The Start of Spring Practice

This fires me up. Is it August yet?

Today marks the beginning of spring practice for Dawgs. Hopefully Coach Richt has the players going full steam. After finishing the 2008 season at 10-3, the Dawgs head into spring with a number of key questions they are hoping to answer between now and opening day in Stillwater.

1. Is Joe Cox ready to take the reigns?

He is saying all the right things, has the backing of his coach, and the Bulldog Nation seems behind him. With two freshmen quarterbacks already enrolled, G Day should provide us with a glimpse of the future as well.

2. Who starts at halfback?

With Richard Samuel out for spring because of surgery, Caleb King is the only experienced scholarship back who will be active this spring. I look forward to getting a glimpse of Carlton Thomas in the backfield and in the return game.

3. Can we kick the ball deep?

We all know Walsh has the leg to kick it deep, the question is whether we have finally abandoned the directional kick and just let our guys kick it as far as they can.

4. Will the lines get healthy?

This one will not be answered during spring as many of our key guys on both sides are still recovering. I can't wait to see teams try and cover the two headed monster that is Geno Atkins and Jeff Owens this fall.

5. Who will step up at the other wideout position?

AJ Green is arguably the best receiver in the nation and this spring he says he is finally healthy. The person on the other side of the field will play a key role as teams will try and double team AJ. Michael Moore showed flashes last season that he could be the man. If no one steps up, look for Marlon Brown and Orson Charles to compete for playing time in the fall.

G Day is 25 days away. Mark your calendars!

GO DAWGS!!!

'09 Commit Dexter Moody Released from Scholarship

Linebacker Dexter Moody, who committed to the Dawgs along with teammate Washaun Ealey has been released from his commitment to play football at Georgia beginning in the fall. This happened after Moody was suspended from his high school, the Emmanuel County Institute. The Red and Black has more on the story here.

This will be the last Bulldog uniform Moody wears.

Opening on the Road

Georgia will open the 2009 season on the road to take on the Cowboys of Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma. This will be the only the 5th time Georgia has opened a season outside of Sanford Stadium since 1990. The other four season openers away from home during that time were:

1990 - At LSU - Loss 18-13
1992 - At South Carolina - Win 28-6
1994 - At South Carolina - Win 24-21
2003 - At Clemson - Win 30-0

Speaking of that 2003 game at Clemson, here are two amazing plays that started the '03 season off on the right foot:





As of right now, the next scheduled road season opener is at Clemson to start the 2013 season. Here's to hoping that the results of this years game in Stillwater and that game in '13 turn out the same as the game in 2003.

GO DAWGS!!!

On the Road in the Fall

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything other than the weekly 80’s video with BulldawgJosh. We’ve had plenty of time to think about the 2008 season and I’ve been able to look back on many of our memories fondly:

Yes, these guys always look this Good.

Trip to New Orleans and Baton Rouge… Awesome

Trip to Auburn… Awesome

Trip to Saint Simmons… Awesome, Following Trip to Jacksonville…Not Awesome

Trip to Tempe and Vegas… Awesome

Trip to BFR's Lake House and Columbia… Awesome

Anyways, spring is always an anxious time of year for the die hard SEC fan and little steps must be taken to ensure you get your football fix. National Signing Day passed an February and yesterday, the Bubba ‘N Earl team made our hotel reservations for the Cocktail Party, Wednesday to Sunday on St. Simons Island, and this event has given me enough excitement to last to G-Day.

We are very creative with our spare time at the Beach.

Yes, I will be in Stillwater come September and Nashville come early October, but nothing marks my fall like a great trip to the beach with great friends. Two days of golf and an afternoon on the beach at North Breakers is all I need to build into a frenzy before going to Jacksonville on the charter bus Saturday.

BulldawgJosh is always looking for some Gator Hate!

Was last year a disappointment? In many ways it was but we had an unforgettable time along the way. We met some incredible traveling Dawg fans last year and will no doubt have a great time meeting up with them on the road this year. We look forward to entertaining our new Kentucky friends in Athens between the hedges and another fall where it’s always great to be a Georgia Bulldog.

Georgia Baseball moves to 12-0 and perhaps #1 ranking

The Dawgs handled Quinnipiac this weekend, winning 7-0, 19-6, and 7-2, to move their record for the 2009 season to 12-0. Friday night's game was highlighted by Trevor Holder's 7 innings of hitless ball. Saturday's game saw the bats come alive and put a hurting on the visiting team. The blowout victory including this bowb from Rich Poythress:



Sunday saw the Dawgs finish off the sweep with a workman like victory. Already ranked #2 in the Collegiate American poll coming into the weekend, the Dawgs appear to be poised to take over #1 this week as LSU lost its weekend series. The Dawgs have two more throw away games this week against LeMoyne before the real season begins this weekend against Alabama.

The 2008 Georgia team was simply amazing, with All-American Gordon Beckham leading the way to a national runner-up, but the 2009 team may be that much better. This is by far the most complete Georgia team I have seen. The pitching is fantastic and the hitting is solid throug out. The best part is, the team is filled with freshman who will be with the team for a few more years. I would be very surprised if the Dawgs are not back in Ohama come the end of this season.

GO DAWGS!!!

Diamond Dogs go for 10-0 Start

The Georgia baseball team will be looking for its first 10-0 start in school history as it takes on Quinnipiac tonight. The team tied the school best start at 9-0 with a victory over Wofford earlier this week. Trevor Holder is on the mound tonight for the Dawgs, looking to start the year 3-0. The team did receive some bad news, as #2 starter Alex McCree will miss his scheduled start on Saturday due to a case of Mono. For the love of God, no one drink after him or else the whole team will be sick.The weather is supposed to be gorgeous this weekend. I will be heading to the game on Saturday. If you have nothing better to do, get up to Athens and support the team who has recently moved up to #2 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings.

Go Dawgs!

Georgia 90, Kentucky 85

Normally, after sitting through a game earlier in the season where we get utterly destroyed by a team, I would have no problem rubbing it in that we beat them later on to get our revenge in one of the most historic arenas in college basketball (and thereby potentially cramping that team's plans for making the NCAA tournament).

But, I'm not going to do that. Nope. Kentucky fans are great people, and if you don't believe me, read this post from BFR and mine's road trip to Lexington last November.

Kentucky fans are some of the best, and I'm going to hold back just for them.

Go Dawgs.

Florida Sucks.

If You Could Bring One Player Back, Who Would it Be?

The 2009 season will see Georgia attempt to replace a number of proven players in their starting line up. What would Mark Richt do if he could replace one of those holes with one of his former players? Would he pick one of his past quarterbacks to take over the reigns for Stafford, try to replace Knowshon Moreno with the starter before him, or bring back a player to fill the most glaring needs on defense? Here are some likely candidates that Richt would consider:


David Greene - Quarterback 2001-2004
With the prospects of starting a 5th year senior with limited playing time or a true freshman, Richt would be glad to welcome back the four-year starter with most wins of any quarterback in college football history. Greene would bring a calming leadership to the offense and would take advantage of receiver AJ Green with a combination of quick outs and play action passes.

David Pollack - Defensive End - 2001-2004
While Justin Houston showed some promise and Demarcus Dobbs made a couple of amazing plays, overall the defensive end position let the Dawgs down in 2008. Plugging back in a three time All-American who is the Georgia career leader in sacks would help solidify the pass rush and bring the fire back to the defense.

Thomas Brown - Running Back - 2004 -2007
A solid player during his four year career, Brown found great success when paired with Knowshon Moreno during his senior season. Pairing him with Caleb King or Richard Samuel, the Dawgs would have a nice 1-2 punch that they lacked in the '08 season.

Paul Oliver - Corner Back - 2004-2006
Oliver's career (at Georgia) was cut short when he failed to qualify academically for the 2007 season. After closing the 2006 season by shutting down Calvin Johnson, Oliver had finally reached the potential he showed coming into college. With Asher Allen gone, Oliver would provide experience that is certainly lacking in the current group of DBs.

Ben Watson - Tight End - 2002 -2004The 2008 season saw the Georgia offense forget what had been a staple of previous Mark Richt teams: throwing to the tight end. Richt's tenure has produced Leonard Pope and Randy McMichael,but the most balanced of the group was Ben Watson. The threat of a pass catching tight end over the middle would help create better match ups for the outside receivers like AJ Green and Tavarres King.

If I were Mark Richt and I had my choice from this list, I would take David Pollack. The chance to team Pollack on a defensive line that already includes Geno Atkins and Jeff Owens would be amazing. The amount of defensive pressure these three would create would generate rushed throws from opposing quarterbacks and seal up holes for opposing running games. Take the survey and let us know which player you would love for the Dawgs to have back.

GO DAWGS!!!

College Basketball's Biggest Cheaters..... Who Got Caught: A Series

With the Madness of March right around the corner, BNE has decided to take a look back at some of college basketball's biggest cheaters of all time who got caught, because we all know if you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'. I'm going to get this disclaimer out of the way right now..BNE is a college football blog. While we do follow college basketball to an extent, by no means do we follow it religiously. We are SEC fans after all.

This post will look at some of the "dis"honorable mentions that didn't make Earl's Top 5 College Basketball Cheaters Who Got Caught of All Time. The next post will cover #5 on the list.

While this list will consist of major Division I-A basketball coaches, let's not forget some of the boosters behind the scandals. And while most coaches like to claim that they never knew what was going on with said boosters, most college fans know that those claims are full of you-know-what.

There are three coaches on Earl's Dishonorable Mention List: Jim Harrick, Eddie Sutton and Kelvin Sampson.

Obviously, we are all familiar with Harrick. There was some debate to include Harrick in the top 5, but ultimately nobody could be pushed out of the top 5 for him. Harrick has a checkered past at three separate universities, UCLA, Rhode Island and Georgia, falsifying expense reports, paying players bills and making academic tests insanely easy. We all know about the damage he did at Georgia, providing Jarvis Hayes with a cardboard box (a little inside joke). But, in all seriousness, damn you Tony Cole (and Jeremy Schaap, who still has a long way to go to catch his father). It's really a shame because Harrick was such a good coach, leading four schools to the tournament, the three mentioned earlier plus Pepperdine.

Junior contemplating just how much a 3-pointer is worth? A coaching career?

Eddie Sutton is one of only a few coaches with more than 800 overall wins. Like Harrick, he has had tremendous success at a number of schools, taking four schools to the tournament, Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State. Sutton's indiscretions at Kentucky in the mid-80s, though, land him on this list. It all came to a head when an Emery Worldwide package broke open and $1,000 in $50 bills jumped out in transit to high school recruit Chris Mills. The package was from Kentucky assistant Dwane Casey. Sure, payment of recruits goes on all the time, but the cash money literally fell out of the envelope. That's just too good of a story not to make this list. The Wildcats were very close to the death penalty...again (a little foreshadowing to the list's #3 Biggest Cheater of All Time). Sutton and athletic director Cliff Hagan were forced to resign.

I coach the basketball, you seal the envelopes. You got that Dwane? I swear, I ask you to do one damn thing...

Kelvin Sampson is just dumb. Sampson gets fired from Indiana for committing the same infraction he committed at Oklahoma only two years earlier. Really!?! Really!?! Ultimately, Sampson would've never been on this list if he had just committed the infraction once. Sampson placed more than 550 illegal phone calls to recruits while at Oklahoma. The NCAA barred Sampson from recruiting off campus and making phone calls for one year. And yet Sampson made the same mistake at Indiana, making impermissable phone calls to Eric Gordon and other IU recruits. Shame on Indiana for hiring Sampson and shame on Georgia for hiring Harrick. Both schools got what they deserved.

Well played, BoilerSports.com, well played...

Speaking of Harrick, he learned his basketball from the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden and Wooden's famous Pyramid of Success. While I haven't included Wooden on this list because he's known today for his trust and honesty, there were some questions during UCLA's run of 10 national championships in the 1960s and 1970s. The questions mainly circled around Sam Gilbert, known as Wooden's money bag man during the run. Gilbert, who never graduated from UCLA, was a millionaire contractor in the Los Angeles area. And the NCAA did sanction UCLA for Gilbert's interaction with Bruin basketball players, but never vacated any national championships, and only after Wooden had retired.

The fact is that UCLA went largely unpunished because the NCAA didn't want to bring down its marquee team. The same reason why Notre Dame football and Alabama football went largely unpunished during the same time period. Many of Wooden's players claim that Wooden didn't really know what Gilbert was doing for the players.

Many coaches in southern California knew better, including our #2 Biggest Cheater of All Time, who was coaching Long Beach State at the time, claiming that Gilbert wanted to pay one of his stars just because he liked the way he played. "You couldn't be more obvious than Sam Gilbert," said the former Long Beach State coach.

Sorry UCLA fans (because I know so many UCLA fans read BNE), but if you're going to do a post on the biggest cheaters, you can't avoid the biggest programs just because a sainted coach looked the other way.

Coming later this week: #5 Clem Haskins, Minnesota

Great Weekend for Georgia Baseball

Just as the football team traveled out west to the desert to take on Arizona State this past fall, the Diamond Dogs packed their bags and headed to Tucson to take on Arizona this weekend. Georgia was out to a fast 5-0 start after back-to-back series sweeps of Youngstown State and Presbyterian. However, being this far from Athens and facing a Wildcats team that traditionally competes for the Pac 10 championship, the prospects of another sweep were not that high.

Game 1 - Georgia 11, Arizona 5
The Dawgs got another solid outing from #1 starter Trevor Holder and the offense took care of the rest as they opened the series with a victory on Friday night. Nine different batters had a hit, including Rich Poythress (2-5, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored) and Lyle Allen (2-4, HR, 2 RBI).

Game 2 - Georgia 12, Arizona 5
Georgia jumped out to a lead early by scoring 8 runs in the first 4 innings of the game. Joey Lewis had 5 hits including a solo homerun to lead the Bulldogs offense. Saturday's game also saw the return of CF Matt Cerione from suspension. Cerione had four hits including a two singles, a double, a triple, and 4 RBIs. Alex McCree improved his record to 2-0, giving up only 3 hits in 5 innings of work.

Game 3 - Georgia 10, Arizona 5
Freshman LF Jonathan Taylor continued his solid play with 3 hits and 3 runs scored. Through 8 games, Taylor is hitting an amazing .583 with 13 runs scored and 6 stolen bases. Matt Cerione and Pich Poythress also chipped in 3 hit days for the Dawgs. Michael Palazzone picked up his first career win with three innings of scoreless relief pitching.

Just how impressive was the Bulldogs' offense this weekend? Said Arizona head coach Andy Lopez, "I haven't seen (an offense) like that in a long, long time." And this is coming from a coach whose team was preseason #1 in 2008.

With the three-game sweep of Arizona, the Bulldogs improved their record to 8-0. This is their best start since beginning 8-0 during the 2000 season and second best start ever (they won 9 in a row to start the 1911 season). The Dawgs next take on Wofford and then Quinnipiac in a series in Athens this weekend.

This weekend was also good for former Georgia shortstop Gordon Beckham. When I turned on the Dodgers-White Sox spring training game that was on MLB network yesterday, none other than Gordon Beckham was up to bat. The announcers were saying a lot of good things about Beckham, wearing the "rookie special" number 80. Beckham hit a solo homerun to left field, the first in Camelback Ranch history (the spring training home of the White Sox). Read more about the homerun here.

GO DAWGS!!!