A Christmas list

What I would like under my tree next week. Feel free to add your own.

• Peace on Earth and good will toward men.


• a solid defensive gameplan for a quarterback that can run, like say Taylor Martinez.


• an awesome defensive line coach
  


• a low post player...that can score 10+/game.


• that those still hung up on the meaningless exercise of Spikegate would fall off a cliff become mute until logic and reason finds their feeble brains.


• a flask tie, and no...not for church...unless it's a really long wedding that devolves into reception with a ca$h bar.


• at least one more chance to see DickSamIV with a lone safety in his rearview mirror.


• and lastly, the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window.

But I'd definitely settle for a Red Ryder carbine action 200 shot range air rifle!

About Garner

First of all I'm happy for Coach Garner. Even if I don't understand making a lateral move to a program that at best is a smoldering dumpster fire, he had the opportunity to coach at one place for 15 years. That's practically unheard of these days. I'm thankful that he helped bridge the program between the Donnan era and Richt's. And now he gets to go home to his alma mater. I wish him and his family well.

Moving forward, this is a good thing for Georgia. Some will worry about the timing of it given the full time job that recruiting is these days. But we have some of the best college recruiters in the nation on staff plus we finally hired Daryl Jones to really organize that for us. If a recruit/"commitment" feels a need to leave Georgia behind because Rodney Garner is going to Auburn, then did we really need that kid anyway?

Soon Richt will name John Lilly to succeed Garner as the staff's recruiting coordinator and Grantham will be able to hire his own guy to coach the defensive line. Lilly is one of the best recruiters in the nation and headed up things in Tallahassee for years. With him, Bobo, McClendon and Grantham I like our chances with any recruit we aim to get.

Coaching wise, it will be interesting to see who Grantham goes after. He has contacts everywhere. I always wondered how good of a fit Garner was in Grantham's system, especially given that he's had some run ins with previous coaches on staff. And with my eye outside the arena I didn't see a ton of progress being made along the defensive line. Not saying that's all Garner's fault. I've just wondered how well all of our defensive coaches were reading off the same page.

Lastly, please understand that this is all Grantham's hire. So some of you that are daydreaming (and possibly smoking something funny) about Richt bringing in Hines Ward to recruit and David Pollack to coach defensive line...really? I mean have you listened to David Pollack lately? If he can't say something nice about Georgia football in Bristol do we really want him in recruits' living rooms?

Let Lilly coordinate and let Grantham bring in his guy. Like Michael Stipe, it's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

The Mayans were wrong!!!

No meteors. No scorched earth. All that happened was Garner changed zip codes! Not even a locust.

Plus, reports indicate Justin Beaver is still alive! Yah!

Best day ever...since yesterday!

The best SEC plays in 2012

Jarvis' forced fumble against Florida that Commings smothered in the endzone makes the cut. But should it be higher? What do you think?

First of all, I think those indeed are the top five for the season. Although I'm glad they chose Ace Sanders' punt return against Missouri rather than against Georgia.

If I'm rating just based on which is the most amazing, the Jarvis Landry catch is easily the best. Nothing against Manziel's touchdown pass, but that catch with the mid-air adjustment was spectacular. However, if I'm rating based on importance overall I think you have to go with Yeldon's touchdown with Jarvis' forced fumble a close second. Both helped solidify their teams' trip to Atlanta.

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Nebraska's ground game

To cast stones at our star linebacker is one thing.

But we need to look at how well Nebraska might be able to neutralize Georgia's pass rush. Alabama certainly did just that with the help of a record setting rushing performance. And a large part of the Crimson Tide's second half adjustments centered on the idea of running right at Jarvis Jones. 

And the fact is that it paid off handsomely. Jones is not known as a definitive run stopper and Bama was able to gain plenty of yards around his end and towards his number, sometimes with just a tight end designed to block him.

To make matters more unsettling, Nebraska will bring the nation's 8th best rushing offense to Orlando, boasting 254 yards per game. It's one thing to humanize All-American Jarvis Jones in a press conference and call him ordinary, will the Huskers be able to do it in the game as well? Sophomore running back Ameer Abdullah (jersey #8) leads the team with over 1,000 yards and quarterback Martinez added 973 on the season. That's more than enough to cause the Bulldogs problems considering our difficulty containing multiple threats in the same backfield.

However, despite what happened in the Georgia Dome a couple weeks ago, matching their season averages against Georgia will be a tall task for Nebraska. For one, Georgia could be deeper along the defensive line in this game than they were for the SECCG, possibly getting Abry Jones back to at least spell Garrison Smith and Ray Drew (along with Big John when we move him out to DE). By the 4th quarter in the last game the defensive front was gassed and gashed at will. And second, Nebraska's offensive line isn't as impressive as the last one we faced. However, they are full of juniors and seniors that average 16 starts between them.

I think Georgia's offense will put up some points on January 1st. A large part of whether or not Nebraska can do the same depends on how well we can control the line of scrimmage when they have the ball so we can contain the Husker ground attack.

Humanizing Jarvis Jones

On one hand I understand dismissing Jarvis Jones' dominance if you are about to face him on the field. I wouldn't want to dwell on that topic either if I were Nebraska's Taylor Martinez.

However, it might just piss 29 off. And that ain't good either.

Flushing the Tide...with pride

Wanted to share some thoughts from finally manning up and rewatching the SEC Championship game. I can't say that I feel better in terms of the outcome. But it was validating (again) to see that our team gave everything on the field, against the best team in the country, in the greatest game of the season.

No amount of heartbreak can take away my pride in that.

The first thing I'd point out is that even those who contributed to big plays by Bama (for example: Swann on a couple passes, Gurley late in responding to a blitz on the last play and Conley who beat himself up a little for doing something that comes naturally to him) had big games.

• Without Gurley's legs we're no where close at the end. The kid is just a grown ass man running the damn football. Period.
• The Swann-Cooper battle was interesting to watch the whole game. Cooper might have gotten the better of him, but I hope to see that match up again next season. They are both two very talented football players.
• Even Verne and Gary pointed out how much we were missing Marlon and Bennett on the perimeter and down field blocking. Conley missed a block or two early, but laid some good ones as the game progressed. And he was a good two strides ahead on the interception. I didn't realize he has gained that much separation until last night.
• A lesser quarterback would've thrown in the towel, especially after that hit by Dial. If you aren't hoping in your heart of hearts that Aaron Murray comes back next season...you either didn't see the same game I did or I just don't want to know you.

Next, the coaching was the only thing that came close to matching the play on the field. In fact, early on the players were a little tight and took a while to settle in. Yet the coaches hit the ground running. The feeling out and eventual chess match between Bobo and Smart was especially interesting to watch. Bobo called a great screen pass that was negated by a block in the back that kind of epitomized the first quarter - great play calling on both sides, yet neither team could break through completely.

Georgia eventually struck first of course, bolstered by a perfectly executed and well designed fake punt. That was much more than a shot in the arm for the game. How many great trick plays have we seen in recent memory that were negated because of poor execution and/or a flag on the field? Once Commings cradled Lynch's pass for the first down it felt like a monkey sliding off the back of Coach Richt and his staff.

In terms of clock management, there's nothing more to be said about how the game ended for Georgia. Richt and others have answered those questions more than sufficiently. However, it's interesting that not more has been made of Saban's mismanagement of the clock at the end of the first half. They got a field goal out of it, but lost at least a couple shots at the endzone and took two timeouts into the locker room. I'm sure it helps when you win the game, but that really could've come back to bite them.

Last point - if you were in the stadium, there was no way to escape knowing that this was as hard-hitting an affair as you will ever see. But until you see it on television (with the added luxury of replay), you just can't truly appreciate it. So although it was painfully agonizing to watch my team fall short of a goal again that they had so valiantly earned, it was worth it for me to see this epic game once more.

In the end the score was the same, the result was just as painful. But take heart in this Dawg fans: in a game that featured bone crushing hits for 60 minutes, there were two goal line battles that Georgia clearly won. When we absolutely HAD to have a stop after a penalty put our defense's back to the wall, Ogletree met Lacy in a jarring collision and held him up. The next play Commings intercepted McCarron to leave Bama empty handed. And in the fourth quarter Gurley shed tacklers like they were children and ran straight downhill at a Bama defender, the only person who could keep him out of the endzone. He scored.

That may seem like a small consolation. Believe me, I know it does. But it shows how far this program has come. Ready, willing and not afraid to compete with the anyone, on any stage. And with that I'm ready to move forward. I'll never forget this game, and I'll never get over it. But I'm proud to have been a part of it. Again.

The Jarvis special

Pardon me if you already saw this. Meant to post it the other day.

From Buddy in Columbus, via Ching's twitter feed.

If someone has enjoyed this WaHo special I'd love to hear about it. I've never had quarterback's souls hot off the griddle.

Humpday Hilarity - Tortoise beats the Hare again