What to make of the 2008 football season continues to be a hot topic, and the Senator has a good roundup of much of the thinking out there. The Senator isn’t alone when he admits that he “(finds himself) in an awkward middle ground right now.” There was a lot of good that happened (when was the last time we won three straight over Auburn?), but when viewed through the lens of preseason expectations we can’t help but talk about degrees of disappointment.

The Senator’s subsequent post about the basketball program and the “mirage” of the SEC Tournament win actually has a lot to do with the football discussion.

9-3 muddies the waters when we talk about the football program just as the SEC Tournament title clouded the basketball discussion. Neither are anything we’d give back, and we can’t pretend (or would want to pretend) that they don’t exist. Fans love to live in the world of black-and-white, and these realities make big inconvenient globs of gray.

It’s more dramatic in the basketball case, but I can’t help thinking how differently we’d be looking at this football team but for three – just three – plays against South Carolina, Kentucky, and Auburn. Nobody is pretending that all is well with the football program, but the fact that we pulled out those three games and finished with 9 (and possibly 10) wins does make it possible to convince ourselves that what we need are tweaks and not massive changes. That, I believe, is the source of the “awkward middle ground” the Senator is talking about. The uncomfortably close distance between 9 or 10 wins and a New Year’s Day bowl and a 6-6 disaster isn’t fun to think about.

The seasons of Auburn and Tennessee are worth considering. We’d rather be 9-3 than 5-7, and if the occasional 3 or 4 loss season is as bad as it gets under Richt, I’ll take it. If we’re able to honestly assess and tweak the program within that framework, then fine. But the record can’t be a distraction. It’s great that we’re 9-3 (with a chance for 10), but the record can’t become a blind spot that keeps us from the moment of clarity that can come from a real disaster of a season.

The men return from exams to host Wofford on Saturday afternoon at 2:00, and they’ll follow it up with a game on the 22nd against Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The schedule’s fairly light until Missouri comes to town after the New Year, and while we can’t take anything for granted with this team, one would hope they can finish 2008 with a 10-3 record before things really heat up in January.

The women also return to action after a pair of ugly losses to Georgia Tech and Rutgers. They’ll head to UAB on Saturday for a 7:00 game in Birmingham. The UAB game will be a homecoming for Alabama natives Jasmine Lee and Meredith Mitchell. The Lady Dogs will then host Clemson on Monday night at the Gwinnett Arena. Georgia is a host school for the NCAA Tournament this spring, and they have to play at least one game on the Gwinnett court in order to host games there.

On a semi-related note, this is a really good weekend for college hoops. There are no fewer than five big national games between ranked teams. This is one of the tradeoffs we talk about when the topic of playoffs comes up. College basketball’s emphasis on the postseason means that most casual fans can safely ignore a weekend of good hoops like this one, but it also means that we get more interesting regular season matchups more often since a loss won’t sink the season. Rather than an early season process of elimination, these big December nonconference games serve as measuring sticks for teams tuning themselves up for the more meaningful conference schedules.

The 1-AA (FCS, whatever) 16-team playoffs wrap up this weekend in Chattanooga when #4 Montana meets #7 Richmond in the championship game. Of course both had to knock off higher seeds in order to get to the title game, and that includes Richmond’s upset of three-time defending champion Appalachian State.

If the #4 and #7 teams met at the end of a BCS playoff, we’d have Alabama playing Texas Tech. That’s not bad, actually, and it was a realistic possibility just a few weeks ago.

‘Tis the season for college students to finish exams and wait for the fall semester report cards. Of course it helps if you actually put in the effort and go to class.

South Carolina junior safety Emanuel Cook pulled a Byron Hanspard and did not pass the six hours that are required by the NCAA for bowl game participation. Cook, a second-team All-SEC performer and South Carolina’s leading tackler, will declare for the NFL draft.

Steve Spurrier wasn’t pleased.

“It is disappointing he did not think of his teammates or his university,” said Spurrier.
“It is not hard to pass six hours. He didn’t put much effort in, it appears. That is why he is not playing. It appears right now he has played his last game.”

Spurrier’s choice of words announcing Cook’s ineligibility hardly sounded final though. “It appears Emanuel Cook didn’t make it,” said Spurrier. “Right now, he will not play in the game.” Spurrier hasn’t been shy about going to bat over academics before, so are there appeals in the works?

Was Auburn’s hire of Gene Chizik racially motivated? Charles Barkley seems to think so. If race played into the decision, then shame on Auburn. I tend to agree that the whole coaching search reeks more of inept cluelessness than it does overt bigotry. Auburn did at least interview two black candidates – how many other schools with openings this offseason can say the same?

Not to get too far into Limbaugh/McNabb territory here, but when exactly did Turner Gill become the fusion of Knute Rockne, Eddie Robinson, and Bill Belichick? Chizik seems to have been a poor hire, but – other than the buzz from hiring a black coach – would Gill have really been the best choice for the job? Better? Probably. But the best Auburn could do? Put another way, Brady Hoke, a MAC coaching peer who led Ball State to a 12-0 regular season and was upset by Gill’s Buffalo team in the MAC championship game, parlayed his accomplishment into a job at San Diego State.

Gill has done very well to turn Buffalo from one of D-1’s worst programs into a winner, but does that make someone as much of a no-brainer to head one of the bigger SEC programs as it’s made out to be? Really, it comes down to this: Alabama aimed for Nick Saban. Auburn was deciding between the likes of Gene Chizik and Turner Gill. Either way, they’d fall short of the mark set by their rival.

Gill, for his part, has now said "no, thanks" to Iowa State and other potential offers for the time being. He has signed an extension and will remain at Buffalo for at least another season. Don’t weep for Turner Gill. The net result of this firestorm has been to elevate his name recognition far beyond that of coaches at comparable programs, and the Buffalo program is now on the map. If he follows up this year with another strong season at Buffalo, he’ll be buried in offers. I expect we’ll see Buffalo on a few of those midweek ESPN games next season, and I’ll be among those watching.

John Frierson of the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that the Tennessee-Chattanooga head coaching search is down to three candidates, and Georgia running backs coach Tony Ball is not one of them. Frierson notes that athletic director Rick Hart met with Ball last week to discuss the position.

Though Ball is a UTC alum, you can’t fault him for balking at a head coaching position at a school where support for the football program is very shaky.

Interesting tangent – one of the finalists for the UTC job is Hugh Freeze. If you read the book The Blind Side, you might recall that Freeze was Michael Oher’s high school coach in Memphis and followed Oher down to Oxford where he ultimately became recruiting coordinator. He’s been the head coach at NAIA Lambuth University for less than a year after he was released by new Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt.

Remember former offensive line coach Doug Marrone? It was considered something of a coup when Georgia lured Marrone away from Georgia Tech for the 2000 season. Pat Watson, Georgia’s offensive line coach in 1999, died during the season of a heart attack, and Marrone was something of a Watson protégé when both worked at Georgia Tech.

Marrone spent only one season in Athens and headed for Tennessee after Jim Donnan was fired following the 2000 season. Marrone also lasted just one year in Knoxville and has been an NFL assistant since. Most recently he was the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints.

Marrone is expected to be announced as the new Syracuse coach on Friday. He was a three-year letterman for the Orange during the 1980s and returned later to earn his degree after a brief stint in the NFL. Syracuse people are hoping that one of their own will have the passion and energy it’s going to take to turn around one of college football’s fallen powers.

It’s always interesting to see who does and doesn’t get a Heisman vote. I caught this Heisman roundtable with three voters over at HP (good stuff…give it a read). Remember Jenni Carlson?

Tim Tebow is an outstanding football player. He may or may not win his second Heisman this weekend. He may or may not win a national title in a month.

But this “greatest amateur player in a team sport” nonsense needs to be nipped in the bud. It’s indefensible, and it’s the same kind of in-the-now garbage that we’d expect from a throwaway ESPN segment. Worse, it forces us to take a critical look at one of the best players in the game right now when we should be congratulating him on another stellar season.

Even as a Georgia fan I wouldn’t go so far as to call Herschel Walker the “greatest amateur player in a team sport”, but you might be able to make a better case. Walker’s teams, and make no mistake – they were Walker’s teams, didn’t lose a single conference game or home game in his three years. He didn’t need dramatics or something disturbingly now called “The Promise“. He just ran over people.

And as for this “will to win” stuff, it’s going to be hard to top carrying your team to a national title by going for over 100 yards with a separated shoulder.

Again the worst of this kind of talk is that it’s a distraction from a wonderful season for Tebow and his team. It says a lot that there’s even a case to be made on a topic like this. Is the GPOOE no longer enough? Matt Hayes thinks we’re looking at the GAPIATS-E. And the guy has a freaking Heisman vote.

For the second year in a row, the Georgia Bulldogs have the SEC’s Freshman of the Year as voted by the coaches. Wide receiver A.J. Green was voted the league’s top freshman just days after the AP gave the same honor to Alabama’s Julio Jones. Green’s 951 receiving yards leads the SEC this year, and he’d be the first freshman to lead the SEC in receiving since Auburn’s Ronney Daniels in 1999 (half of Daniels’ total had to come against Georgia). It’s fitting that Green and Jones split FOTY honors. Both had stellar seasons, and SEC fans should enjoy watching them over the next two seasons.

On some of the other awards…Tebow and Berry make sense. I also can’t argue with Brandon James though I’m sure Arenas got plenty of consideration. It was interesting that there were no unanimous selections this year. Did someone like Cody take votes away from Berry? I can’t imagine a better season by a defender than what Berry put up.

Any time I see Michael Oher’s name on one of these lists, I have to wonder how much The Blind Side had to do with it. By all accounts Oher’s an excellent lineman and has lived up to the hype, but was he really the best lineman in the conference? Or was he the safe choice because we have a book that says he’s supposed to be a can’t-miss? I don’t pretend to be able to tell the difference between Oher and other top linemen like Andre Smith (who won the award last year), and most honest fans can’t either. So while I’ll admit to being curious about that award, I really can’t disagree with the selection.

That’s not the case with another award. This isn’t the first time I’ve questioned the coaches’ on their COTY pick, and I’ve really got to take issue with Bobby Johnson getting anywhere near it this year. True, the return of Vanderbilt to bowl eligibility is big news. There’s also no question that Vandy is at a different level from the days not too far gone when they were winning two games a year. He’s a good coach over the long haul, but what was exceptional about this season? Johnson’s indecisiveness at the quarterback position proved problematic, and he saw his team all but collapse over the last half of the season as they were unable to beat vulnerable teams like Mississippi State, Duke, and Tennessee. Vandy’s bottom line improvement was one whole game from a 5-7 2007 season.

Saban was the obvious choice, but I’m glad to see that Houston Nutt received enough support to tie for COTY honors. Nutt took the Ole Miss Rebels from zero SEC wins a season ago to 8-4 overall, 5-3 in the SEC, and a New Year’s Day bowl.s

Sports Business Journal has the lowdown on this year’s crop of bowl gifts (h/t The Wiz). There’s good stuff to be had even at some of the minor bowls. That hasn’t always been the case. I remember talking with some players at the 2001 Music City Bowl who were green with envy after comparing notes with friends who were going to New Year’s Day bowls.

The NCAA limits bowl gifts to $500, and it looks as if Georgia players will be getting most of their swag in the form of a $400 Best Buy shopping spree. Their Citrus Capital One Bowl gift package will also include a commemorative watch and probably smaller items like t-shirts.

Florida Citrus Sports, who organizes the Champs Sports and Capital One bowls in Orlando, have pioneered the shopping spree program that lets the players choose their own gifts rather than accept the predetermined gifts. Players in the two Orlando bowls will be taken to a local Best Buy for a party and must spend their $400 allotment there. The BCS championship game will use a similar program where participants can select $300 of Sony merchandise from a showcase at the team hotel.

Interesting tidbit – the NCAA limits only provide for gifts for 125 people. "I don’t even need to know how many people will be coming through the doors," (promotions company rep Jon) Cooperstein said. "The NCAA allows each bowl to award up to $500 worth of gifts to 125 participants per school. Schools always bring more than that and pay for it on their dime. We’ll make up 500 folios and order forms for each school."

If the Dawgs run up another large tab this bowl season, you’ll probably find a nice chunk of it at a local Orlando Best Buy.

Georgia placed eight players on the AP All-SEC teams, but the Bulldogs only rated six spots on the coaches’ All-SEC teams.

Mohamed Massaquoi, Knowshon Moreno, and Rennie Curran were first team selections. A.J. Green, Matthew Stafford, and Brian Mimbs were second team picks. Massaquoi and Green flip-flopped from their spots on the AP teams while the coaches moved Curran up to first team. Clint Boling and Rashad Jones made the AP teams but were left off by the coaches. Knowshon Moreno was the only Bulldog named first team by both the AP and the coaches.

SEC individual awards and the All-Freshman team will be announced later in the week.

Georgia fans seem more or less resigned to Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford heading to the NFL after this season, but two of their high-profile peers might stick around for another season.

Heisman frontrunner Colt McCoy has come out and said that he’ll return for his senior season. As a senior he’ll try to lead Texas to a Big 12 and national title after coming up just short this year.

Last season’s Heisman winner Tim Tebow won’t decide until after the BCS championship game, but he said that, "if I had to say I was leaning any way, it would be to coming back." Of course he’ll stay – Georgia has everyone up to and including Rashad Jones exploring their draft potential, but Tebow hasn’t even filed the paperwork.

Would taking those two out of the draft make the leap more attractive to someone like Stafford? The looming rookie salary cap is assumed to be one of the bigger issues out there, but a weekend interview with NFL exec Rich McKay (sorry, no link) seemed to indicate that a cap wouldn’t be in place until 2011 at the earliest. That makes sense as the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement isn’t due to expire until 2011. McKay added that agents might be giving misleading and self-serving advice about the rookie cap with the intention of pushing more players into the draft sooner.

Welcome to the week that was in Georgia athletics where the number 42 served to tie together three very low points for three Bulldog teams.

42 points in football is usually enough to outscore anyone except Oklahoma, but we know how that turned out last weekend.

On the other hand 42 points in basketball often means a loss, and that was the case for the Lady Dogs on Friday at Georgia Tech. Not only did Tech beat Georgia by double-digits; they also took sardonic pleasure in making Georgia fans look up at the scoreboard and see “42” in the second losing effort to Tech within a week. “Just like football,” indeed.

Andy Landers might consider teams like LSU and Tennessee more worthy peers and rivals, but like it or not he’s got a very serious challenge in his own state. Georgia controls the series with Tech 28-3, but the series is an even 3-3 over the past six years, and Georgia has lost two out of the last three on Tech’s home floor. There was no question who the better team was on Friday night.

Even the men’s basketball team pitched in with their own 42-point nightmare on Saturday. The Dawgs trailed from the start and saw a somewhat close game deteriorate into a 34-point blowout loss at Illinois. The lowlight, pointed out in graphic detail by the Georgia Sports Blog, was a 22-0 Illinois run to close the game. Once Illinois started finding openings and hitting perimeter shots against Georgia’s 1-3-1 defense, the game was over. But the meltdown at the end was one of the things you might have expected from Felton’s first few teams where we patted everyone on the head for the effort and reassured ourselves that such defeats would be soon forgotten once 2003 was comfortably in the past. So much for that.

Maybe Georgia just needs to avoid teams from Illinois.

Alabama has done a lot of things well this year, and staying healthy is one of them. Chris Fowler reports…

Health is another reason the Tide are one step from the BCS title game. Unlike the Gators, who have endured a steady rash of injuries, Alabama has been astoundingly healthy.

The Tide have lost only a handful of starters to injury, and for a maximum of two games apiece. Check out the numbers Alabama SID Jeff Purinton provided me:

Total starts missed: 5
NG Terrence Cody: 2 (Tennessee and Arkansas State)
OG Marlon Davis: 1 (Western Kentucky)
OT Andre Smith: 1 (Tulane)
WR Mike McCoy: 1 (Kentucky)

Meanwhile, Georgia will go into the bowl practices with 4 healthy linebackers (Curran, Dent, Dowtin, Ellerbe – 5 if you count former walk-on Benjamin Boyd). Half of Georgia’s scholarship linebackers are unavailable due to injury.