Media Days got it going last week, and tonight’s Greater Atlanta Bulldog Club meeting is the unofficial start to the season for most of us. We’re less than five weeks to kickoff, practice starts next week, and it’s time to start talking about this season in detail. We’ll start with a reminder of the important dates over the next month:
Greater Atlanta Bulldog Club: July 28 Road Tour in Columbus: July 29 Road Tour in Chattanooga: July 31 Practice begins: August 4 Two-a-days: August 9-15 Tickets mailed: First week in August Picture Day: August 16 (3-5 p.m., Sanford Stadium) First college game: August 28 (Thurs.) Georgia Season Opener: August 30 (12:30 p.m.)
Note: if you’re getting a refund on tickets, they’ll be mailed by July 31. We got ours over the weekend.
You’d have thought that the first two days with the high profiles of Richt, Meyer, Saban, Miles, Tuberville, Fulmer, and their players would have stolen the show at SEC Media Days. But nope – the SEC saved its best for last.
New Columbus beat writer David Hale is off to a strong start following in the footsteps of David Ching with this legendary account of Kentucky’s Dickie Lyons Jr. time in front of the microphone. If I were Matthew Stafford, I’d somehow sneak up behind Lyons before this year’s game in Lexington.
Also today Anthony Dasher reports over on UGASports.com that Bobby Petrino got more than slightly bent out of shape over a rapid-fire stream of Atlanta Falcons questions. Can’t wait to read more about that.
Again, only in the SEC, where Phil Fulmer now says, “oh, you mean that subpoena.”
Georgia had five players on the media’s all-conference teams: Knowshon Moreno and Dannell Ellerbe (first team), and Mohamed Massaquoi, Matthew Stafford, and Asher Allen (second team). Geno Atkins, a second-team selection by the coaches, did not make the media’s list. It’s a little odd that the media announced their All-SEC defenses according to a 3-4 format when the 4-3 is the prevalent alignment in the conference.
LSU had the most All-SEC selections by the coaches, but Auburn led the way among the media with nine players. LSU had eight, and Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina each had five players selected. All five of Florida’s selections were first-teamers.
There were no unanimous first-team selections, though Percy Harvin came close with 68 out of 70 votes. This guy will surely be calling for an investigation after his bold prediction earlier in the week:
What’s the biggest certainty at SEC Media Days? That Tebow will be a unanimous first-team pick at quarterback this week at SEC Media Days….The names of the voters aren’t released, but they do have to put their name on the ballots they submit. No one would risk the embarrassment of being ratted out as the person who omitted Tebow.
Georgia might be at the top of several preseason national polls, but the SEC media says that the Bulldogs aren’t even the best team in their own conference.
Florida was the media’s pick for SEC champion, getting 36 of 70 votes. Georgia was the projected SEC champion on only 18 ballots. Florida’s advantage was even greater when it came to picking the SEC East champion: 45 ballots picked Florida while 23 named Georgia. Tennessee was a distant third with two votes.
Auburn was the overwhelming favorite to win the SEC West with 48 votes.
As Marc Weiszer notes though, Georgia fans might not mind so much that the media have anointed the Gators.
The SEC preseason poll hasn’t usually been a good barometer. Until LSU won last year, the media swung and missed in the previous 11 years on their pick. Only three times in the past 16 years has the favorite won the SEC title.
What I want to know is who the one media member was who picked Ole Miss to win the SEC. Whether that’s an honest mistake or a cute Spurrier-voting-for-Duke gag, some public ridicule is in order.
Tennessee head football coach Phillip Fulmer was served with a subpoena Thursday during SEC Media Days to appear for a deposition on improper recruiting by the University of Alabama.
Anyone else scheduled to speak at SEC Media Days this week can go ahead and book another round of golf…this one story should just about take care of the Alabama and Tennessee media.
Mettenberger’s status as a favorite was short-lived, however, as his similarly Georgia-bound roommate Aaron Murray scored a huge upset in the first round, knocking off his confident confidante 27-24. It was the start of just another winning effort for Murray, who took eventually took home the NCAA 09 title with three more victories, just four days after leading his Tampa Plant team to victory in the NIKE 7ON championship in Portland, Oregon.
Best part: Murray, playing with the Georgia team, beat Richard Brehaut’s Florida squad in the championship round.
With only three members on the 2007 postseason All-SEC teams, Georgia might have been one of the most anonymous teams in recent memory to finish the season ranked #2 in the nation.
The 2008 preseason All-SEC teams have been announced. Georgia might start the season ranked #1 in the nation by many polls, but according to the SEC coaches the Bulldogs are just third-best in the SEC when it comes to All-SEC selections. Nine Bulldogs received some mention, trailing defending champion LSU’s 14 and Florida’s 10. Here are Georgia’s selections:
First Team
So. RB Knowshon Moreno
Sr. LB Dannell Ellerbe
Second Team
Sr. WR Mohamed Massaquoi
Jr. QB Matthew Stafford
Jr. DT Geno Atkins
Jr. CB Asher Allen
Third Team
Sr. DT Jeff Owens
So. LB Rennie Curran
Sr. P Brian Mimbs
It’s interesting that not even Trinton Sturdivant made the list from Georgia’s accomplished 2007 offensive line. Only three of the selections were from the offense, so are the coaches hinting that Georgia’s strength is once again on the defense?
Last season no Georgia player named to the preseason team made it onto the postseason team. I doubt that scenario will play out again this year. Brandon Coutu and Brandon Miller were Georgia’s only 2007 preseason All-SEC picks, and Georgia was the only SEC team without a preseason first team member last year. The season turned out pretty well regardless.
No offense to the many Bulldogs who will be so honored over the next few weeks, but are there many more meaningless things than the preseason award watch lists? They’re basically an acknowledgment that a player is an upperclassman with a pulse.
Urban Meyer’s “syrupy” book, Urban’s Way, will be out in early September. Gene Frenette has a few words on it in today’s Florida Times-Union where he alternates between descriptions like “interesting” and “compelling” and saying the book “reads more like a recruiting pitch.” News about the movie rights can’t be too far away.
According to an excerpt from the book, Georgia fans should know that Urban Meyer will forever remember a certain incident. Urban Meyer is not amused.
That wasn’t right. It was a bad deal. And it will forever be in the mind of Urban Meyer and in the mind of our football team. … So we’ll handle it. And it’s going to be a big deal.
Got it? Urban Meyer says what was a bad deal is a big deal to Urban Meyer and Urban Meyer’s team. It’s not quite what Urban Meyer told Terence Moore though.
On a completely unrelated note, Frenette has some encouraging words for the Georgia fullback position.
Georgia fans who are worried because starting fullback Brannan Southerland might not return from a foot operation until the Sept. 27 game against Alabama would breathe easier if they watched film on backup Shaun Chapas, a Bolles School graduate. Chapas might not be the blocking machine that Southerland is, but he’s more versatile. Chapas’ value will become evident as he gets more plays.
Versatility is fine, but a “blocking machine” is more of what’s required from that position in Richt’s offense. Southerland has shown plenty of versatility himself in the passing game, and there is no Bulldog with a better nose for the end zone.
Earlier
this week Doug pointed to this
handy quiz where you could find out if you were "that guy". Other
than letting the occasional "my bad" slip, I think I came out of
the quiz OK. Since Doug also brings us the
Friday Random Ten+5, we’ll steal borrow heavily from his
format to present 5 ways to tell if you’re "that Georgia fan".
Yes, we’re only six weeks from kickoff, and pretty soon we’ll be face-to-face
with…that fan. At one point or another, this has probably been most of us.
You wear red pants.
Admit it: you don’t wear the red pants hoping that you go unnoticed. They look
pretty damn sharp, and you’ve embraced your inner attention-whore. The red pants
are widespread enough now that the pants by themselves aren’t enough to make
someone "that fan". Not everyone rocking the red pants is a tool,
but tell me you’re surprised by what this guy is wearing:
Red pants – check. Black polo – check. White hat (possibly mesh, possible
reading "Herschel for Heisman") – double check.
You start the "drunk obnoxious Georgia fan" cheer.
Calling the Dawgs is as much a part of the pregame ritual as being, well, drunk
and obnoxious. Put them together and you should have the perfect cheer, right?
But the novelty tends to wear off when it’s 11:30 a.m. and it’s already the
29th time this morning you’ve heard some lush with no rhythm take three or four
minutes to slur, "Whut’s that comin’ down thuuuu track?" Bonus points
if your version includes "all dressed up in red and black."
You’re the tailgate emcee.
We all have our game day playlists. Division of labor at a tailgate is a good
thing – you need someone who knows how to work the grill, someone who could
zero in on a satellite signal from the deck of an Alaskan crab boat, and good
tunes help too. Your friends might love your clever mix of David Allan Coe and
acceptably mainstream hip-hop played at 130 decibels, but the guys three cars
down who are just trying to watch Gameday wish you’d catch bird hepatitis.
You get involved in sit down / stand up arguments.
I’d like to think we live in a world where standing and sitting at a ballgame
is less
scripted and regulated than a Catholic Mass. By God, if I want to jump up
when Rennie Curran adjusts someone’s spine or if I want to kneel in fervent
prayer on 4th-and-1, I will. But there is a give and take here. The only thing
worse than the "down in front" nazi is the guy who stands on principle
knowing there’s an elderly fan or kid behind them who can’t see.
You provide play-by-play and color commentary to everyone
sitting around you.
We all talk about what’s going on, but I can see that the last play was a Southerland
run that gained 4 yards. Why, yes, the defense is in man coverage.
If you could only run down to the sideline and get some info on that injury,
I could turn my radio off. Bonus points if you a) ever put on the Munson voice
or b) launch a rant on the wrong player or coach. (Um, dude, Chandler was on
the sideline for that whole series.)
Have a great weekend! Only six of them left until we have better things to
do.
The release of NCAA 2009 has lots of people excited, and it’s no surprise that the guys around whom the game is built are among those lining up to buy the game. When you think about it for a second, it’s at once flattering and bizarre that your identity could be boiled down to a few numerical ratings and controlled by thousands of couch potatoes across the nation.
Marc Weiszer talked to some of the Georgia players about the game and Georgia’s #1 ranking in the game. Coach Garner says thank-you-very-much for the recruiting edge of being the #1-ranked team and notes, “Anything like that with today’s kids, they’re all about electronics and the games.” It can’t hurt that every prep tailback can choose to be #24 in a black jersey for the nation’s #1 team.
I love reading the comments from the players when they see how they translate to bits and bytes. You’ll have freshmen and reserves tweak their ratings to make sure they’re in the starting lineup. It’s a very serious and hilarious business. There’s always bound to be this poor guy:
Linebacker Rennie Curran isn’t thrilled about one aspect of the game. He says they left out No. 35, which just happens to be his number.
“I think they messed up with my number,” Curran said.
Ellerbe knows the feeling.
“I got shafted last year,” he said. “They gave me Akeem Hebron’s number.”
I feel Dannell Ellerbe’s pain about needing a new system. “I’m probably going to go buy the Playstation 3 just so I can play the game on Playstation 3,” he said. The game isn’t available for my ancient X-Box, so I’m going to have to upgrade the hardware myself.
The Post does well to point out the biggest unintended consequence of ACC expansion – the rise of the Big East. Faced with losing Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College, even the Big East commissioner saw bad times ahead for that conference. But the result has been the rise of football programs like West Virginia and Rutgers. While Virginia Tech and Boston College have done relatively well in the ACC, their arrival hasn’t done much to boost the overall quality of the conference.
And in one of the most critical and unforeseen byproducts of the realignment, the rival Big East Conference — forced to expand in response to the flight of three of its schools to the ACC — has strengthened its standing as a big-time football conference and fortified the depth of its basketball programs to an extent the ACC has yet to realize.
The Post mentions the turnover among ACC football coaches as a factor that has held back progress on the gridiron. Some feel a similar upgrade in coaching talent is necessary to restore ACC basketball.
It is important to note though that while the ACC might be struggling in its competitiveness they are still, for now, bringing in the cash. The conference “has signed a seven-year, $258 million contract with ABC and ESPN — which nearly doubled the annual income of its previous TV deal.” From 2001-2002 to 2006-2007, the average revenue paid out annually per program has increased by over $2 million. There’s even a glass-half-empty reaction to that news. Outgoing UNC chancellor James Moeser said, “(The financial impact of expansion) has been positive, but not overwhelmingly.”
For a team counting on defensive improvement, particularly in the secondary, to carry them back to the top, this isn’t good news.
University of Florida rising junior safety Dorian Munroe has suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament that will require surgery. The injury to his right knee will force him to miss the 2008 season.
Meanwhile, fellow defensive back and rising redshirt senior John Curtis also suffered a season-ending ACL injury to his left knee. Curtis will miss at least the 2008 season. This is the third tear in Curtis’ left knee and he has had two prior surgeries on the same knee.
Munroe was projected to start. It’s likely that a true freshman will take his place.
Football dates to remember
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