How many times have you or one of your buddies wanted to be a fly on the wall during halftime of a big game? Did the coach peel the paint off the walls? What adjustments were made?

Loran Smith comes through with a pretty interesting recap of the Georgia locker room at halftime of the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Down 21-3 after the first half, I know I wasn’t alone in wondering what the Dawgs did during halftime to turn the game around. Some things that stood out:

• The reassuring calm of Richt. Others did the screaming, but Richt was the steady force this time. I know Richt has a reputation for being too calm or stoic, but this was a time when it was called for. The Dawgs didn’t need a kick in the pants as much as they needed a break. Richt was plenty animated in the second half – if you saw him upset during a fourth quarter pass interference call, you know what I’m talking about.
• Martinez asking for, and receiving, turnovers. He told his defense, "you must make turnovers," and they delivered four in the second half. I didn’t know it was something as simple as just asking for them.
• Bobo stressing the importance of getting a few first downs for momentum. "It is simple. Make first downs." That’s why I called Raley’s catch in the third quarter the most important play of the game. It was Georgia’s first first down since their opening drive, and it began to tip both field position and momentum in Georgia’s favor.
• The onside kick as a rallying point. Hope is a key for anyone trying to overcome an adverse position. The job of coming back from 18 down against the nation’s best defense had to seem pretty hopeless. Sensing that, Richt put the team’s hope in that onside kick. It was a great tactic – it gave the team a visible lift in the locker room, and if it were executed in the game it would mean that the Dawgs had already put points on the board with momentum on their side. Obviously it worked.

Good insights from Loran.

Entering conference play, a basketball team hopes to be hitting its stride. You’ve had two months in which to test tactics and rotations against competition of varying quality. You want to start well because a few early setbacks in conference play can make the rest of the season an uphill climb.

But the Lady Dogs aren’t hitting their stride yet as they enter SEC play tonight against Florida. For reasons explained nicely by Marc Weiszer in the ABH, Coach Landers cautions that it might be at least mid-January before the team really gets into their groove. Off-season surgeries disrupted preseason conditioning and development. Tasha Humphrey’s suspension required a Plan B approach to the first month of the season (which worked way beyond my expectations). When Humphrey returned in early December, you had a team that was marginally conditioned and playing with all pieces for the first time in nearly 14 months.

The SEC isn’t very forgiving, and Georgia will have to find its form quickly. There are some obvious areas where improvement will have to come.

1. Start stronger. Georgia raced out ahead of Rutgers and Stanford in key early games, but they’ve struggled for the first ten minutes of several games in December. That’s fine against Richmond, but it will kill you at Baton Rouge.
2. Production from the point. We’re not only talking about points, though Ashley Houts hasn’t played to her November form in several weeks, but the tandem of Houts and Hardrick must also do better jobs as creators for the other players. The assists-to-turnovers number has to go way up.
3. Where is Darrah? Megan Darrah is in a big slump, and the Lady Dogs can’t afford an outage from the wing. Christy Marshall is looking good but is still a freshman. Darrah can be a real difference-maker when she’s on.
4. Turn up the defense. Georgia is scoring fewer points in large part because they are creating fewer transition chances. We got spoiled with Sherill Baker’s steals. If they aren’t going to be as prolific in creating steals (and who can be?), they’ll have to compensate with better halfcourt defense.

On paper, the Lady Dogs have some great pieces. Angel Robinson is coming along nicely inside. Chambers is a sharpshooter from outside. Humphrey should be free to cause trouble from the inside on out. Role players like Darrah and Marshall bring a tremendous amount of skill, but they must be more consistent. And point guard play must improve a good deal – we’ve seen what Hardrick and Houts are capable of.

Last year’s Lady Dogs emerged from December with an identity forged from off-season attrition, and they were able to roll through the SEC losing only to Tennessee and LSU. Though they were few in number, they had reliable parts – you could count on Humphrey to be strong inside, Chambers to shoot it up from outside, and Baker and Kendrick to control the backcourt. This year’s squad has yet to solidify around such consistent roles, and it could be a dicey few weeks as they try to find that identity.

It already includes two powerhouse recruiters. FSU linebackers coach Kevin Steele will be the defensive coordinator. BamaOnline is also reporting that UCF’s Lance Thompson will join the staff.

Junior defensive back Paul Oliver announced on Wednesday that he will return for his senior season. This news might be the biggest shot in the arm for the Georgia program this offseason. Oliver finished his junior season in impressive fashion. He performed a shutdown job on Calvin Johnson to end the regular season and then led Georgia in tackles during the Chick-fil-A Bowl while also causing an interception that led to Georgia’s final score. His return instantly gives Georgia a legitimate all-American candidate at one cornerback spot next year.

It gets really good when you consider what Georgia will have to complement Oliver. Oliver, Bryan Evans, and Ramarcus Brown all have starting experience. Asher Allen played a ton this year, mostly in nickle situations. Prince Miller also saw a good bit of playing time as a true freshman. Don’t forget that Thomas Flowers returns next year from an injury. If that unit can remain healthy, it will be the deepest and most talented cornerback unit I’ve seen at Georgia.

I want to say a word about Bryan Evans. He was a redshirt freshman in 2006 and struggled at first as most freshmen cornerbacks do. Tennessee picked on him. He was making big mistakes as late as the Mississippi State game. But the progress he has made over the past two months has been second to no one on the team. Evans played the Chick-fil-A Bowl with confidence and purpose, delivering sure tackles and some big hits. It’s hard to say who will start opposite Oliver next year. Brown started much of 2006 before getting banged up. You can’t discount the supremely talented Allen. But right now my money is on Evans. You really can’t go wrong with any of those guys, and it’s a great situation for Georgia.

We haven’t even mentioned the safety position where Georgia has produced an all-American each of the past four seasons. Who’s next?

It looks as if pass defense will be solid next year, but even the best secondary can struggle if the quarterback has all day. With wholesale changes along the defensive line, finding guys who can pressure the passer will be Georgia’s biggest question and priority on defense heading into 2007.

You know, the one thing really missing from the Alabama coaching search story was unnecessary drama.

Thank goodness ESPN.com’s Pat Forde came through to fill this void. In a world of baseball steroid scandals and NBA brawls, Forde steps up as whistleblower on the lies, misinformation, and secrecy that surround football coaching moves, and Saban is the tipping point. That’s not all, though. It’s such an egregious fault that Saban, by association, taints the entire coaching profession.

So it’s time to rename the American Football Coaches Association the Liar’s Club. I understand that I’m tarring a lot of good men — and even a few honest ones — with a broad brush, but that’s Saban’s gift to his profession.

I’m not particularly impressed by Saban’s choices, but I’m also not going to take them as a personal affront. I’m also certainly no fawning admirer of Saban. If Forde is set off by a bit of hypocrisy and misinformation when it comes to a coaching search, then perhaps covering sports isn’t for him. Politics might be a more sanitary subject.

It’s amusing how quickly the big story became how Saban didn’t do things the "right way" throughout this process. He dared to contradict his earlier claim that he wouldn’t coach at Alabama. He didn’t appear in person to break the news to his staff or players. Forget about Saban the coach or the challenges facing him at Alabama – the narcissistic media had to make the story about themselves and how Saban wasn’t honest with them. You can just see the indignation dripping from Forde’s column. "He lied to us. US!!!" Even the Banner-Herald’s Andy Johnston gets into the act. As if every coaching search until now were conducted with forthrightness and transparency. These guys have been covering sports for years and still manage to write about this with the disillusionment of kids who just found out about Santa Claus.

Am I just numb to it? You’d think from this venom and hysteria that Saban had shot both Mike and Don Shula while looting the Dolphins’ locker room on his way out of town.

And as for those young innocents these coaches will be shaping? If Forde has lost faith in the once-hallowed profession of mercenary football coach, it’s a good thing he hasn’t turned his attention to the world of college recruiting and how 18-year-olds have come up with a unique interpretation of the word "commitment". He might never watch a game again.

It’s bad enough that the system is engineered more and more in their favor, but they could at least bother to field a competitive team when they do back into a BCS slot.

Notre Dame has now played in three BCS bowls. They are 0-3. In the 2001 Fiesta Bowl they lost 41-9 to Oregon State. In the 2006 Fiesta Bowl they lost 34-20 to Ohio State. In the 2007 Sugar Bowl they lost 41-14 to LSU. In three BCS bowls, Notre Dame has given up over 38 points per game and lost by an average margin of 24 points, never coming closer than 14. I doubt many nine-win teams from any BCS conference could do worse. That’s Pitt 2004 bad.

Of course it’s true that Notre Dame has always been matched against a higher-ranked opponent in their BCS games. Tough. If anything, these mismatches show just how undeserving they are of the automatic bids brought on by inflated rankings. Wisconsin in particular has to be pissed.

It’s official now. You can see the timeline of events here.

I find it hilarious that of all things he’s catching a lot of heat for “lying” and bailing on his Miami commitment for a higher-paying job. Isn’t this the world of sports we’re talking about?

What does it mean for Georgia? There are a few angles.

Recruiting
Saban will increase Alabama’s recruiting presence to some degree. They might or might not get the same caliber of classes they had at LSU, but that’s irrelevant right now. What I think it will mean is a bit more pressure on prospects from the state of Georgia either directly from Alabama or indirectly as Auburn and some others feel the trickle-down from recruiting success in Tuscaloosa.

UGA vs. Alabama
Bama makes a coaching change just in time for Georgia to visit Tuscaloosa. While it’s a bit much to expect Saban to turn things around in the first month of his first season, consecutive home games against Arkansas and Georgia will be his first tests, and of course he will be at his best for those games. 2008 could be even more interesting. If Saban has Bama rebuilt well enough to have the kind of second season that guys like Richt and Meyer had, the 2008 game in Athens with a junior Stafford leading Georgia could be a classic. There is some precedent in Saban’s past. His first year at LSU was decent enough with a trip to the Peach Bowl, but he won the SEC in his second season.

SEC Balance of Power
To be honest, I don’t think this hiring will cause tremendous shockwaves in the SEC. Bama has a ways to go to catch up with Auburn and LSU. Tuberville’s not exactly shaking; he’s 3-2 vs. Saban. Even if they do make up some ground, things won’t be much different than they were in the early 2000s – just swap Franchione for Les Miles. A lot of pressure will be on Arkansas to keep up – that Sept. 15, 2007 Alabama-Arkansas game will be a fight for territory in the SEC West.

There were a lot of big plays by both teams in Saturday’s Chick-fil-A Bowl. Georgia had them on offense, defense, and special teams in the second half. But the biggest play might have been a simple pass on a short drive that resulted in no points.

Entering the third quarter, Georgia hadn’t managed a first down and only two yards of offense since its first drive. They had no running game to speak of, and passes were either intercepted, dropped, or off the mark. Through turnovers and special teams Virginia Tech had scored three times with a short field. The second half didn’t start much better. A short kickoff return gave the ball to the Dawgs on their own 16 yard line. Two plays only moved the ball three yards. Georgia faced third-and-seven from their own 19, and they hadn’t converted a third down all evening.

Then Matthew Stafford hit Mario Raley for a 24-yard pass down the seam. The pass itself was impressive enough. Any flatter and it would have been tipped by a linebacker. Any more time in the air and a defensive back would have made a play on the ball. It was Stafford’s best-thrown ball to that point, and it would be the first in a series of beautiful second half passes. Then there was the catch. Raley was hit and dropped as soon as he caught the ball. This was the same Mario Raley who less than two months ago was knocked motionless and carted off the field at Kentucky after catching another pass across the middle of the field. To most watching it was just a nice completion, but those familiar with the shot Raley took in Lexington know how truly impressive it was that he made this play and hung on to the ball.

Raley’s reception didn’t result in a score; Georgia advanced the ball as far as midfield before they had to punt. But the effect of the play was to flip the field and force a Virginia Tech offense that had operated from midfield or better for much of the first half to start their first third quarter drive from their own 10. It started a series of events that changed the game. Georgia’s defense held. Virginia Tech had to punt from their own 18. Mikey Henderson returned the punt 20 yards. On the next play, Stafford hit Brannan Southerland down the middle for 26 yards, and Georgia soon started an incredible string of 28 consecutive points to beat their third consecutive ranked opponent.

We’ll all remember the onside kick or the many stellar defensive plays or the long pass to Milner, but it all started with a pass to a nearly-forgotten senior receiver who shook off one of the most devastating and scary moments a football player can experience to go back across the middle and come up big in his last game.

If you’ve got another underrated play that featured into the win, be sure to leave a comment.

As Alabama fans continue the Saban vigil, I have to wonder when he became the end-all of coaching candidates. Two SEC titles and share of a national title are impressive. On the other side of the ledger is a record of losing at least three games per season at LSU except in 2003. Fine coach, certainly, but I’m not sure if he’d even be the best coach in the state of Alabama. Maybe I’m just bracing for it, but you and I know that if Saban returns to the SEC he will immediately be fawned over on a scale that will make the Urban Meyer worship seem muted.

It’s easy to overanalyze bowls when so much of them come down to motivation and momentum. In the case of Virginia Tech and Georgia, both finished the regular season pretty well. Both are also looking to get some momentum into next season with their young quarterbacks. These are two teams used to being on top of their conferences and playing in January, so we’ll see which comes out more ready to play. Here’s what I’m looking at in all three phases of the game:

Offense:
Can Georgia hold its own against a good and opportunistic defense? Virginia Tech gives up the fewest yards per game in the nation, and it starts with a strong front line. Georgia’s offensive line comes and goes, and they’re dealing with another numbers crunch this week. They’ll need a very motivated performance from the offensive line in order to have any room in which to operate.

Can they avoid mistakes and turnovers? Georgia has been much better in their two recent wins when it comes to catching the ball and avoiding interceptions. Virginia Tech thrives on turnovers and momentum.

How will Bobo do with the spotlight on him? It’s a tough situation in which to make a debut as offensive coordinator, but Georgia fans will be scrutinizing the playcalling and offensive scheme used to counter VT’s strengths on defense.

Defense:
Virginia Tech has a capable offense, but much like Georgia it hasn’t been particularly highlight-reel quality most of the season. Ore is as good of a tailback as Georgia has seen this year, and Glennon has cut down on mistakes at quarterback. Georgia gave up big rushing yardage to Tashard Choice in the season finale, but they held Auburn’s potent attack in check. VT’s offense is much more effective when aided by field position and momentum from defense and special teams, so it’s important for Georgia to make VT work for every yard they get. VT’s offense can be good, but Georgia can’t allow them to be spectacular.

Special teams:
This is expected to be an area of strength for Virginia Tech, but Georgia can have something to say about that. Brandon Coutu is back as the reliable placekicker, and we’ll see how he is able to perform in his first game back since October. The real question I have is the impact of Coutu’s return on punter Gordon Ely-Kelso. Ely-Kelso has had to handle placekicking duties down the stretch, and his punting has suffered, particularly in the Georgia Tech game. He has been an outstanding punter in the past, and Georgia will need him at the top of his game. Georgia’s return units have also made big plays this year, and one in this bowl game could dramatically change things.

I’ve already said it a dozen times in this post, but Virginia Tech thrives on momentum. When they get a head of steam from turnovers or big plays on special teams, they can be very hard to stop. Georgia went through a phase earlier in the year where punt protection was a big problem. They can’t afford to give the Hokies even an inch of opportunity in this area, or VT will take it.

Everyone is expecting this game to be close and low-scoring, but either team has the ability to blow the game open. Georgia showed their potential at Auburn, and VT has explosive potential from the defense and special teams. They have each also shown the ability to get blown out this year. The Peach…er, Chick-fil-A Bowl is usually one of the most competitive and interesting bowl games, and they have two similar teams lined up for this edition.

Since most of the bowls have nothing at stake, we have to make up some kind of competition. So we’ll use the win-loss records of conferences in bowls to say which conferences are better.

Make sense? Not to me.

Bowl games are all about matchups and motivation. The third place team of conference A playing the fifth place team of conference B tells us about as much about the respective conferences as the quality of the cheerleaders. It says plenty about those individual teams of course, but Alabama losing to Oklahoma State doesn’t mean the SEC is down any more than Kentucky beating Clemson means it’s the best conference out there.

On a related topic, I also don’t buy into the conference loyalty thing. I’m supposed to cheer for SEC schools. Sorry…can’t do it in most cases. These are opponents on the field as well as in the year-round sport of recruiting. I don’t want our competition having more feathers in their caps. The quality or shortcomings of teams are obvious on their own. I don’t need the rest of the SEC doing well in bowls to validate Georgia.

Both the men’s and women’s Georgia basketball teams saw turnovers and lack of offensive firepower doom them to losses on Thursday night.

The Georgia men had a season-high 26 turnovers in a 75-60 loss to #21 Clemson. “We haven’t taken care of the ball as well as we could this year, but today was exceptionally bad,” said coach Dennis Felton. With point guard Sundiata Gaines still hampered with an ankle injury, Georgia remains lost on offense. Where the trio of Mercer, Gaines, and Stukes produced 65 points against Gonzaga earlier in the month, they combined for just 21 against Clemson. For a team that lives and dies with guard play, they are in a world of trouble without consistent production from those three. Mercer is just 6 for his last 23 attempts.

Takais Brown and Terrance Woodbury had solid nights with 13 and 14 points, but their opportunities to do more were limited by the turnovers. Georgia attempted only 56 shots (Clemson had 67) and got to the line only 6 times all night. Clemson, according to Felton, scored a third of their points off of those Georgia turnovers.

The news doesn’t get better for Georgia. We learned after the game that Gaines has torn ligaments in that injured ankle. With a team that is so dependent on Gaines just to get a shot off, that news spells big trouble. Georgia’s next two games are against Top 5 opponents Wisconsin and Florida. Without Gaines in top form, it’s looking more and more as if that win over Gonzaga was an upper limit for how well this team can play rather than they effort they are able to give consistently against top competition.

It wasn’t a much better night for the women, and their problems seem just as systemic. The story sounds much the same – George Washington scored 23 points off 24 Georgia turnovers en route to a 66-54 win. Only one Lady Dog starter scored in double-figures, and the team as a whole shot 39%. Georgia was strong inside – Tasha Humphrey scored 16 and Angel Robinson 15 – but guard play fizzled. Normally reliable Cori Chambers shot 2-of-12 and finished with only six points. Ashley Houts and Megan Darrah didn’t score. In fact, this might have been one of Darrah’s worst games in her three years in Athens. She was 0-for-7 shooting and had a team-high five turnovers. Houts is in a bit of a slump – she hasn’t scored in double-figures since the Georgia Tech game at the beginning of December.

It’s hard to put a finger on it, but the Lady Dogs haven’t looked really solid all of December. Much of it has to do with integrating Tasha Humphrey back into the lineup, but the problems are across the board. The team seems plagued by slow starts. Guard play is spotty, especially at the point guard position. The team just hasn’t looked as impressive as you might have expected when you added Humphrey back in to the lineup that beat Rutgers and Stanford. They have a consolation game against Brown this weekend, and then they’re right into the SEC schedule with Florida and LSU. There’s not much time left to figure it out.

After a break for Christmas, it’s time to catch up.

Football
The Dawgs are heavy into Chick-fil-A Bowl preparations. So far, the big stories are Seth Watts joining Ian Smith in the Suspended Linemen Club, leaving the Dawgs with only six OL for this game, and the news that Brandon Coutu will be available to kick. More on this game tomorrow.

Men’s hoops
The loss to Tech was disappointing on several levels. I know that they were without Gaines, but no one really stepped up into that void. The team was incapable of getting into the offense at times, and the shot selection wasn’t what it needed to be. Though a lot of people are dwelling on the absence of Gaines, I was also a bit surprised by how poorly Georgia played on defense. Young and Dickey had it far too easy from the opening possession. The help defense was also missing inside as Tech time after time penetrated and dished for an open dunk.

Gaines should be good to go this week, and we’ll need him against Clemson and Wisconsin. Clemson is undefeated as they were last year when Georgia won in Athens. They really haven’t played any top teams so far, but they have some very capable players. James Mays will be a handful inside, and K.C. Rivers will be another challenge for the wing defense as a 6’5″ guard.

Then it’s Wisconsin. The Badgers are looking like one of the nation’s best teams so far, and it will be as big of a challenge as #2 Pitt coming in to Athens in 2002. All-American candidate Alando Tucker leads the Badgers, and the 6’6″ forward will be the best test yet for Georgia’s frontcourt defense. Tucker can go inside or outside. Ideally you’d want someone with Woodbury’s build and speed to defend Tucker, but so far Woodbury’s defense hasn’t caught up with the offensive glimpses he’s shown. Of course a team with the ranking of Wisconsin has to have some other elements, and they do. Kammron Taylor is capable of putting up big numbers from the guard spot, and 6’11” Brian Butch prevents interior defenses from focusing solely on Tucker.

That New Year’s Eve clash with Wisconsin will be big, but Georgia won’t have much time to either enjoy or recover from that game – next week it’s off to Florida to open the SEC season.

Women’s hoops
The Lady Dogs had a relatively uneventful tour of Virginia last week beating James Madison and Richmond easily. Along the way, Andy Landers won the 750th game of his career and also beat protegee Michael Shafer at Richmond. If there has been a concern lately it is slow starts. Against both Richmond and TCU, Georgia was punchless for the first eight minutes. Cori Chambers shot them out of the funk in both games, but they’ll need to hit the court harder in future games. They’ll also need more production from the other guard spot. Ashley Houts hasn’t had a double-figure game since the Georgia Tech game in early December.

They head out to the west coast this week for a tournament in San Diego. They’ll play George Washington and then likely tournament host San Diego State. Georgia should win both games before opening the SEC slate with Florida next Thursday.

That’s a headline I thought I’d never write.

The ABH writes that Charlie Taylor Douglas of Reynolds and Richard Alexander Perry of Fort Valley were arrested Tuesday on charges of battery, reckless conduct, underage possession of alcohol, public drunkenness and carrying a weapon on school property.

Immediately after the halftime show [of the men’s basketball game against Jacksonville], thousands of fans at Stegeman Coliseum saw the teens run from their seats to the court floor and, according to a UGA police report, “attack two University of Georgia mascots.”

I’m glad these bits of trash were arrested, but I’m disappointed that other fans didn’t apply some justice themselves. Of course there were 63 people at the game, so it might have been that no one was within a section or two.

They messed with the wrong mascots though. Hairy has a background in law enforcement, and Spike is usually packing heat.

Already interviewing the usual suspects.

Can kill a man.