Georgia football signee Xavier Avery is off to play professional baseball. We wish him a long and successful career, and it’s great to see that his contract provides for his education.

That’s the case so far in Omaha. #1 seed Miami and #2 seed North Carolina will have to work back through the loser’s brackets while the Georgia Bulldogs and Fresno State Bulldogs enjoy a 2-0 advantage in their respective groups.

Tuesday’s action in the College World Series had no impact on Georgia’s half of the bracket, but LSU continued this year’s theme of ninth-inning drama with a comeback win over Rice. Fresno then continued their improbable postseason run by handing UNC their first loss of the entire NCAA Tournament.

Things get going in Georgia’s bracket this evening as Miami and Stanford meet with elimination on the line. The winner gets another shot at Georgia on Friday afternoon. We know from experience that both Miami and Stanford are quality opponents, but I think most Georgia fans would rather face Stanford again rather than the #1 team and their offense. Whatever happens tonight, I hope it lasts about 23 innings with each team running out of pitchers.

While you’re waiting for Friday, head over to the Georgia Sports Blog for an interview with 1990 hero Mike Rebhan (part one | part two). I mentioned Rebhan the other day while looking back at Stanford’s role in Georgia’s 1990 national title, and pwd got some great insight out of the Cardinal conqueror.

The Senator asks an interesting question this afternoon.

I keep wondering the degree to which Stafford’s completion percentage/efficiency rating is important, not so much in regard to his personal legacy, but rather in the context of Georgia’s offensive scheme.

Good question. Just what’s so important about completing 60% versus 55%? I’ll put in my two cents here.

Let’s get the drops out of the way. Every team has them, so Stafford isn’t going to get some Drop Correction Factor (even in the South Carolina game). I’m not going to analyze every pass from 2007, but it was my belief that drops were more or less down in 2007 and on par with most teams.

If you grant that Georgia has a run-oriented scheme, you’d expect that the quarterback’s most important role would be to sustain drives when the running game can’t. Even allowing for the occasional first and second down throws to keep the defense honest, third down is what most of us would consider the passing down. So the third down conversion rate seems like a pretty important performance indicator for the quarterback in an offense like Georgia’s.

As you might expect and hope, the Bulldogs were better on third down last season than they were during Stafford’s freshman campaign. Georgia was 8th in the SEC in 2006 with a 39% conversion rate on third down. In 2007, the Bulldogs had improved to 4th in the conference with a 44.8% conversion rate. In absolute terms, the difference is also impressive: Georgia converted 20 more third downs in 2007 than in 2006. It’s kind of a self-perpetuating system. Because Georgia was able to convert third downs at a higher clip, they kept drives going and had 15% more third down opportunities in 2007.

OK, you say, we did better on third downs, but how much of that was because of some good tailbacks, and how much can we credit to an improved Stafford? It’s hard to tell, but we do know that the run-oriented Bulldogs got more first downs through the air than on the ground last year. But here’s the important takeaway:

63% of Georgia’s completions came on third down.

That stands out, but it’s not a huge shock because, again, third down is generally a passing down even for run-based teams. The point is that incremental increases in pass efficiency will pay the biggest dividends on those all-important third downs. Here’s how.

Using Stafford’s attempts from 2007, an improvement to a 60% completion rate represents just 15 more completions over the season. That’s little more than one more catch per game. It doesn’t seem like a lot – one pass not dropped here, one better throw there. But using last season’s results as a rough guide, that’s potentially ten more third down conversions through the air. Ten more third down conversions in 2007 would have put Georgia over 50% on third downs – second-best in the SEC behind only you-know-who.

So, for what it’s worth, that’s my guess as to why efficiency is such a priority (other than "more completions = good"). Even with a star tailback and quality quarterback, the Georgia offense is still middle-of-the-pack in the SEC. Stafford’s additional completions are likely to be ones that keep drives alive, and an offense that is converting third downs close to 50% is likely to be very productive.

(By the way, how important was third down to LSU last year? The Tigers converted 104 of 223 third downs – numbers which, even considering their 14-game schedule, dwarf the rest of the SEC. Their conversion rate of 46.6% was good enough for top 3 in the league. That’s an awful lot of chances though, and it’s to their credit that they were able to keep grinding out drives and converting. Les Miles probably still went for it half the times he didn’t convert on third down.)

I’ll be honest – recruiting hasn’t gone well for Andy Landers over the past few years. The rising junior class that had three freshmen all-SEC performers was solid, but last year’s class didn’t have much of an impact. It doesn’t help that the top recruit from that class, Brittany Carter, struggled on the court and in the classroom and will transfer. The current incoming class isn’t particularly heralded, though transfer Porsha Phillips is expected to be a key contributor. With some high-profile prospects headed out of state, you get articles like this pointing out the difficulty of the situation when you’re not UConn or Tennessee.

But a coach as successful and driven as Landers doesn’t take setbacks without responding, and a very positive sign came today with the commitment of Wesleyan rising senior Anne Marie Armstrong. Armstrong, considered the top prospect in Georgia for the 2009 class, won the state’s Miss Basketball honor as a junior while leading her team to the Class AA state title.

Armstrong, at 6’3″ is a versatile wing with good size. If you had to compare those attributes to a recent Lady Dog, think Megan Darrah. Hopefully this commitment is just the start towards what could be a very strong 2009 class.

I don’t know that I’ve ever been this drained just from watching a game.

If Georgia’s grueling 4-3 win over Stanford Monday night at the College World Series was this intense for fans, I can’t imagine how the players held it together.

Georgia football fans – remember how you felt leaving Vanderbilt’s stadium last year or leaving South Carolina in 2002? The thrill of victory alternated with bouts of nausea, and the net effect was relief and exhaustion – and we didn’t even play the games.

After tonight’s game, it’s easy to understand how unseeded Stanford upset Cal-Fullerton and FSU to get to this point. They are tireless fighters, make few mistakes, and force you to work for every scrap you can get against them. Nothing came easy for Georgia tonight, not even the final outs, but somehow here they are 2-0 and in the driver’s seat of their half of the CWS field.

Stanford jumped out 3-0 on three extra-base hits in the third inning including a two-run homer by standout catcher Jason Castro. Though starter Nick Montgomery pitched well otherwise, he yielded to Stephen Dodson in the 4th inning.

If there’s a story developing thus far for Georgia, it’s been the bullpen as a whole. They’ve allowed only one run in two games, and Alex McRee atoned for Saturday’s homerun pitch with a perfect performance against the Cardinal. In fact, the Georgia bullpen allowed only one hit after Montgomery left. Dodson, McRee, and Fields held Stanford in check and gave the offense room to mount the gradual comeback.

Getting back in the game was like pulling teeth. The Dawgs missed a chance to get on the scoreboard in the 3rd when Lyle Allen doubled but was inexplicably held at third base on a David Thoms single to right. Neither Peisel nor Olson could bring in Allen, and the Dawgs missed a golden scoring opportunity.

The first run came in the 4th – Matt Cerione doubled in Gordon Beckham, but Cerione was stranded. Georgia again inched closer in the 6th when Robbie O’Bryan drew a bases-loaded walk that scored Rich Poythress. Still, Georgia could do no further damage with the bases loaded and just one out.

The Dawgs finally got on top in the 7th when Gordon Beckham started a two-out rally with a single. Poythress walked, and Massanari was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Matt Cerione laced a single to center field plating Beckham and Poythress for Cerione’s second and third RBI of the day. O’Bryan popped out to end the rally, but Georgia now held the lead.

McRee pitched an incredibly efficient 8th against the heart of the Cardinal lineup, and you had to like Georgia’s chances with Fields pitching to the bottom half of the Stanford order in the 9th. Nothing was easy in this game, though, and Fields certainly made things interesting by walking and then hitting a batter to put the go-ahead run on base with one out. He worked deep into the count against pinch-hitter Colin Walsh before enticing Walsh to hit a ground ball that was fielded by Beckham and turned into a textbook 6-4-3 double play to end the excruciating game.

Georgia has earned the mixed blessing of three days’ rest before playing again on Friday. Everyone should be fresh and rested, but that’s a long time to stew during a championship run. The good news is that Georgia needs just one more win to advance to next week’s championship round. Stanford must play Miami in an elimination game, and the Bulldogs will have two cracks at the winner of that game.

Georgia will play the winner of Wednesday’s Stanford/Miami game at 2:00 p.m. on Friday (ESPN2). If Georgia wins, they advance straight to the championship round which begins Monday. If Georgia falls, they’ll face a rematch with Friday’s opponent on Saturday to determine who advances.

For a complete schedule and stats and recaps from the CWS, visit this page over at ESPN.com.

And with that…I’m going to go collapse into bed.

When Georgia meets Stanford this evening in the College World Series (7:00, ESPN2), it will be a rematch of sorts of one of the biggest battles along the way during Georgia’s 1990 national title run. Georgia will technically be favored against the unseeded Cardinal tonight, but it was Georgia’s underdog performance against top-seeded Stanford that put them into the national title game.

While Stan Payne’s 2-1 victory over Oklahoma State clinched the 1990 national title for Georgia, the Bulldogs’ shot at the championship was set up by three battles over six days with top-seeded Stanford. Georgia crushed Stanford in the first meeting sending the Cardinal to the loser’s bracket. The favorites worked back through the bracket and topped Georgia to force a winner-take-all rematch.

Stanford turned to ace and future MLB star Mike Mussina who had been roughed up by Georgia in the first meeting. The Bulldogs countered again with senior Mike Rebhan. Though fatigued, Rebhan pitched a complete game as the Bulldogs eliminated the Cardinal 5-1.

There’s a great account of this 1990 meeting over on UGASports.com. The transformation of Mussina from a dominant pitcher to someone throwing batting practice turned the first meeting. Stanford struck back with a freshman beating Bulldog All-American Dave Fleming. Rebhan turned the tables in the final showdown, and teammate Bruce Chick reflected on how important that performance was. "He had two children and he knew he wasn’t moving on," says Chick. "Mike pitched the game of his life and it wound up being the last game he ever pitched."

Tonight another relatively unknown Bulldog pitcher will step on the Rosenblatt Stadium field with a chance to make his own splash against Stanford. Nick Montgomery wasn’t one of Georgia’s three weekend starters during the regular season, but since his outing against Georgia Tech at Turner Field Montgomery has been one of the most consistent and outstanding Bulldog starters. He already has wins over Georgia Tech and N.C. State in this NCAA Tournament, and the Bulldogs are counting on him to move them one win away from their first trip to the championship round since 1990.

Before Fran Tarkenton, Buck Belue, Eric Zeier, David Greene, Matthew Stafford, and all Georgia quarterbacks in between, there was Johnny Rauch. Rauch set the standard for quarterbacking for college football in the late 1940s, and he went on to a successful career as a pro quarterback and as a coach. He passed away on Tuesday at the age of 80. From the obituary at georgiadogs.com:

Former University of Georgia All-America quarterback John Rauch, who started every game for the Bulldogs from 1945-48, passed away in his sleep on Tuesday at his Oldsmar, Fla., home. He was 80.

Rauch came to Georgia in 1945 after excelling in three sports in high school in Pennsylvania. He didn’t arrive with much fanfare, however, and was discovered by then-Coach Wallace Butts while playing in a flag football game.

After accepting an invitation from Butts to come out for football, Rauch started every game (45 in all) of his college career from 1945-48 and became the first player in NCAA history to start four consecutive bowl games. He passed for 4,044 yards, then the NCAA record for career passing yardage.

Rauch led the Bulldogs to a 36-8-1 record, including the Williamson poll’s national championship in 1946 and two SEC titles. He was an All-American and the SEC Player of the Year his senior season.

Rauch was the No. 1 player taken in the 1949 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions and he went on to a four-year playing career. Rauch then entered the coaching ranks, serving several schools, including Georgia from 1955-58, as an assistant coach.

Rauch returned to the NFL as an assistant for the Oakland Raiders under Al Davis in 1963 and was promoted to head coach in 1966. He guided the Raiders for three seasons, compiling 33 victories and leading them to Super Bowl II. Rauch, whose assistant coaches included John Madden and Bill Walsh, was named AFC Coach of the Year in 1967 after the Super Bowl appearance. Rauch also was the head coach of the Buffalo Bills in 1969, O.J. Simpson’s rookie year.

Rauch completed his coaching career in 1985 after stints with Philadelphia, Atlanta and Tampa Bay of the NFL, Toronto of the CFL and Tampa Bay of the USFL.

Rauch was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004. He also was chosen for the Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame in 2000 and Georgia¹s Circle of Honor in 2001.

His grandson also posted a nice note on the DawgVent. Our thoughts go out tonight to the family of one of Georgia’s best.

Everyone’s favorite weatherman/commentator Bill “Hurricane” Curry will leave the broadcast booth to try the Howard Schnellenberger route and build a new program from the ground up in the twilight of his career. Curry will head the new Georgia State program in Atlanta which will begin playing 1-AA football in 2010.

The Panthers had good luck with their last high-profile athletic hire. Under legendary basketball coach Lefty Driesell, Georgia State advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and finished 29-5 in 2001.

I’m also glad to see Curry out of the broadcast booth, but what will really be interesting is the Tech reaction. Things are all chummy now – Tech alum and former coach coming back to town – but make no mistake: Tech is the competition. Competition for fans, media attention, even some recruits – everything. If Tech has issues selling season tickets now, things will only be tougher with another program in town. I don’t see Tech losing its hold as the city’s top football program, but can they continue to claim the best college coach in town?

If you’re like me, you missed out on the early feeding frenzy on airline tickets for the Arizona State game. Maybe you weren’t sure if you were going. Maybe your group was dragging its heels making arrangements. Maybe you were betting on the price of oil to crash and send fares plunging. Good luck with that.

Anyway, here you are in mid-June, and fares for non-stop flights are pushing $450 and not budging. You’ve listened to Paul Westerdawg and Kanu and have your social agenda in order and possibly even have tickets taken care of. But you’re still procrastinating about a flight.

AirTran has come through with a flight option that checks in at just over $300. I have to credit my lovely wife with finding this one. She affects the outcome of the Florida game, and she finds good deals to road games. What a catch. Here are the details:

• Outbound: AirTran flight 1940.
  Leaves 8:40 p.m. on Thurs. Sept. 18, arrives 9:45 Phoenix time
• Returning: AirTran flight 1941.
  Leaves 10:40 p.m. on Sun. Sept. 21, arrives 5:17 a.m. Monday morning

Yes, those are some late flights, but they come with some advantages:

• If you’re up for it, a night out in Tempe isn’t out of the question on Thursday. If you’re staying near Tempe, you’ll probably be off the plane and checked in by 11:00.
• You have all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in town. Having Sunday to recover from gameday won’t suck.
• If your work vacation time is tight, these flights give you the option of working Thursday and Monday if you’re reasonably close to Atlanta. I know turning around and going into the office on Monday after a red-eye and a football weekend isn’t the most appealing option in the world, but it’s there if you need it.

Again, those flights check in at just over $300 for the round trip after taxes and fees. I don’t know how long these prices will hold, so jump on it. I doubt you’ll find anything cheaper as we get closer since most of the seats on other flights are already booked. You might be able to do better if you are willing to forgo the non-stop flight, but be cautious of booking with Frontier as the future of the airline is uncertain. If you want to continue to hold out, I second Kanu’s recommendation of kayak.com.

If you’re still looking for a hotel, you might try the Hyatt Place Tempe / Phoenix Airport. It’s no more than two miles from both the airport and Sun Devil Stadium. They also have 42″ flat panels in the rooms which any sports fan should appreciate.

The Coliseum Practice Facility has been open for about a year now. For fans who haven’t toured or taken a look yet inside the facility, UGASports.com has a photo feature up taking you inside the men’s basketball area. I’ve written about how the facility measures up nationally, but don’t take my word for it…

One parent of a high profile prospect said, “My son and I were at the Dean Dome(UNC) last week, and this place beats that hands down!”

Mitchell Boggs was a key relief pitcher on the 2004 Georgia squad that reached the College World Series. Now with another group of Bulldogs on their way to Omaha, Boggs is set to record another personal milestone. He will make his first major league start on Tuesday night for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Cincinnati Reds. Boggs made his MLB debut on Friday out of the bullpen and gave up one run in two innings of work.

Mitchell Boggs and Josh McLaughlin celebrate after beating Georgia Tech in the 2004 super regional. Photo: Red & Black

Some nations require years of residency and an exam for citizenship. In Russia, all it requires is a professional basketball contract.

Olympic dreams are commonplace for elite athletes. In many sports the Olympic gold medal is the summit, and you’d be hard-pressed to find an athlete who hasn’t been inspired along the way by watching one of his countrymen excel at the Olympics. But spots on the Olympic team aren’t as commonplace, so the dream of playing for one’s country never becomes a reality for most. Because of lineage or birthplace, dual citizenship is an option for some. For others, Mother Russia is willing to help.

Three WNBA players – including two former Georgia Lady Dogs – have made the 24-member preliminary squad for the Russian national women’s basketball team. How can native-born American citizens play for the Russians? ESPN explains in the case of WNBA star Becky Hammon,

Under Russian league rules, (Hammon) was able to obtain a passport and become a naturalized citizen because she had never appeared for another country in a FIBA-sanctioned event. In other words, she was still eligible to compete for Russia internationally.

Hammon’s papers were approved quickly by the highest levels of the Russian government, just as they were for former Bucknell guard J.R. Holden, who hit the game-winning shot last summer to help Russia win the 2007 Eurobasket Championships. Holden, too, will compete for Russia in Beijing.

Kelly Miller and Deanna Nolan are the former Georgia players on the squad. Both played for Russian club teams in the WNBA offseason and acquired Russian citizenship as a result. Neither was selected for the American national team (a questionable decision in Nolan’s case), so playing for Russia might be their only shot at playing in the Olympics. 20 years ago, this news would have been scandalous – if not impossible. How about now? Does it bug you that American athletes would take Russian citizenship in order to participate in the Olympics, or do you respect the decision to chase their Olympic dreams any way they can?

It’s been a busy offseason when it comes to the leadership of the BCS conferences and schools.

• First, Notre Dame AD Kevin White opts for the arguably less-stressful and lower-profile vacancy at Duke.
• Then Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese announced his retirement last week.
• Now we learn that Pac-10 commish and defender of the Rose Bowl Tom Hansen is on his way out after 26 years.

The Big 12 named Dan Beebe its commissioner less than a year ago. Though Tranghese and Hansen will continue on for another academic year, we’ll still see a turnover of more than half of the BCS leadership between 2007 and 2009.

Will this sudden turnover have much effect on things like the BCS and college football postseason? I doubt it. It’s important to remember that conference commissioners serve at the pleasure of the presidents of the conference’s schools. Though there is plenty of room for each commissioner to make his mark on his conference, major policy decisions are likely to be guided by those presidents. In other words, if the Pac-10 presidents as a group oppose a playoff (and it seems as if they do), Hansen’s replacement is likely to share that view.

Still, it will be interesting to see what new blood brings to the table and if any of the newcomers become polarizing figures in their own right.

Mike Slive (2002), John Swofford (1997), and Jim Delany (1989) are now the elder statesmen of the BCS conferences. In case you’re wondering who might be next to retire, Delany and Swofford both turn 60 this year, and Slive is approaching 68.

Sometimes the events just speak for themselves:

Georgia Bulldogs 1st – Peisel singled to right field (1-0 B). Olson hit by pitch (2-0 B); Peisel advanced to second. Beckham walked (3-1 BBBKB); Olson advanced to second; Peisel advanced to third. Poythress walked, RBI (3-1 BBKBB); Beckham advanced to second; Olson advanced to third; Peisel scored. Massanari singled to left field, 2 RBI (1-1 KB); Poythress advanced to second; Beckham scored; Olson scored. Brown to p for Surkamp. Cerione singled, bunt (0-0); Massanari advanced to second; Poythress advanced to third. O’Bryan grounded out to 3b, RBI (2-2 KBSB); Cerione advanced to second; Massanari advanced to third; Poythress scored. Allen singled to center field, 2 RBI (0-1 F); Cerione scored; Massanari scored. Thoms singled to left field (0-0); Allen advanced to second. Peisel singled to right field (1-2 BKFF); Thoms advanced to second; Allen advanced to third. Olson flied out to lf, SF, RBI (2-2 KBSB); Allen scored. Beckham singled to left field, RBI (0-0); Peisel advanced to second; Thoms scored. Poythress singled through the left side, RBI (0-1 K); Beckham advanced to third; Peisel scored. Cutler to p for Brown. Massanari reached on a fielder’s choice (0-1 F); Poythress out at second ss to 2b.

9 runs, 8 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

After the wonderful dismissal of rival Georgia Tech in the regional round, it was reasonable to wonder if the Georgia baseball team could get back up for a series with an unfamiliar opponent. Georgia’s recent postseason opposition had been regional or conference foes like South Carolina, Clemson, FSU, and Georgia Tech – all very familiar, all usually very good, and there was no problem getting up for those teams.

But here was N.C. State. The two programs don’t play each other. They, more or less, don’t recruit against each other. N.C. State’s story was one of a solid but not traditionally-strong program having a great season and seeking its first trip to Omaha since 1968. Georgia fans probably even cheered the Wolfpack when the boys from Raleigh dispatched South Carolina in the regional. Though a trip to the College World Series is always its own motivation, I wondered in the back of my mind if a letdown was possible after the euphoria of taking two games from Tech.

It didn’t take long into the series to discover that 1) N.C. State was a very formidable opponent and 2) it would indeed be very enjoyable sending them home.

It started on Friday when Wolfpack coach coach Elliott Avent asked the home plate umpire to examine Trevor Holder’s cap for a foreign substance. (The cap, of course, checked out clear.) It continued on Saturday when Georgia star Gordon Beckham was hit not once but twice by Wolfpack pitching. It came to a head Sunday afternoon when Wolfpack reliever Drew Taylor hit Lyle Allen following a Joey Lewis home run in the bottom of the 6th. Intentional or not, the pitch just below Allen’s head fired up the Bulldogs to finish the job and enjoy the beating as if it were an SEC or regional rival. Though the umpires and coaches did a good job of keeping the emotion from boiling over, the Bulldogs made sure to get their revenge on the field.

• "We wanted to make them sorry for Lyle getting hit," catcher Bryce Massanari said. "It woke up the sleeping dogs. After that, we just wanted to pour it on and embarrass them."
• "Embarrass them," (Gordon) Beckham said about Georgia’s mindset. "I think we got like eight runs after that, didn’t we?"
• "We were asleep," (coach David) Perno said. "We were in the dugout going ’12 outs. 12 outs, we’re going to Omaha. Nine outs.’ All of a sudden, they woke the bats back up."

If a pitch aimed at a Georgia batter’s head led to a five-run explosion in the bottom of the 7th, Wolfpack pitchers must have been peppering the family members and girlfriends of the Bulldog team prior to the game. Georgia erased any concerns about a tense nailbiter by putting up nine runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. The fact that the only scoreboard drama of the day came when State closed to within six runs indicates how complete of a win it was. On offense, eight Georgia singles combined with two walks and a hit batsman did the damage in the 1st. On defense, Nick Montgomery had yet another strong outing, and he was helped with strong plays in the field by Ryan Peisel, Lyle Allen, Matt Cerione, and Gordon Beckham.

While history might remember Allen’s HBP as the spark for Georgia’s final push at the plate, the first few runs actually came at a very important moment in the game. LSU’s dramatic comeback against Cal-Irvine on Sunday demonstrated that no lead is ever safe in college baseball, so the Wolfpack’s three runs in the top of the 6th were enough to get one’s attention after four straight scoreless innings from the Bulldogs. Gordon Beckham’s first home run of the day, a solo shot to left, got the Bulldogs back on the scoreboard and helped to stem what might have been the beginning of an NCSU comeback. Lewis’s two-run blast completed the scoring for the inning, and Georgia had answered the visitors’ challenge and ensured a relatively anti-climatic finish.

There were no need for Keppinger-esque heroics, and Josh Fields was, if anything, sloppy in closing out the 17-8 win. Instead, the lopsided win provided an opportunity to reflect on the many accomplishments and storylines across the roster. From Beckham’s star power to the emergence of Nick Montgomery to timely hits from the bottom half of the lineup, Sunday’s win gave us the chance to enjoy it all.

Click here for an outstanding gallery from UGASports.com of the celebration.