Jean Francois wants to take Tim Tebow out, gerrrr!

LSU has a very powerful running game and a load of a tailback in Charles Scott. This feeds into the weakness of Florida’s young defensive line and if LSU is successful running the ball, Jarrett Lee will have a much easier night. LSU looks to be the stronger football team when they get consistent QB play and the night’s wild card will be Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Florida does not lose at home very often, especially in this type of game. However, I’m going with the gut again and picking LSU 23-21 in a tight one (because it worked so well when I picked Tennessee over Florida).

That does it for this week. We are looking forward to seeing the Dawgs back in action this week against Tennessee and having a couple of delicious Beam and Cokes.

Inside the Longhorn Nation

After Bubba’s great post on the Red River Shootout, I asked my good friend Tony from Austin to provide us with some insight to this game. Tony is a Texas alum and a resident of Austin, so he should have some great thoughts on this. Plus, he shares a love for the great words of Will Muschamp, just like the rest of us (be warned: foul language will ensue at the end of the post).


The Red River Shootout/Rivalry/Walkabout (whatever) is the greatest sporting event since Maximus took on 3 gladiators, 4 tigers, and Johnny Cash. The atmosphere for the game is tremendous. Where else can you have the best rivalry in college football and the country’s largest state fair in the background? As for the food, while the fried bacon and fried coke are great, it begins and ends with the Fletcher’s Corny Dog. It’s the only thing Okies and Longhorns can agree on all weekend. One of the great traditions friends and I have is to be the first ones out of the game at halftime. We down two large beers, two Fletcher’s Corny Dogs, smoke two cigarettes and get back to our seats before the second half begins.

Before any OU fans try and tell you that the game is in Texas and they’re the “visitors,” remind them the Cotton Bowl is 3 miles CLOSER to Norman than to Austin. Longhorns and those inbred, toothless bastards to the north seemingly get along while walking around the fair before the game.

One of the funniest things about the demographics about TX/OU weekend is the women. If you see a pretty girl anywhere on the fairgrounds she will, without a doubt, be wearing burnt orange. I don’t know what they put in the water at our little neighbor to the north, but I have never seen a more abundance of ugly women in equally ugly colors.

However, as soon as you walk through the antique (apparently now face-lifted Cotton Bowl) you don’t care about the girls, the corn dogs or the beer (ok, maybe the beer a little bit). The intensity is unreal. It’s so thick and so full of hate for the opposition; this is why we have to play the game at 11 am (neither school would allow for a night game because of fear of packing the Dallas Co. jail). Our band starts playing, theirs plays louder. They start the ghey “OU” chant; we have to say “Texas Fight” louder. They take a piss in the urinal; we take a piss on their shoes…and on and on.

Texas is well known, at least in conference, to have a very apathetic fan base. If you get to the Cotton Bowl an hour before the game, 90% of the OU section is filled compared with maybe 1/3 of the UT section. We are the LA Lakers of college football. However, for this game and only this game, when we eventually get there we are loud and involved. For only this game, girls don’t care about their purse matching their boots and guys don’t care about their white little polo horsies on their burnt orange shirt…they only care about the game. Then again, it is Dallas, so the girls do check their makeup between quarters.

Slowly but surely, those Longhorns are making it in.

The last 8 years of this rivalry have not been kind to the Longhorns. OU has won 6 of the last 8 including a 5 run stretch. However, one of the things nobody realized at the time was how overrated UT was in every one of those games, except the National Championship year. This year is different than the overrated years. We are for real. We will not only win the game, but we will win the game going away. Mack will be a winner of 3 of the last 4. It starts with Colt McCoy and ends with Will Muschamp.

On offense, Colt “I’ve never had a coke in my life” McCoy is completing nearly 80% of his passes and rushing for 370 yards (Who’s this Tebow guy)? We have scored no less than 38 points in each gam, called off the dogs in the fourth quarter of every game and put in our turnover prone backup. Our RB is still by committee, but Chris Obgann, Ogbanni, er #3, will start. Bruiser Cody Johnson, Vondrell Magee, and maybe (please Lord, please), Fozzie Whittaker will be taking some snaps. We will be fine offensively. The only worry is Greg Davis’ conservative play-calling. However, Mack admitted our play-calling was conservative under his direction and he’s turned Davis loose this year.

On defense, two words: Boom Motherfucker!!! We lead the nation in sacks, negative yards, one of the top 5 rushing defenses, but to quote Muschamp: “stats are for losers, I want to win games.” I don’t want him to think I’m a loser, so I will not mention any of that. Sorry coach, please don’t hurt me…

Good guys – 48, Land Thieves – 24 (after the game, Muschamp will yell about giving up 14 points in trash time while holding a bloody visor with hair that he ripped off Stoops head).

- Tony from Austin

BulldawgJosh and Bubba's 80's Music Video of the Week

We need to be careful this weekend with Phil "Let me pull some magic outta my ass because I need to keep my job" Fulmer heading to Athens. I'm sure he's in his office with a cape, top hat, and magic wand working on his tricks right now(gameplan, schmameplan! Magic is how we're going to win this game)!

In honor of Fulmer (I hate you) and his job saving magic (I hate your magic too), we bring to you the Steve Miller Band's ridiculous #1 hit and the title track of their 1982 album, "Abracadabra."

This video is just absolutely absurd. It has less to do with the actual meaning of the song than my Fulmer comparison. Nevertheless, it is amazing.

On The Road - Illinois

I'm on the road in Illinois for training. 9 hours sittin' in a classroom with a bunch Europeans everyday isn't exactly my idea of fun. At least there has been plenty of news on the college football front to keep my interest. Here's what I'll be watching for this weekend:

1. Can Vandy avoid the hangover from the big win and beat Miss. State? If not, is it fair to say Vandy got Croomed?

2. Texas and Oklahoma - Do you think both teams should quit playing defense and just see who can score most? That would a lot fun to watch (like playing hockey on the Xbox without a goalie.)

3. Is Notre Dame good or is Carolina for real?

4. Can LSU make Tim Tebow cry?

5. Can Georgia get it together and steal Fulmer's donuts?

This just makes me laugh. Gotta love Photoshop.

Tony Franklin, You GONE!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3632904

THIS IS THE BEST DECISION I'VE EVER MADE...and I want to keep my job...

The Deep-Fried Red River Heart Attack

This weekend brings us the great fall tradition of the State Fair of Texas and the Red River Shootout (not to be confused with the Red River Rivalry that title sponsor AT&T wants you to call it). This annual meeting between the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma is just as unique as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” and I’d put the shootout on the same level if this game wasn’t played at 11AM central time every year.

The game promises to be intense and we will get into the on-field merits of the Longhorns and Sooners as well as the rivalry and the fans later. First, let’s focus on the State Fair of Texas’ seemingly never ending selection of deep-fried food. Every year “Big Tex” offers up some oddly developed and oddly delicious concoctions that could only conceived in a cauldron of hot Texas Crisco.

1) Fried Coca-Cola: Being a UGA Graduate raised in the thriving Southwest Georgia metropolis of Americus, how could this not appeal to me? I mean, we are basically talking about deep fried dough made with one of God’s great gifts to society, Coca-Cola. Add some “Coca-Cola syrup” and whipped cream and you’ve taken the funnel cake to another level.

2) Chicken Fried Bacon: Battered, deep-fried, peppered Bacon that is served with Honey Mustard or Ranch dipping sauce, say what? I will have 6 please. Seriously, I know some people hate it, but thank you Texas for Chicken Fried stuff. Think you could get this stuff on a cheeseburger? Better idea yet, a Chicken Fried Bacon Cheeseburger, yum. Honorable mention here would have to go to the Chocolate Covered Bacon served at the Arkansas State Fair. See, Texas didn’t think of everything.

3) Fernie’s All-American Fried Grilled Cheese Sandwich: The Grilled Cheese Sandwich is one of life’s true little pleasures. Get a little cheese, some good bread and griddle it with butter in a pan. The cheese melts and the bread toasts, easy comfort food right there. Now, how can we improve on that? Here is an idea, lets take the cheese and bread combination, dunk it in an egg and milk batter and cover it with light breadcrumbs. After a quick bath in Crisco you get a souped-up cheese Monte Cristo, sign me up now.

"Big Tex" is a fan of Rolaids. You should be too.

Now, there is nothing like 4 days on St. Simons and/or in Jacksonville for Georgia and Florida’s annual celebration of the repeal of prohibition. However, I believe that a few restaurants at the Jacksonville Landing serving Chicken Fried Bacon would really put that party over the top.

Seriously, this game has had major implications on the national college football scene for decades and the 103rd edition to be played Saturday is no different. Oklahoma and Texas are both very strong squads that have rolled in the majority of their games with strong QB play. The Sooners have a strong supporting cast behind Sam Bradford and look for him to make good decisions and big plays with the football. On the other side, Colt McCoy has really been outstanding in leading the Horns in both rushing and passing. Neither defense has been stretched or tested this season with the type of athletes that they will see Saturday, leading me to believe that points will be put on the scoreboard. Personally, I see Oklahoma pulling out a 31-27 victory in a hard fought, entertaining football game but this game can be very unpredictable. Just look at the 63 and 65 spot that OU dropped on the Burnt Orange in 2000 and 2003. On a side note, why does Oklahoma call themselves OU when they are the University of Oklahoma, shouldn’t they be UOK? The same thing goes for Kansas, oh well.

Last but never least, we need to mention the fans in Dallas, the atmosphere of the Cotton Bowl, and the history of the game. Texas and Okalahoma have never really been fond of each other and this is literally a ball busting rivalry. Dallas was selected as the host site for this game in 1912 because of its proximity and central location to both college campuses and the Cotton Bowl has been used as a neutral stadium since 1929. Like Jacksonville and the Gator Bowl, tickets are split 50/50 but in a far more interesting manor going down the 50 yard line.


Texas owns a 57-40-5 record overall in the series and has a 46-35-4 edge since the move to Dallas. Names featured in this game are college football royalty, including former OU QB and Texas Head Coach Darrell Royal and OU Coaches Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer. Overall, this is one of the greatest games and football atmospheres of the year. It is better than Michigan/Ohio State in my opinion and it blows that Notre Dame/USC crap out of the water. Real football is played in the south with fried food and without a guy riding around wrapped in tin foil on a big damn horse.

Weekend Wrap Up and Tuesday Night Football

Just watching the Florida Atlantic-Troy matchup on Tuesday night football as I fill in for Streit on the Weekend Wrap Up...

We have Tuesday night football nowadays and I don’t know why I’m watching it. I don’t care for football on Tuesday night or on Wednesday night for that matter. But as Bubba says about most college football traditions…its still better than petting an f’ing rock, and I guess Tuesday night football is better than some of the dredge that’s on television (i.e. the Debate). So, when you’re stuck at home on a Tuesday night why not watch the Howard Schnellenberger game of the week.

Speaking of former head coaches at da U, what about the job Butch Davis is doing at North Carolina. Many Cleveland Browns fans would disagree, but Davis is a really good football coach. He gets his real chance this weekend by playing Notre Dame in Chapel Hill. Notre Dame might not be the best 4-1 team in the country, but like it or not, they are the most watched. Many eyes will be on that game this week in Chapel Hill. I think Davis and the Tar Heels will boost the ACC’s image problem this week. I hope I’m right. I hate Notre Dame, like most Southerners do, and I’m kind of feeling sorry for the ACC these days. That conference hung its hat on Florida State and Miami, who ended up playing each other in a slap fest this past weekend.

Seriously, did anyone watch Florida State-Miami on ABC? Florida State won 41-39, holding off a furious Miami rally in Dolphin Stadium. That’s right, Dolphin Stadium. Sadly, there’s no more OB (the old Orange Bowl), and I guess you CAN really come up in Dolphin Stadium AND treat Miami that way. Remember when this series featured Deion Sanders versus Michael Irvin and Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp? As much as some old-time SEC fans hated it, the college football world practically stopped in the ‘80s and the ‘90s when these two got together. Last weekend, there were no rankings between these two, no old Orange Bowl and no care.

And so the ACC now looks a little foolish putting its eggs in that state of Florida basket. So, here’s to North Carolina helping the ACC’s image a little bit this upcoming weekend. Sure, Paul Johnson is doing some good things over there on the Flats, but I promise that we won’t ever mention them much.

So there it is. A little Tuesday night football, a little Weekend Wrap Up of yesterday’s ACC teams, and a little hope for our sister conference this weekend against Notre Dame.

--Earl

In full disclosure here, I haven’t written much on the blog since the Alabama game. It was a disappointment, no way around that. But, its time to play the hated Viles and ring that victory bell again on our way to another shot at Alabama in Atlanta. Everything’s still left to play for: the SEC East, the SEC Championship and a National Championship.

How ‘bout ‘em Dawgs!

BulldawgJosh and Bubba's 80's Music Video of the Week

Believe it or not Bulldawg Nation, things are not as bleak as they seem. We have a great team, a great program, and we are the damn Georgia Bulldogs.

We will come back from this bye stronger than ever to finish out this season.

So, keep you're head high and pick yourself back up during this bye week with Joey Scarbury's "Theme From Greatest American Hero (Believe It Or Not)," live edition on Solid Gold! This catchy little gem hit #2 in 1981 and is a one hit wonder masterpiece!

SEC Weekend Games of Interest: The Off Week Edition

We did a decent job picking games last week, going 5-1 and recovering from the disaster that was the 3-3 week before. Our lone bad pick was Florida vs. Ole Miss and I have no issues with getting that one wrong. The season record is now up to 29-6 in SEC picks and here is what’s happening in your neck of the woods:

Florida at Arkansas: The Gators have been very inconsistent on offense so far this year and Tim Tebow has looked confused at time. They are lacking an identity on that side of the football and everyone seems to be looking around for someone else to make plays. This will definitely be a week where UF can put up some positive statistics and big plays after last week’s shocking loss to the Ole Miss Rebels.

"Tim already took the blame for last week, I'm off the hook. It's his fault."

As discussed in previous posts, Arkansas is not very good this season. Casey Dick has made some very questionable decisions while under pressure and has given up more pick sixes (3) in the last two games than Arkansas has scored offensive TD’s (2). It also doesn’t help that the Razorback defense seems to have a lot of things in common with the French Army, as they are both always on retreat.

Bulldawg Fan AC and His French Mobile Infantry Tank, Ready for Battle!

Florida wins this game fairly easily, 41-13 and will jump 4 spots in the polls as a result.

South Carolina at Ole Miss: This should be a good football game. LB Jasper Brinkley looks to have lost a step and the added weight is not helping his game. However, Eric Norwood has become increasingly comfortable at the linebacker position and I feel like he has been the most impressive of the two stud SC defenders this season. Carolina has been anything but overwhelming against Wofford and UAB, but South Cackalacky has a strong, physical defense that will definitely put pressure on the young Jevan Sneed. Carolina needs to make a strong statement on the road, especially after their early season road loss to Vanderbilt.

"Steve, I saw you lose to Vandy, don't be Acting like you didn't lose to Vandy!"

Ole Miss is coming off of their first major road win in close to 5 years and their upset of Florida was truly unexpected. However, they were also a victim of Vanderbilt's 4-0 start and have plenty of issues themselves. Look for the Rebels to come out motivated at home against the Gamecocks and push for an early lead. Both squads have been susceptible to the turnover and whoever wins this pivotal battle will pull out the game. Our pick, in an upset, is South Carolina 24-21.

Kentucky at Alabama: CBS has picked this as their SEC game of the week as two of the final four undefeated SEC teams look to battle it out in Tuscaloosa. The majority of our readers saw first hand what Bama did last week so we don’t have to dig too much into their 41-30 destruction of the Dawgs. Alabama looks to be the strongest team in the conference at this time and won’t try to do anything in this game that they haven’t done all year. This formula involves strong, fundamental defense, domination of the line of scrimmage, and ball control on offense. While Kentucky has a very strong defensive unit, surrendering only 5.5 points per game, they have faced very little in the way of strong competition and have struggled to create offensive consistency. Kentucky will challenge the Alabama offense, but expect a solid game plan from Crimson Tide OC Jim McElwain to keep pressure off of John Parker Wilson. Alabama should get another victory here, 31-14 and improve their lead in the all time series against UK to 34-2-1.

Auburn at Vanderbilt: College Game Day makes its long awaited debut in Nashville and no, there is not another game going on at LP Field. They are setting up camp on the beautiful campus of Vanderbilt University in anticipation of an actual tackle football game and to tell the truth, I’m jealous. Not only will Vandy play a better game than UGA did last week (I think anyone can), but the College Gameday crew will get to visit the World Famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge, a B’NE personal favorite.

"Chris, They call it a Holler and a Swaller, give me a Holler and a Swaller!"

As far as the game goes, expect a fairly low scoring affair. Vanderbilt is last in the SEC in both Total Offense and Total Defense and API has been less than stellar, as we all know by now, on offense. The Tiger defense is built for speed and swarms to the ball, which will give Vandy problems as they are not particularly big or fast with their option running game. The Commodores are extremely opportunistic and if Chris Todd and the Auburn offense start to flounder, Vandy will take advantage of the opportunity as they lead the SEC in interceptions (10) and turnover margin (+9). The key to this game is Tommy Tubbs taking more control over the Auburn offense, going back to more of a conservative, under center game that suits their personnel. Look for a physical Auburn victory in the range of 21-10 or 24-14.

Northern Illinois at Tennessee: It is pretty easy to reopen the QB competition between Jonathan Crompton and Nick Stephens when you are playing a 2-2 Northern Illinois squad. Early prediction for Phil and Mr. Clawson, Nick isn’t going to fair much better than Jonathan.

"Peyton, You know You want to go in there and put on that #3, Stephens Jersey."

N. Illinois started the year by losing two close games to Minnesota and Western Michigan and has followed that up with a pair of blowout wins over Illinois State and Eastern Michigan. Truthfully, we don’t know too much about the Huskies. I can tell you that former Notre Dame QB Demetrius Jones found DeKalb, IL so appealing that he transfered to the University of Cincinnati on 9/27/2007 immediately after transferring to N. Illinois on 9/12/2007. In our random pop culture factoid of the week, the legendary Dan Castellaneta is a Northern Illinois University graduate.

"Hey Phil, I saved you a piece, DOH!"

UT should come out early and dominate this game but tends to play soft against weaker out-of-conference competition. At some point Dave Clawson will remember that he has a huge O-Line and Arian Foster and he can use these weapons to his advantage. Dave, please ignore these comments until after the UGA game. The pick here is Tennessee, 38-17.

That sums it up for this week. Like most SEC fans during one of their off weekends, I will be at a wedding. So have a bourbon and coke and watch as much SEC football as you can.