Beautiful…then comes the crash

If the Sugar Bowl was, as Colt Brennan said, the biggest Hawaiian event since statehood , the aftermath has been the biggest disaster to hit the state since…well, we won’t go there.

First was June Jones’ departure for SMU. Jones chose the scorched earth strategy on his way out of town by firing off a letter criticizing the athletic department for its lack of support. Only when SMU showed interest did Hawaii make an attempt to improve its commitment to the program, claimed Jones.

It didn’t take long for athletics director Herman Frazier to be forced out, and of course speculation centers on that fact that Frazier couldn’t pull several million dollars out of thin air to fund the Hawaii program to the level Jones wanted.

In the span of a week, the Hawaii program has gone from the feel-good "Bad News Bears" story of the 2007 season to smoldering ruins of a program. I was completely wrong last year when I thought that Boise State’s 2005 loss to Georgia would result in lasting trauma for that program, but here I go again. The Hawaii program was on the brink of being dissolved when Jones took over, and it took his unique scheme to get some success from the limited talent base and limited resources available to him.

Receiver Davone Bess will head to the NFL, and of course Brennan is gone as well. There are definitely some quality players coming back, but one wonders how long the new coach will be able to keep things going. The Hawaii wave looks to have crested, and there’s no telling now what gets washed up onto the rocks. It’s kind of sad to see – there was something fresh and enjoyable about the state using the team as a point of cultural pride.

Congratulations to LSU.

For what it’s worth, Georgia finished #2 in the final AP poll and #3 in the final coaches’ poll. I’m among those who think Georgia’s final position matters; it’ll give the Dawgs a good starting position next season, and it’s something to recognize Georgia’s best AP poll finish since 1980. Congratulations to the Dawgs on a memorable and successful season.

Last week the Arizona women’s team had to finish a game 5-on-2. Hopefully it won’t get to that point for the Georgia men’s team, but at this rate of attrition who knows? Center Rashad Singleton has left the program to transfer to another school where he might see more playing time. He becomes the third player to leave the program since practice began. The 7’0" Singleton was still very much a project as a junior, and he had been replaced in the starting lineup by freshman Jeremy Price. Singleton was a factor if only for post depth, but his departure won’t have nearly the impact that the loss of Mercer and Brown had.

The Singleton-less Dawgs paid a return visit to the west coast over the weekend and dropped a game to Gonzaga. It wasn’t a surprise to lose to a quality team like Gonzaga, but the difference in offensive production from this game to last season’s win over the Zags was pretty stark. Billy Humphrey poured in four three-pointers for Georgia’s first 12 points of the game, but Georgia couldn’t keep up from there. To their credit, they were able to cut the lead to single-digits by the end (what a regrettable foul at the end by Corey Butler), but they never put the outcome in doubt.

It’s not worth harping on the team’s problems now because 1) they’re many and 2) they’re familiar and expected. Scoring is an issue without Brown and Mercer, and it’s just going to be that kind of year where significant games come down to Gaines playing out of his mind.

A weak SEC might be Georgia’s saving grace this year, but so far they are contributing to the conference’s weakness instead of looking to be in a position to take advantage of it.

I said a few weeks ago that a win over Tech was one of the big things I looked for this season, and this Wednesday’s game looms huge now. It’s not just the rivalry. Tech is a struggling, beatable team. It’s an opportunity for the Dawgs to show some balls against a vulnerable opponent in a game that means something to even casual Georgia basketball fans. With the personnel losses, even if understandable, and a lukewarm performance through the schedule so far, Felton ‘s program needs an injection of good news and goodwill. A win over Tech would give it to him.

Lady Dogs record their first loss

With a 13-0 start and a #7 ranking, one would think all was well in the world for the Lady Dogs. But that start and record was a bit of fool’s gold, and that was exposed in a decisive loss at Xavier on Sunday.

Georgia’s schedule this year has been uncharacteristically soft. Just a year ago, the Lady Dogs beat Stanford and Rutgers in the first few games of the season. This year, for the first time I can recall, the Lady Dogs have yet to face a ranked team. That fact will change, of course, as SEC play begins and the Lady Dogs take a midseason trip to Oklahoma. En route to that 13-0 start, the Lady Dogs struggled with several good-but-not-great teams like Temple, USC, Georgia Tech, and FSU. Those are teams that will likely be bubble teams at the end of the regular season, and it’s been all Georgia can do to get past them.

While no one was glad to see the first loss of the season come, it has also been clear for some time that this team wasn’t playing Top 10 ball. One can hope that the loss jolts a bit of urgency into the team on the eve of SEC play. It’s likely though that the problems are more fundamental. To sum up, the team has looked slow, soft, and shallow. They got a single point off the bench against Xavier, and the starters weren’t able to do nearly enough. While the radio team wrote it off as "one of those days," offensive production has been a problem for the team all season. Tasha Humphrey will usually – though not always – score in the high teens or 20s. Ashley Houts usually manages double-figures also. After that, consistency is out the window.

Coach Landers is disappointed with the lack of fight against a physical opponent. "What does a competitor do when someone comes out and punches? They punch back," he said. "We didn’t punch back. We didn’t compete. It’s surprising. It most certainly is. It’s sickening, is what it is, it’s sickening."

Both the depth issues and lack of offense are puzzling given that two very talented scorers are on the bench. Christy Marshall lit up the SEC as a freshman last year but has really struggled this season. A concussion back in December hasn’t helped her progress. Brittany Carter was one of the top prospects in the nation and drew comparisons to Deanna Nolan, but for whatever reason she hasn’t seen much playing time. The only newcomer to see significant time has been Angela Puleo who earned a starting job as a freshman. But Puleo seems to start out of necessity; players like her are usually sharpshooters who make an impact for a few minutes off the bench. They’re not everyday starting 2-guards.

It might look silly to seem down on a 13-1 team, but there are some big questions facing this team as they start SEC play with Ole Miss this Thursday. Coach Landers seems concerned too with ominous statements about bench production and toughness.

The Atlanta Sports Council has brokered a nationally-televised game between Clemson and Alabama to be played at the Georgia Dome on August 30 at 8 p.m., according to the AJC.

The game invites two regional powers and recruiting rivals into the backyard of Georgia and Georgia Tech. Naturally Clemson and Alabama coaches are giddy over a beachhead into the talent-rich state of Georgia.

Coaches from both schools see the exposure generated from the game as beneficial to recruiting,

"I thought it was a win-win for both schools," said Clemson coach Tommy Bowden. "Once the TV platform, the exposure and the opponent were explained, it was a no-brainer."

Saban said, "I’ve always been an advocate of us playing in a game that can get us national recognition."

The Sports Council probably did try to talk to Georgia and/or Georgia Tech first, but there’s no advantage to either school in moving a home game to the Georgia Dome. I’m sure Stokan and the Sports Council are proud of themselves for arranging what amounts to a preseason bowl game for the city of Atlanta, but allow me to say what Mark Richt won’t: suck it, Gary. Thanks for nothing.

Three schools were moved ahead of Georgia by the pollsters in the final BCS standings. Two have played their bowl game. Both have lost in upsets. Just sayin’.

Hey, but at least they won their conferences…

Orangebloods.com, the Texas Rivals site, is reporting that the Longhorns will add current Auburn defensive coordinator and former Bulldog player Will Muschamp to Mack Brown’s staff. Three years ago Texas raided Auburn’s defensive coordinator, and Gene Chizik produced a national title defense for them in 2005.

If the move pans out, it will add to an offseason of churn on the Auburn staff. Tommy Tuberville has already replaced offensive coordinator Al Borges, but he wasn’t planning on shaking up his aggressive defense. Muschamp had been mentioned in connection with the Arkansas, Southern Miss, and Georgia Tech head coaching vacancies, but a lateral move as defensive coordinator wasn’t expected.

Muschamp had said just a week ago that, “I have a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old and a wife that likes living in certain places. Quality of life is very important.” You can’t really compare Austin and Auburn in that respect. As someone with head coaching aspirations, perhaps Muschamp sees Texas as a better stepping stone on a career path that has to settle down soon. Even with his young family, the Texas position would be his fourth job since the 2004 season.

From Petrino to Chizik to Borges to Muschamp, Tuberville has made some pretty good hires along the way, and his decision to demote Hugh Nall in favor of Borges in 2004 has been credited with saving Tuberville’s job. Muschamp’s replacement should be no less interesting of a decision.

I’m sure Georgia did learn a lot from their 2006 Sugar Bowl loss to West Virginia, but even before last night’s Fiesta Bowl I thought it was a mistake to put West Virginia in the “little guy” class with Boise and Hawaii. West Virginia has been a quality nationally-competitive program for three seasons now, and they’ve sustained a reasonably high level of play over that time (with the occasional slip of course). While I’m glad Georgia approached this year’s Sugar Bowl the way they did, I’m still confident that the team which sleepwalked into the 2006 Sugar would have won pretty easily on Tuesday night.

It’s not news that most Division 1 schools provide special admissions criteria for student-athletes. Even academic strongholds admit student-athletes with academic credentials far below typical incoming freshmen at those schools. This reality is one of the things we live with for the sake of interesting and profitable intercollegiate sports, and we make it easier to stomach by rationalizing that schools are providing educational opportunities for those who would otherwise have none.

The NCAA sets the bare minimum guidelines to prevent the admission of student-athletes from becoming a complete farce, and it’s up to the schools to apply their own admissions standards above and beyond those minimums. Many do, some don’t. The University of Georgia, for example, generally grants admission to any prospective student-athlete meeting minimum NCAA standards. In Georgia’s case, a faculty oversight committee is an additional quality control on character and honor code issues.

Tension between athletic and academic interests over admissions standards is also not a new development. Georgia decided to deny admission to Jamar Chaney not because of more strict academic standards but because of honor code concerns. Even that decision drew criticism from a small handful of fans who claimed that any standards other than the NCAA minimums placed the University at a competitive disadvantage in recruiting student-athletes.

Steve Spurrier made headlines earlier this year when he clashed with University of South Carolina officials over the school’s rejection of two incoming recruits who met NCAA requirements. Spurrier went so far as to threaten "to go somewhere else" if the policy wasn’t addressed. South Carolina eventually agreed to amend their policy and, more importantly, provide feedback much earlier in the process so that the football program could devote its resources to prospects who weren’t admissions risks.

The latest development in the blurring of the lines between athletics and admissions comes from Florida International. Coach Mario Cristobal’s contract includes language that places authority for the admission of student-athletes solely with the athletic director.

University shall admit to FIU all student-athletes meeting the NCAA Academic Eligibility requirement … provided the student-athlete has been cleared through the NCAA clearing house and been approved by the Athletic Director.

Taking Spurrier’s threat to leave one step further, FIU would be in breach of contract if they failed to admit a student-athlete who met NCAA minimums and who had been approved by the AD.

Don’t mess with punters from Laurens County.

Last week we noticed how the local cable company in Hawaii was going all-out to provide HD service to customers in time for the Sugar Bowl. The saga continues…

Unfortunately for the cable company and especially for subscribers, cable service went out for 170,000 customers statewide during the second quarter.  Service was restored almost immediately for most, but several thousand households waited up to an hour into halftime for the problem to be fixed.

Cable operators are blaming vandals looking for valuable copper wiring.  We suspect a merciful Hawaii fan who had seen enough.

If it’s not Zook’s recruits, it’s his own top 1% of the top 1%: 

Well, for those guys who just put in their time and didn’t make any real contributions, it’s time for you to go. It won’t be hard to say goodbye to some of those guys who just went through the motions. Now for those kids who actually bought into the program, and who made some sacrifices and contributions — you know, like Bubba Caldwell….he’s a graduate of UF and had a great career — you’ll really miss those guys. But just because you’re a senior doesn’t mean you have any value.

We kind of felt like we had some answers early on and it took us awhile to figure out that we don’t,” he said. “Some young guys that we were counting on to play were not living up to the standards that we expect and I’m hoping that changes.

“Coach Carr made the comment after the game,” Meyer said, “that ‘One day you’re going to retire and your players are going to play as hard for you as they did for me today.’ ”  After such inspiring words from Meyer about his own troops, who could doubt Carr’s prediction?

Hawaii offensive line coach Dennis McKnight:

We didn’t block them. We didn’t execute. They’re no faster than guys we’ve played. Everybody has speed. We just didn’t do our job. We didn’t protect early. We didn’t play good at all on the offensive line. It’s that simple. We’re not trying to sugar coat it.

The standout quarterback who showed plenty of guts in the face of that pressure disagreed:

It was the hardest, fastest team I’ve ever seen.

Dennis Roland, Sr., father of former Bulldog offensive lineman Dennis Roland, passed away yesterday after a fight with cancer. Roland had coached at two schools in Gwinnett County, most recently Central Gwinnett, and had an impact on the communities in which he worked and lived.

It wasn’t a great night for the conventional wisdom. I’d like to claim that I saw all of this coming, but of course I can’t and won’t. I probably thought most of these points myself. Instead, here is a healthy dose of hindsight as we look at some of the widely-accepted pregame analysis leading up to the Sugar Bowl.

Quick passes from the run-and-shoot offense neutralize pressure.

When Colt Brennan spoke with Tim Tebow about the Georgia defense, hopefully Tebow was able to offer his unique perspective on taking a sack from the Bulldogs. Brennan’s quick instincts and strong arm might have saved him from eating through a straw for a few months. Georgia’s pressure on Brennan was relentless, and their eight sacks only begin to tell the story of the harassment. The pressure also affected Brennan’s famed accuracy, and Georgia’s defensive backs made Brennan pay for forced passes. "We wanted to make Colt throw it faster than he wanted to," explained Mark Richt after the game, and the Bulldog defense executed that plan to perfection.

Georgia will run, run, run and control the time of possession to keep Brennan off the field.

Can you believe that Hawaii won the meaningless time of possession battle? Georgia’s running game was adequate but nowhere near spectacular. Knowshon Moreno and Thomas Brown didn’t run roughshod through the defense, and the Dawgs were generally ineffective at salting the game away on the ground in the final quarter. Moreno and Brown were able to find some early holes, and Moreno added two early touchdowns.

In a game in which the Georgia running game was expected to be showcased, the Bulldogs were held below their season average with 169 total rushing yards. Thomas Brown’s game-high 71 yards on 19 carries led the way, and an injured Knowshon Moreno didn’t break ten carries (though he sure made his few carries count). After some long gains in Georgia’s final few games of the regular season, the Bulldogs had no carries for over 20 yards in the Sugar Bowl.

You just have to accept that Brennan will get his.

Many people, myself included, had already penciled in 3-400 yards passing and around 28 points for the potent Hawaii offense. The big question would be Georgia’s ability to clamp down in the red zone and keep Brennan from turning his prodigious yardage into enough points to win.

We badly underestimated the Georgia defense. Brennan had just 169 yards passing. His replacement Tyler Graunke did most of the damage with 142 yards and one touchdown through the air in just one quarter.

Georgia, snubbed by the BCS, would lack motivation.

This one had been shot out of the water several weeks ago, but some still focused on the buildup to the game and its importance to Hawaii. You couldn’t be certain until the game started, but both the Georgia crowd and team were ready from the opening kickoff. Any disappointment about the national title game was taken out on the opponent.

To be fair, not all of the analysis missed the mark. One point in particular nailed it.

Limiting Hawaii’s yardage after catch is critical to controlling their offense.

This key to the game was dead-on. Georgia did a masterful job at preventing Hawaii’s short passes from turning into big plays. FOX’s stat tracker showed only one broken tackle for most of the night. When Georgia was able to get the Warriors into long-yardage situations on second and third down (which was often), Hawaii found it very difficult to get the large gains they needed to move the chains. This stat, combined with Georgia’s effective pressure, probably was the story of the game.

Boise State indeed.  Instead of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl analogue that FOX and others seemed to want so desperately, Hawaii took us back to Boise State’s 2005 trip to Athens – a game in which Jared Zabransky was reduced to a thumb-sucking mass of jelly by halftime.  This time, the victim was Hawaii’s Colt Brennan; he was pounded into ineffectiveness and left the game around the beginning of the fourth quarter.  Instead of a display of offense for the ages, Hawaii and Brennan gave us a different sort of record-setting performance:  a BCS-record six turnovers and a 41-10 Georgia win.

The totality of the win was obvious by the end of the third quarter as Thom Brennaman and Charles Davies made fools of themselves excusing Hawaii’s play and criticizing Mark Richt for trying to score against a team known for prodigious comebacks en route to their 12-0 regular season.  That just skims the surface of a disappointing broadcast, but we’ll leave that to others for now.  I would though like to thank FOX for introducing the post-kickoff commercial to the college game.  That element of pro coverage was sorely missing on the other networks.

Looking back, the game set up like a typical 3-14 first round NCAA Tournament game.  If the underdog gets a few breaks early and hung around, maybe the favorite tightens up a bit and you get the upset.  Georgia took control of the game from the opening drive, and there would be no comeback or tense finish.  As Musberger cooed about a Rose Bowl “as it was meant to be”, the nation got treated to its third BCS mismatch of the day – yes, including Missouri who, when it comes to the subject of proving who belonged, showed infinitely more than Georgia’s opponent.

I’m proud of Georgia, the coaches, and the seniors for drawing on the lessons of 2005 and ensuring that West Virginia’s Sugar Bowl win was the exception and not the rule.  Great job guys, and hopefully the lopsided win is the springboard to leaving no doubt in 2008.