Marching orders - Buffalo

I could sit here and type to you about how you need to count the number of snaps Malcolm plays, or how many pancakes John Theus gets, or how even the carries are between Boo/Marshall/Gurley/et al. I could even ask you to observe the development of LeMay, the blocking of Artie Lynch and the kicking of the two freshmen.

But you know all that. We've spent eight months discussing, arguing and fussing over all of it. There's no need in me doing that, for today is about one thing - the absolute joy the college football season brings.

So your orders today are simple. Enjoy the day, a cold beverage, your family, any friends you haven't ostracized, the warm sun from your seat in Sanford...or from your patio just before you settle into the sofa with the remote.

Enjoy today. For like so many great days on the calendar, it only comes once a year.

Coach Henderson tribute

Most of my memories of Billy Henderson are not recalled too fondly. I was from the other side of the tracks. But even from the east side of town it was hard not to respect what Coach Henderson was doing at Clarke Central HS. And if I recall the man did once turn down an offer from Georgia Tech. So it is with my full blessing that I post this documentary here for your viewing pleasure. If you are from Athens as well, you'll enjoy some familiar old scenes and even older faces. Thanks to AthensHomerDawg for sending this one to Dawg19.

Ouch

Well shit.

#UGA says CB Malcolm Mitchell sustained left ankle sprain in practice Thursday. He won't play Saturday. No word on availability for Mizzou 

Friday Misery - not so chantastic

It's College Football Eve. Forget about that fake pepsi shit from last night or whatever crap game's on tonight. Tomorrow is the Classic Coca-Cola of tackle football. It's the real thing baby!

We waited out eight months like a boss. Like a ten year old kid starting his Santa list in the early months of Spring, we suffered through the monotony that is baseball, resisted the urge to vomit on the NBA parquet and tuned in as Costas blathered incessantly during the Olympics. Now it's time to rip open the presents and shake that Tannenbaum.

College football is here!

Ford's still full of Bull
I wanna hate so bad. I wanna loathe the opponent on Saturdays. I don't just wanna dislike them. I don't just wanna find them irritating and distasteful. I want to hate them to their core.

They cheat this state. (via)

For months now I've been alluding to Buffalo as Chan Gailey's team. Hey, I can count the number of things I know about Buffalo NY on one hand, and still have enough fingers left over to adequately grip a drumstick of fried chicken. One, I know it's cold. And two, I know they have a football team that misses field goals in the Super Bowl.

There. That's it. So back in January, shortly after Michigan State blocked Blair Walsh's redemption boot in overtime, I looked ahead to the 2012 season schedule and saw "Buffalo". I jumped to the conclusion that we would have yet another afternoon's worth of entertainment watching Reggie Ball count to four and other chantasticisms. That's not only something to look forward to, it is also something that fuels the hate just a touch.

The Buffalo Bulls, as in the University of Buffalo and not the AFC East professional team with one vowel derivation, do nothing for me. I'm glad we get a cupcake to tune up on. I'm eager to see the backups play as much as possible. I hope our confidence level is much higher tomorrow night than it was a year ago leaving the Dome.

All I'm saying is that it wouldn't hurt if a "Bull" fan dropped by the tailgate tomorrow and said I talk too slow, or that grits are the food of a losing confederacy, or that Jasper's knee was not down.

Yes, I believe Al Ford went to the University of Buffalo. At least that's what I'm telling myself. Hate that sumbitch. To the core.

Some cheese with your entitlements?
Despite all the excitement of the season upon us, I still got angst y'all. It's been a couple years since we had our cupcake prior to the main course. LA Lafayette strolled into town in 2010 and didn't leave until we had icing smeared all over our faces and cake crumbs on our suspended #8 jerseys.

I hate it when side stories dominate the action on the field. And no matter how many ankles Keith Marshall breaks and how many baby bulls Jarvis sacrifices on Grantham's table, the headlines will be about the suspensions, or how inferior the opponent was. "Poor little buffwalo. Mean ol Richt hurt their wittle feewings."

Screw that. And some of you Dawg fans aren't in the clear either. You'll whine about the early kick. You'll lollygag your way into the tailgate...LATE! You won't even know the words to "Hail!"

Sit and spin, Mr. McShitty Fan

You. Make. Me. Sick. You've had eight months to use the Massengil and that's the best you can come up with for gameday? Getting all vocal like a 7th grade school girl walking into the stadium with your chardonnay breath and your turkey burger tailgate fingers, moaning on and on about ticket prices and and the good ole days when you know damn well back in the good ole days you were too busy pretending to be a grunge rocker to suffer with the rest of us when Robert Edwards' knee gave way. While Hines was playing every position known to man you were in your parents' garage writing crappy lyrics and trying to imitate Eddie Vedder.

Yes you, wannabe Georgia fan with your unenthusiastic bark and your uninspired polo with the awkwardly large pit stains, Kurt Cobain called and wants his depression back. While you've been whining the Dawgs have been grindin'. You think Kolton Houston wants to hear your crap? You think Shawn Williams gives a good shit about your time of the month? Just stay home, or leave your tickets on the wall like the rest of your cronies. Plenty of decent fans ready to make a little Sanford Stadium noise. Hunker down with 92,000. 

Yeh, we got this one covered Mr. Smells like Teen Spirit. For the rest of you, see ya tomorrow. It'll be September then. And football will finally be here.

Go Dawgs!

Around the Tailgate: 2012 predictions

It's so close now. Kickoff to the new season is almost upon us. Let's find out how the deck is stacked in our tailgaters' eyes.

Prediction time: how do you see the season rolling along for the Dawgs in 2012? Do we live up to the top ten ranking, or fall short?

Joe Waterloo - If you haven't figured it out based on my previous responses I don't think we live up to our preseason ranking.  We have way to many question marks and depth issues on the OL for anyone to really think we are a top 6 team.  Coming from the SEC I guess is giving us more street cred than we deserve, but apparently those people haven't been watching us the last few seasons.  If our OL can be better than mediocre and get incredibly lucky with injuries we can probably go 11-1 before Bama or LSU kicks our teeth in.  But with the typical amount of attrition for injuries I'll be optimistic and say 10-2 (but 9-3 is a real possibility.)  With the schedule we have anything less than 11-1 in the regular season is not living up to expectations.

The Wrangler - We will finish the year as a top ten team and will win the East.  I don’t know if we can supplant Alabama or LSU in the SEC Championship game, but I do like our chances if we stay healthy.  South Carolina will be a real test, but after dropping 2 in a row to them, I see us handling our business this year.  Getting Carolina later in the year will benefit UGA.  The SEC East is still down, so if we are going to make a run at an MNC, this year shapes up nicely.  Our defense should be as exciting to watch as any to wear the red and black in a long time.  Defense wins championships, and Grantham has built a helluva team.     Go Dawgs!

SmokeWagon - I don’t mind making predictions about particular players or strengths and weaknesses of a team, but I hate making predictions on the season.  You feel like predicting success will only lead to lack of success.  I have always tried to temper my expectations so that when the games are played I am less disappointed when things don’t go our way. (Although I am not sure that works out for me).  However, this is the BDB, and I can’t just blow off the question.   After all, if fear of losing kept one from participating, I could never talk Bernie and Nama into a friendly bout of Cornhole with me and the Wagon and the Wrangler.

The Dawgs 2012 schedule is weaker than normal, which should lead to a better W-L record.  However, with a weaker schedule, one slip-up hurts the resume much more, so I am not sure the schedule increases our chances of ending in top 10.  I think a tougher schedule gives you more opportunities to earn high rankings.  The good news in this regard is we are starting the year at #6, so if we win we don’t have as far to climb.  The bad news is that even if we win, we want have the quality wins to climb much higher.  Back to good news …… we are fortunate to be in the best conference in football, so if we do win, we will have the opportunity to strengthen our schedule and EARN a higher ranking in the GA Dome.   My gut feeling now is that UGA and SC are on fairly equal footing these days (and that is bad news for UGA, good news for SC, and terrible news for UF and UT – which then kind of cancels out the bad news for UGA).  Our schedule should make it easier to reach the dome when compared to SC.  A win as SC will hopefully  minimize the whining from Stevie about the schedule. I don’t remember hearing him complain about it in the past when the tables were turned. BTW, as a fan, I would much rather have the tougher schedule.  When I look back on a season 5 or 10 years ago, I don’t remember the exact W-L record for the seasons, but I do remember the big wins (I really enjoyed 96 Auburn and 01 UT games on SEC Classics this week.)

I think our defense is going to be very good and possibly great.  I think our offense is going to be average and possibly very good.  If the O-line can gel and stay healthy, I like our chances for playing in the dome.  Of course, we know that once the season begins, 2012 SEC season will create its own story.  The actual outcome is very rarely exactly what anyone predicted.  For example, I am not comfortable with the overall assumption that AU, FL, and UT are not going to compete for the dome.  I am just as guilty as everyone else by focusing in on Mizzou and SC, but something tells me at least one of those other SEC schools is going to be much better than expected. 

I can’t wait for Mizzou.  I am looking forward to the opener, but if I am honest, Buffalo is not “exciting”.  I will of course enjoy the tailgating and the Sanford Stadium experience with my 4 year old boy.  However, if we were getting ready for a truly stout opponent, I would be imagining that one day 10 years from now, I could be sitting with my 14 year old watching SEC classic football fondly remembering a 4th quarter comeback.  I have obviously blurred the lines with my answer between the “how I see the season rolling along for the Dawgs” in win-loss vs how I see the season rolling along for me as a fan.  I am optimistic that we will finish up in top ten.  However, as a fan, I base the quality of the season on the level of excitement and I wish we could plug in some real opponents for at least 2 of the 3 patsy’s.  With all that said, I am obviously pretty excited about the season because I have been sanding down my cornhole boards this week and putting a fresh coat of slick paint to go with my brand new sacks!!!  From now on, I will try to keep my whining about non-conference schedule to an off season exercise.  

Namaman - I am ever a believer and think that this truly is the year.  I look for us to go 11-1 for the regular schedule and then find a way to outlast LSWho in the SEC Championship.  I don't know who we will lose to, but we always seem to have that "one" game that leaves you scratching your head.  Then we can dismantle Kiffy-baby and his Trojans for the championship!  GOOOOOOOO DAWGS!!!

AthensHomerDawg - Double digit win season. These Dawgs will set the bar for the rest of CMR term. We stay in the top ten and get a double D winning season. It's all good!!!

Final thought...more tomorrow, but we should all know by now that Coach Richt nearly lost his team completely. Let poor coaching get out of hand, and too many players followed suit. There are a LOT of indications that he has things back in order. If so, this could be a special season. But just like any other year, off season talk is cheap. Now it's time to bark.

- - - - - - - - - - - 

Monday - tailbacks

Tuesday - offensive line

Wednesday - Mizzou preview

Thursday - Malcolm's duality

AHD preps the CFA warmup game

from AthensHomerDawg:

The Hillbillies and the Wolfpack are opening at the so  not politically correct Chik-fil-a bowl ( http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Menu-Section/Classics) on Friday (Barners and Barners with a lake open there this Sat). Coach O'Brien of  NCS   has dubbed the Hounds of Knoxvegas a "SEC Powerhouse". I see here that Coach O'Brien is helping refill the Kool Aid and has graciously brought "brownies" as well. How thoughtful! The Vols will lean heavily on their cherry JUCO and an excellent WR who will be testing his new wheel for the first time live on Friday. 

I'm not feeling it sports fans: 1. SOD will be relying on some newbies in his 7 new assistants. 2. BIG SAL.. in his first year. We know from experience the change to a 3-4 takes at least a season. 3. UT has no run game. NADA. 116 in 2011. So they are gonna put this on Slash's shoulders and sling it. 4. This could be a sound strategy except that NCS has some success with ball snatching from needy QBs. Read here school record 27 ints in '11.  

The Knoxvegas Hounds might start off with Rocky Top ... but they end with this:

via rwells47

#teamRuss renamed #teamUgaIX

It's about time. GATA Russ!

"Russ is officially UGA IX. Go #dawgs. Hope he leads us to a title."
https://twitter.com/BD_illustrated/statuses/241204077529276416

Vandy/Carolina - what to look for tonight

If you're into JV football under Thursday night lights, or if you've just been jonesin' long enough this off season to try just about any flavor of the tackle football variety, then like me you'll be tuning into tonight's game between the fighting Jimmy Franklins and the Thursday Night Kings.

Of course it also helps that the Dawgs play both teams later in the season. Scouting, previewing, watching visors fly and all that. So here's the top two things I'm looking for, one for each sideline.

1. How much confidence does Lattimore have in that knee? People can sing the sober praises of Connor Shaw all they want, but Marcus Lattimore is the key to this offense. He's the Ying to Clowney's Yang. If he doesn't look up to his usual beast mode self, or if he gets popped low early and has a flashback, the Gamecock season could hang in the balance. He's just that important.
2. Just how many Nutty Buddy's can James Franklin sell? He wants to change the culture in NashVegas. He wants respect and he'll tantrum til he gets it. Are the hoards of Commodore fans buying in? (Evidently not literally, btw) Can the head coach's unbridled energy enthuse his team to an upset win on national television? Or is the head coach's mouth bigger than his playbook?

Is this nutty buddy just another creamsickle? Discuss.

Around the Tailgate: Malcolm Mitchell, pros and cons

It's been the hot button issue all off season. People are either excited about Malcolm Mitchell playing defense, or upset that Bobo's lost his top weapon of downfield destruction. Always ready to chime in, my guys weigh in on Georgia's newest dual threat.

The hottest off season topic has been Malcolm Mitchell's duality. Bobo and Grantham are fussing over him like the last piece of pie in grandma's kitchen. How do you think his season will play out? What do you find exciting about him playing both sides? What are your worries?

Joe Waterloo - I don't know enough to have an intelligent opinion on Malcolm Mitchell, but in the name of journalism (or whatever this blog classifies as) I'll respond anyway. My biggest concern with Mitchell is how will UGA use him and does the coaching staff even really know yet.  Is he primarily a DB this year or are they hoping to move him back to offense when our secondary is full strength?  Will he being doing a 50/50 split on both sides or just the occassional play on  offense.  He was our best offensive weapon last year, so you hate to lose that.  But if he really is a better defender than receiver then make the move and stick with it.  The one thing I'm think I know is that he isn't Champ Bailey, but that's the parallel everyone is making and it could be way too much pressure on him.  Bailey was so good that when he got on offense for a handful of plays it didn't matter that the defense knew it was going to him.  As good as he is, I don't think Mitchell is that explosive and no UGA fan can say with a straight face that they feel confident Bobo can get creative touches for him.  My fear is our coaching staff is going to see how the season unfolds and move Mitchell accordingly.  That may give him the chance to be good on both sides of the ball but it greatly diminishes his chances to be great on one side of it. 

The Wrangler - As long as the rest of the receiving corps stays healthy, I would like to see Mitchell focus on the defensive side of the ball.  We have more quality depth at receiver than at corner, so we definitely need him in coverage.  I have mixed emotions about guys playing both ways.  I feel that if we recruit and develop talent the way we should, we shouldn’t need to play a guy both ways.  On the other hand, sometimes a special talent comes to Athens (Champ Bailey), and you have to find a way to get the ball in his hands.  Time will tell if Mitchell is that type of talent.  He definitely started his career off hot.

Namaman - I think we are solid at WR, so if he is going to help us as much on the defensive side as we keep hearing, I am all for him being in a Champ Bailey-esque type of role.  I think he can come in and make a big play on offense every now and then, or at least provide enough of a distraction to get King, Brown and Company the ball in some open space.

SmokeWagon - I am in full support of the dual responsibilities and I do not understand why we only do it in unique circumstances. We obviously need MM on D with the early suspensions, but where he spends most of his time later in the season will depend on the both his performance on D as well as the performance of other DB’s and WR’s.  When suspensions are over, my gut feeling is that our normal starting DB’s are slightly better than our normal starting WR’s, so I think he will find his way back to predominantly offense.  However, having MM cross trained for both sides is a huge benefit and insurance policy for an injury (or suspension) on either side of the ball.  We probably have more depth at receiver, but MM can still provide depth at DB while providing production at WR.  I was watching the 96 Auburn game the other night on SEC classics and I remembered that Donnan had benched Robert Edwards for recent fumble problems. While that turned out to be a blessing when his legs were fresh in the four overtimes, I was thinking “he is arguably the best athlete on the team by most accounts, so if he is fumbling too much to carry the ball, couldn’t he be contributing by playing DB or LB on defense?”.  He had already proven his freshman year that he was All SEC caliber DB.  I understand that playbooks are not as simple as they once were, but in reality learning the responsibilities of at least two positions is not too much to ask of a kid that has been in the program for at least a year.  The two positions don’t have to be on different sides of the ball.  I am also very happy that Grantham is cross training several players for multiple positions.  It not only provides more instant depth, but quality depth with typically superior athletes (that were good enough to start at another position).  I know there is a difference between cross training at two positions and actually playing two positions when it comes to endurance – particularly if the two positions are on opposite sides of the ball.  However, it is clearly possible for a player to excel on both sides and still be able to perform at a high level on both sides if he is training for it.

I am excited about seeing MM’s dual threat.  I am not expecting him to be Champ Bailey on defense, but I look back at Champ as one of my favorite all time dawgs and wonder why we aren’t doing that more often.  Even Hines Ward’s UGA career is held in much higher regard due to his ability to play multiple positions even though they were all on offense.  Fans always seem to look back fondly on dual threat players.  I would like to see some JHC on O and D as well. 

I have no worries about this scenario (MM playing dual threat).  Some would argue that when players have fatigue, they are more prone to injury, but that really doesn’t have to relate to which side of the ball they were playing on to get that fatigue.  For example, if MM’s body will allow him to play 65 plays in a healthy fashion, I think those 65 plays should be at the position he is needed most for those 65 plays -  some may be on offense and some may be on defense. 

AthensHomerDawg - He did well last season and things are looking up for another record year. It is rare a player can make a BIG impact on both side of the ball. He is special. He may indeed have enough game. Champ only comes by so often so I don't want to expect too much. 

No final thought provoking summary on this. I've said enough here...and here. I will add however that many people see this as a reactive issue by Coach Richt. But within hours of the Outback Bowl loss it was Mitchell who approached Richt about the opportunity, well before any downtown domestic citations and Alabama traffic stops.

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Monday - tailbacks

Tuesday - offensive line

Wednesday - Mizzou game

SEC Kickoff, with Vince Dooley (video)

In case you missed it yesterday, Coach Dooley is hosting a new segment on the SEC Digital Network. "SEC Kickoff" will air on Fridays at 10am and will feature the Hall of Fame coach discussing what's new around the league, highlights, previews of matchups and interviews with coaches.

Here's episode one.