The Bubba N Earl March Madness 2012

I have set up a new tournament challenge for this year. If you participated last year, we were over at CBS but I have set us up at ESPN this year. I'll try to update the standings as best I can, but I'll be at the lake with no internet this weekend.

I've got Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, and Syracuse in the Final Four, with Kentucky winning the whole thing. Who ya got?

Group: BnE Challenge 2012

http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/en/group?groupID=137974

Help put Herscel on thel cover of NCAA 13

http://www.facebook.com/easportsncaafootball?sk=app_308086065920467

EA Sports has a poll up that is letting the fans pick the NCAA football legend to appear on the cover of NCAA Football 13 with RG3. One of the potentials is the immortal Herschel Walker. Spread the word, vote, and let's make Herschel the first Dawg to appear on the cover of a video game.

Tourny Time!

The brackets are out and the tournament kicks off with the opening round games tomorrow. And while it sucked to watch the Dawgs get knocked out in the first round last year, not being in the tournament sucks even more. I watched the selection show last night, but it is definitely more fun when you have a dog in the fight (no pun intended). Here are my thoughts on this year's tournament:

• I'm picking Kentucky to win the whole thing. They are too good. Losing in the SEC Tournament championship game may actually help them play better. Coach Cal has never won the national championship, that ends this year.
• My other Final Four teams: Syracuse, Kansas, and Missouri. That's right, I am predicting future SEC rival Missouri to take down #1 seed Michigan State.
  
• Watch out for West Virginia. Huggy Bear always seems to have his team playing well in March. I've got them knocking out Ohio State.
• Florida deserved better than a 7 seed. Losing to Georgia near the end of the season may have had something to do with it.
  
• You lose to Georgia twice, you're not making the tourney. Sorry Miss State.
• Washington got screwed. I know the Pac 12 sucked, but if you win the regular season championship, you should be in the tournament. Who cares about Iona. And they definitely deserved it more than Texas.
• Its weird not seeing Butler there to pull upsets all over the place.
• Murray State...watch out.
• Who's smarter? Vandy or Harvard?

Let the madness begin!

Missouri: Looking for an Angle

As we all know, Georgia will have a new rival in the SEC East this fall. Missouri joins league after exiting the Big XII and will play its first SEC game the second week of the season when the Dawgs travel to Columbia. One of the best parts of the SEC is the intense rivalries that exist between its schools. Even if the teams don't play every year and are no geographically close, there is enough history to make every game special. But when Georgia goes to play the Tigers (yes, another team with a tiger mascot) this fall, we'll need to find a reason to kick off this rivalry with the kind of fire you expect in the SEC.

Looking back at history won't help. Georgia and Missouri have only met once on the football field. Georgia faced Missouri in the 1960 Orange Bowl, defeating the tigers 14 -0. Fran Tarkenton threw for two touchdowns as the Dawgs blanked future Notre Dame Coach Dan Devine's Tigers. But that is it. Instead, I went looking for a different angle. I asked myself, "When has Missouri done something in the past that ending up making me mad?" And then, something came to me.

2007. Knowshon. Stafford. Killing Tebow. The Blackout. In my top 3 of favorite Georgia seasons since I began a fan. On the final day of the college football season (before bowl season), Georgia entered the day at #4 in the BCS. Because they had lost to Tennessee, the Dawgs were shut out of the SEC Championship and forced to watch LSU take the SEC crown. Ahead of the Dawgs in the BCS that day were Ohio State (3), West Virginia (2), and undefeated Missouri at #1. Ohio State was done with its season and simply needed Missouri to fall to Oklahoma in the Big XII Championship to guarantee them a shot in the National Championship. But before that could happen, something unexpected occurred.

Pittsburgh decided to play its best game of the year and shocked #2 West Virginia. Suddenly, Ohio State already had its spot in the title game and a Missouri loss could mean chaos. As a Georgia fan, the thought of playing for a national championship suddenly became a possibility. We switched our televisions to the Big XII Championship and watched as Sam Bradford's Sooners destroyed Missouri, 38-17. With Missouri and WVU down, it looked like the Dawgs could be headed to New Orleans to take on the Buckeyes for the National Championship.

But it wasn't meant to be. The voters jumped LSU 5 spots and into the title game and the Dawgs ended up going to the Sugar Bowl. While it was great to beat Hawaii, it sucks we never got a chance to win the national title. But for a few hours on the December 1 and 2, 2007, we had hope.

And for that, I blame the Missouri Tigers!

Damn you Chase Daniel. damn you Jeremy Maclin. And damn you Gary Pinkel. If you're 12-0 teamd have just taken car of business against a 9-3 Sooners team, none of this would have happened. But you lost, giving Dawg fans a glimmer of hope.

DAMN YOU, MISSOURI!

So, that's my angle. Am I stretching? Just a little bit. But it is the best I can do. Anyone else have any bright ideas?

Even if the intent was good, the message was bad

Back in December, I wrote this post where I voiced my disgust with fans booing Isaiah Crowell during the second half of the SEC Championship game. Many people, both here on this blog and on another, were quick to respond saying they were booing at Ken Malcome. While that was definitely not the case in my section, I could accept this as an excuse. But then I read this quote from Arthur Lynch about that incident:

But when you play against LSU, let’s face it, they played in the national championship game, and in the SEC championship game they boo him? I thought that was, one, disrespectful, and two, I don’t think anybody understood the pain he was going through.

Whether your intent was good or not, clearly the players on the field though Crowell was being booed. I have said it before and I'll say it again, you should never boo a player under any circumstance.

I hope Crowell uses it as motivation this fall. From everything I have been reading, he has been tearing it up in offseason workouts. A backfield with a healthy Crowell paired with Keith Marshall could take a lot of pressure off the shoulder of Aaron Murray.

Ten Things I'm Thinking

1. Ray Drew moving back to DE is a great decision. It's Garrison Smith's job for now, buck look out for the Pastor of Disaster.

2. Adding JUCOs in the secondary is a good idea, but if Chris Sanders does get his stuff together, I'd rather bring him back.

3. Every recruit is going to Alabama. Just accept it. They offer everyone, they get tons of commits, and people still keep picking them.

4. I would love to see Orson Charles continue to wear red and black this fall. If he is available to the Falcons in the 2nd, they should take him no doubt. Tony Gonzalez is awesome, but he is done after this year.

5. Well, the NCAA has officially taken the fun out of kickoffs. Touchback city, here we come. This also officially eliminates the possibility of another DB or WR from ever winning the Heisman since the only way they could in the past was if they also returned kicks.

6. The Georgia basketball team is horrible. You don't lose to LSU, Auburn, and South Carolina in the same season. That's like losing to Vandy, Kentucky, and Miss. State in football.

7. The QB competitions are always fun to watch, but the Crowell vs. Marshall battle could be one of the best position battles ever. Two #1 overall backs in the country competing for a starting position as underclassmen. That's insane.

8. Get the contract extensions done!

9. When are we going to offer Mario Alford? We need depth for this fall.

10. 7 Weeks until G Day!

In Theory It Looks Like a Great Idea, But...

With Sanders Commings suspended for two games and Nick Marshall and Chris Sanders now playing JUCO football, depth in the secondary has suddenly become an issue for Georgia. One idea that has been floated around and now commented on by Coach Richt is letting rising sophomore Malcolm Mitchell spend time at corner. And while this sounds like an idea that may work (I have no doubt Mitchell could be a very good CB in the SEC), I would rather not see our rising star at receiver playing both ways. Here are the reasons why.

#1 - His greatest potential is at the receiver position. Malcolm had a fantastic freshman season, catching 45 passes for 665 yards and four touchdowns. And he did it while missing three full games to injury. While those numbers are not quite AJ Green level, they are comparable to Mohammed Massaquoi (38 for 505, 2), Fred Gibson (33 for 772, 6) and Terrence Edwards (53 for 772). Mitchell has the potential to be one of the best receivers in Georgia history, why divert his attention?

#2 - Speaking of those three games he missed, is it worth it to risk an injury. He got hurt running a simple deep route and it took a month to recover. AJ Green ended up missing a lot of time due to injury and I don't want that to happen to Malcolm.

#3 - Playing Mitchell at corner this year will not help us prepare for 2013. The entire second will graduate after this year. We need to get some experience in those young players like Bowman, Swann, and Dawson. Let them fill in Commings role against Buffalo and Missouri. In case anyone else gets hurt, at least these guys will have some real experience.

#4 - We may need him to return kicks. This is the one place where missing out on Patterson really hurt. While Branden Smith will get first crack, I am still concerned about his tendency to fumble.

#5 - He's not Champ Bailey. Malcolm Mitchell is a phenomenal player, but to put any kind of expectation that he could perform like Bailey is asinine.

Deep South's Oldest Rivalry: 120 Years Old Today Yet Facing Extinction

The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry: as all-American as apple pie.

(UGA-Auburn Program, 1944).

Today, February 20th, is the 120th anniversary of the first game in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, UGA's second game in program history. The game, played in Piedmont Park in Atlanta, was the capstone to the 1892 Georgia football season, a season which was the first year of organized football being played south of Raleigh, NC.

Auburn fans uniquely identify with the first game in the Rivalry as being the origin of "War Eagle," with an eagle purportedly brought home by a wounded Civil War veteran from the Battle of the Wilderness rallying the crowd and students from Auburn to a 10-0 victory over Georgia, where at the end of the game the eagle crashed and died on the field.

The game has also served as a rallying cry for Georgians. The inaugural game attracted 150 students from the nearby Georgia School of Technology to dress up in red and black and cheer for Georgia, and the second game, a 10-8 Georgia victory in November 1894, caused quite the celebration once the team & fans arrived back in Athens:

"The Varsity special left at 7 o'clock and the people of Athens awaited the arrival of the party at the Athens depot with a brass band and plenty of enthusiasm. Merchants opened their stores and told the boys to help themselves to boxes. Soon a large bonfire lighted up the campus, the college rang out on the night air and the college yell was heard on every hand. The night had far spent itself when the last echo of the bell was heard and the dying embers of the great bonfire was all that was left to remind the passer by that the great day was over. Georgia had triumphed!

Three years had she waited and now the defeat that had once befallen her by the hands of the Alabamians was blotted out." (The Red & Black, December 1, 1894).

Since 1898, the series has only been halted for 3 years, 1917-18 (when we were 'Over There' for WWI) and 1943 (WWII). The Georgia-Auburn rivalry is considered the oldest rivalry in the South, with UGA-Auburn's first game preceding the South's "Oldest" Rivalry (UVA-UNC) by 8 months. While UVA and NC have played 116 times through 2011 (to 115 for UGA-AU), the UVA-UNC series was notably not halted during World War 2.

Ours is a rivalry that is extraordinarily even, with Auburn holding the series lead 54-53-8 thru 115 games, yet Georgia leading by 76 points scored in the overall series, 1854-1778.

Yet all this history may be on the chopping block, along with Alabama's rivalry with Tennessee, for the sake of the greater good of the conference. Once you go down this path for the sake of Missouri, TA&M, and a more 'balanced' 8 game conference schedule, you destroy the fabric of a storied rivalry, trample upon a game that predates the Southeastern Conference itself by 40 years, and kill one of the biggest traditions in both program's storied histories.

On this, the 120th anniversary of the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, take a moment to call, fax, or write a letter to Mike Slive and let him know of the importance of the Georgia-Auburn annual rivalry in the SEC and the need to keep fixed annual cross-division rivals. While Commissioner Slive may not have an ounce of Southern blood in him, common sense at some point may kick in to prevent the SEC's own 'New Coke' fiasco.

ESPN-produced Intro to the 2004 Game.

It's almost Valentine's Day...

...and that means the deadline to get donations in for the 2012 Hartman Fund are just two days away. I know a lot of people were kicking themselves for not donating and trying to get tickets last year when the cutoff essential did not exist. While I do think the minimum to start new tickets will go up this year, it will not even be back up to the 2007 levels (around $2,100).

So get your donations in. And, oh yeah, don't forget to get that special someone something nice for Valentine's Day.

It's Been a While, but I'm Back

So things have been kind of dead here on the blog the last few weeks, despite an abundance of things going on within the Bulldog nation. But let me explain. I was on vacation in Hawaii (absolutely amazing) during NSD and have been completely swamped at work since I got back. Here's my thoughts on what has transpired over the last few weeks:

• My only real disappointment with our recruiting class was the failure to land Avery Young. Cordarelle Patterson choosing Tennessee was a bit of a surprise, but we really did not need receivers. After losing Chester Brown, I thought Young was the most important target we had left. I'm glad we got JHC, but I wish we would have gotten Young instead.
• Of course, the dismissals make the lack of DB depth in the recruiting class look bad. I am really bummed about Nick Marshall. My brother in law is close with some people in the Wilcox County program and have been hearing about Nick for years. I was very excited when he came to Georgia and had big expectations for him. But stealing from anyone, especially teammates, should get you kicked off the team.
• The Chris Sanders situation is becoming more interesting everyday. Today, Sanders spoke about his dismissal and it appears he was not involved in the shenanigans that Seay and Marshall were. He;s going to enroll at GMC and it looks like there may be a chance he is back in Athens in 2013. This is a kid who bleeds red and black and loves Georgia who is owning up to his mistakes. If he gets his stuff together at GMC, I would love to see him back in a Bulldog uniform.
• It looks like the Dawgs may pick up a few Juco additions to the class to supplement the loss of the dismissed players and Chester Brown. While I don't always love the JUCO route, we need experienced bodies right now. The starting groups look great next year, but except for wide receiver, running back, and DE/OLB, we are pretty thin.
• While I am all for the protection of players, I HATE the decision to move the touchbacks up from the 20 to the 25. I know that means there will be incentive to not just kick it deep like they do in the NFL, but this is a fundamental change to how football has been played as long as I can remember and I just don't like it.
• Losing the Auburn game would suck. Can't we just have Tennessee move to the West division? That would be a perfect solution. Tennessee could still play Bama every year, we could still play Auburn every year, and Tennessee would become our new permanent rival in the west. Seems perfect to me.
  
• The more I look at oversigning, the more I think Nick Saban is a dick. A good coach? Hell yeah. But really a dick. I am glad that kid from Atlanta decided to go to Kentucky. But what makes me really mad in that situation is to know that it was the scholarship that was opened up for Dalvin Tomlinson.
• I keep hearing good things about Crowell working hard this off season. If Crowell and Marshall become the 1-2 punch we all hope, look for Aaron Murray's completion percentage to go up and his INTs to go down this fall.
• Dear Board of Regents: Get the contract extensions done. Nor more debating, we need to lock Richt and Grantham down. It helps recruiting and because of the lack of size in the 2012 class, we need to get as much momentum as possible for 2013 as early as possible.
• G-Day will be here before we know it. It may be interesting to watch the kicking duties this year. Georgia has a punter and kicker coming in as part of the 2012 class this fall, but neither of them will be there yet. Most assume Morgan and Barber will win the jobs, but good competition is always better when it comes to kickers.
• Man, the Georgia basketball team is not good. I feel really bad for Coach Fox. He is a good coach, but has not been able to get the talent he needs to win. One five star recruit surrounded by a bunch of lightly recruited players doesn't cut it against teams like Kentucky, where they have 7 or 8 players who will be in the NBA soon. And it looks like the Dawgs are going to miss out on the biggest talents in Georgia once again this year.
• Baseball season is upon. Major league pitchers and catcher begin reporting in the next two weeks and the Diamond Dawgs begin play next Friday. The Dawgs will open the season ranked #11 in the country, but are only the 5th ranked team in the SEC. Florida opens the year at #1 and two time defending national champion South Carolina at #3. It's going to be another tough go at it, but hopefully Coach Perno can get the boys back to the CWS for the first time since 2008.

That's it for now. Next week, I'm going to pick back up with my Damn Good Dawgs series.