Respect and Aaron Murray

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Yesterday Corbindawg laid out some pretty good reasons why we should be proud of our quarterback. Closing in on a list that includes some big time SEC legends is impressive. And there's no reason (outside of injury really) to think that Aaron Murray won't surpass David Greene in yards and touchdowns. His coach has raised the bar in terms of completion percentage, and thus far Murray has nearly hit that mark. Back in May I compared Greene and Murray's careers in terms of Greene being the last quarterback we've had with as much experience as Murray has. Just three games into the season, our guy is well ahead of Greene's marks in 2003 as a redshirt junior.

Indeed, two of the areas Murray gets criticized for the most are two of the things he has the least control over: the schedule and his height. (And yes, we'll get to the interceptions in a moment). It's true that Murray is still looking for that big time win. That moment when he gets that one signature play by which he will always be remembered. 

For Greene it was the lofted pass to Michael Johnson on the Plains. What will it be for Murray? I would circle the trip to Columbia as the biggest matchup left. But there could be a moment on the Plains again this year where the SEC East is on the line. After getting treated like a sock puppet there two years ago, how sweet would that be?

Down to brass tacks though, Murray is an emotional leader. He's put up touchdowns by the boatload and seems prone for the inopportune mistake at the same time. Even Saturday night when there was no reason to take any chance whatsoever he lofted one into the endzone that had a minimal chance at getting caught. It was a freshman type mistake from a redshirt junior. But it was a very minor blip on a radar full of highlights. It was the lone outlier on what was Murray's best performance as a Bulldog.

So what I'd like to do is check in every few weeks on how Murray is doing. Is he earning more respect? Has he cut down on costly mistakes? Perhaps most importantly, does he have that signature moment in that signature win yet? (And I'll be doing the same with Coach Bobo incidentally, starting tomorrow.) I'm looking to use mostly statistical data complimented by some anecdotal observations each time. For Murray I want to look at his rating, yards per attempt and percentage of interceptions and touchdowns (ie. INTs divided by total attempts). So here's our starting point:

Year	Rating	Yards per attempt	Int %	TD %
2012	180.16	10.5	2.5	10
2011	146.41	7.8	3.5	8.6
2010	154.48	8.9	2.3	7

Observations:

• First and foremost, terrific start for Murray. There've been some protection issues early with the new offensive line. But his footwork is much improved and there is an obvious comfort level with his receivers.
• The competition has been weak, and untested in the case of Missouri.
• Would love to see what more rollouts and waggles did for Murray's production. He's fleet of foot and is underused in that regard. If things were covered down field on a rollout, I bet there'd be plenty of room to run.
• The Missouri win was a big road test for the early season, but there was no defining moment and it doesn't come close to a signature win.

Perhaps we'll explore that moving the pocket bullet in Bobo's post. But for now this is what we have three games in for Aaron Murray. He's not only one of the team's greatest leaders off the field and in practice, he also is doing just that on the field. I'm eager to see what he can do with the meat of the SEC schedule.

*all stats courtesy of cfbstats.com

John L. Smith...meets Stuart Smalley

The insanity will continue until morale improves.

The resemblance is slight. At best. (seriously, click the link above and witness the intensity in motion picture form firsthand. You'll probably laugh, at least a little. But there's more than a little creepiness to it.)

Tuesday Pressers: Richt and Murray

Coach and his QB recap last season's close win and preview this week's next SEC matchup.

h/t Mike Reiter

Swearinger evading Spurrier's interwebs?

Suspended Gamecock safety DJ Swearinger is trying to voice his displeasure at the consequence that has been levied by the SEC Office. Despite the fact that the Head Cock has banned his players from using Twitter, Swearinger is insistent that his 1st Amendment voice be heard read. Here's what he posted misspelled on Instagram.

Once you get past the mastery DJ has for the English language and the cool background he's chosen for his cute prose, you can't help but see he received quite a few "likes" for his work here. Even before this was copied from his feed, he had 98 positive votes.

But what are they liking?

• his spelling?
• his suspension?
• two hand touch over tackle?
• the evolution of SEC football into an all aerial league?
• his apparent youthful jungle-like swagger?
• or simply his 3G service?*

For my money it is the one masterful sentence in the middle: Football a neva b da same no mo!!! 

Tru dat DJ! Tru dat!

*Yes, I know the 3G service comes from whoever screen-captured his post. I'm familiar with Instagram. But who doesn't like a good cellular data plan joke?

Two more things from the weekend

This is what happens when I don't sit down and do a Sunday Thoughts post. I forget stuff.

First, congrats to the crowd Saturday night. There were some empties, but for a game against an opponent like FAU I thought it was very well attended. Of course, there weren't many that were still around to see the final score. But to have most everyone ready for the opening kick (with probably a large hat tip to Russ' collar ceremony) was refreshing. Hope we're trending in that direction.

Secondly, if you tried to comment on a post recently and were unable to then I apologize. I always leave the comments open. Somehow the Blogger setting switched back to blog moderators only. I corrected it once it was made known to me. If that kind of blogger nonsense happens again, always feel free to email me - berniedawg  AT  gmail  DOT  com.

Sometimes mysterious things happen on the interwebs. And they don't always involve engiNerds on STINGTALK.

Bulldog Hotline Redux, FAU

Not a lot on last night's call in show to really sink your teeth into. Richt did sound dead in the middle of being pessimistic and optimistic about Jarvis Jones returning to the lineup. It sounded overstated at first. But he did add that you have to be cautious about these types of injuries to the groin. It could end up keeping a player out for the season.

That being said, Jarvis ain't missing this game.

This episode of Fake Juice lasted nearly a full three minutes.

So, onto fake juice!

From Twitter, Danielle Vido (sp?) asks if we’ll ever have another blackout. Richt laughs a little. “Well, ever is a long time. But I don’t see one anytime soon right now.” Haven’t had much luck with those kinds of things. And sometimes it does take the focus off where it needs to be. Have had some success with it, have had some fun times and some not so fun times. Doesn’t see it happening anytime soon, at least not in a “sneak attack mode”. Could see in the future laying out some basic red, black and white jerseys and maybe even do some things with the helmet. Just say that this is our wardrobe for the year. Then they can mix and match as we like. It’s not some kind of secret weapon. We might see something like that in the future. Doubts we do some kind of surprise jersey any time soon. Although at Scott prompting, says the fans are always welcome to do a blackout.

So if we organize a stadium blackout once a year, will Richt just leave the uniforms the hell alone? I think he had a great answer until he starts talking about mixing and matching, then messing with the helmet. I swear, our road uniforms are one of the best looking uniforms in college football. Leave these types of things alone Coach. Just get the team ready. Have them put on what's in their locker. And win the game based on the merits of the team's hard work.

Do those things and I'll wear whatever the hell you want me to on Saturdays.

Monday's Meatloaf - from Athens to Atsugi

It's a small world ladies and gents. And there are Dawgs all over it.

Have had the pleasure of communicating with Jason the last week or so. He's in the middle of a two year stint while stationed in Atsugi Japan. What's in Atsugi Japan? Glad you asked. Just some badasses in a squadron whose colors are red and black.

They're the HSL-51 Warlords to be specfiic. In Jason's words HSL stands Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light. They "fly the SH-60B out of Atsugi, Japan and deploy on cruisers and destroyers from Yokosuka, Japan, all in support of the carrier USS George Washington. We will soon be upgrading to the MH-60R airframe, our newest, most advanced attack helicopter". Check out this entry from Wiki on the Warlords and their helicopter:

The "Warlords" are the US Navy's only forward deployed Sikorsky SH-60B "Seahawk" LAMPS Mk III helicopter squadron. Home ported in Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan, the "Warlords" provide combat-ready armed anti-surface and anti-submarine helicopter detachments to ships deploying in theKorean, Western Pacific and Persian Gulf regions, as well as Executive Transport for Commander, U.S. Seventh Fleet home ported in Yokosuka,Japan.

The SH-60B carries a complex system of sensors including a towed Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) and air-launched sonobuoys. Other sensors include the APS-124 surface search radar, ALQ-142 Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system and optional nose-mounted forward looking infrared(FLIR) turret. It carries the Mk 46, Mk 50, or Mk 54 torpedo, AGM-114 Hellfire missile, and a single cabin-door-mounted M240 7.62 mm (0.30 in) machine gun or GAU-16 .50 in (12.7 mm) machine gun.

The squadron performs a diverse set of multi-role missions:

Primary missions include:

• Anti-submarine warfare (ASW)
• Anti-surface warfare (SUW)

Secondary missions include:

• Search and rescue (SAR)
• Executive Transport (With SH-60F for SEVENTH Fleet)
• Medical evacuation (MEDEVAC)
• Vertical Replenishment (VERTREP)
• Special Operations support (SPECOPS)
• Naval Surface Fire Support (NSFS)
• Communications Relay (COMREL)
• Logistics support

Holy crap! And these guys read my blog. Nothing against any of the rest of you, but I ain't ever heard of any of y'all controlling an attack copter with one hand while navigating towards my non-sensical mess with the other. Pretty cool. And just like your average Dawg fan, Jason bleeds red and black. But with maybe a bit more sushi in his system. He watched the game the other night from the ESPN app on his iPhone. He won't be home again until well after the season but says the television coverage there is pretty good considering.

What's just as cool is that these guys train in Jacksonville. I took the liberty of asking if they could do a flyover during a WLOCP and take care of some business on the opposing sideline, but evidently my ranking is not nearly high enough to bark those kind of orders. But seriously, thanks for all that you do guys. Keep flying those colors and thanks for reading. Go Dawgs!

Today's Ingredients
- And while we're saluting our brothers and sisters in the military, ecdawg found a Marine that stood up to a hotdoggin Longhorn. It's the greatest thing I've seen on the periphery of a football field since the state trooper fistbump.
- Weiszer's FAU wrap up includes some quotes from both Richt and Grantham.

Hey lil Jimmy! Brush your teeth bro!

- Meanwhile, Ching gives the gameball to two freshmen.
- Like Martin Van Dawgin, I'm a big fan of the pistol that we saw a lot of Saturday night.
- Here's Streit's week three wishlist results. And here's Hamp's wrapup as well.
- Emerson previews what this week will be like: a lot of players and coaches focusing on the game, with last season's Grantham-Franklin midfield exchange as the elephant in the room.
- Tyler whistles some Shania Twain in response to watching Saturday's meteor game.
- In his weekly post putting persons on notice, vineyarddawg tells of some scheduling news right from the AD's mouth.
- cocknfire finds two quarterbacks in Mizzou and Carolina that are limping into the game Saturday.
- A young coed screaming vulgarities in Kiffybaby's ear on a Saturday is just part of the magic of college football. (h/t Blutarsky)
- This was an interesting read by Chris Brown that talks about how Mike Shanahan is adapting his offense to the talents of his Heisman winner.
- Lastly, The Lady Sportswriter reminds us that the "journey has just begun".

So it's a good time for a temperature check. I'll start off as well by reminding myself that it's September. Sure, there's concerns. Many are concerned that the defense gives up 14 points to some owls right off the bat. Others are concerned about play calls, or attitude. Or even turnovers.

To some extent I get that. But at the same time, there is something different about this team. Hang in there. Take each game one at a time. I think this is going to be a fun ride.

The reason I think we get upset about things such as being late to the game and attendance overall is that we recognize the effort on the field and want the effort in the stands to come as close as possible to matching that each time Sanford's gates open. These guys are working hard. And these home games only come around a handful of times a year. And again, something different about this team.

Listen. I don't know if something different is going to equal being able to compete with an Alabama in Atlanta. I don't even know if something different means we win the East. Again, it's September. But I hear the rumblings. But I don't foresee an earthquake. Like Lenny, I'm not afraid. 

I feel fine.

And if any other servicemen and women out there happen across this little blog, please know that we greatly appreciate your effort and your sacrifice. And if you want just a little recognition, I will always be happy to oblige.

The rest of you, as you were dawg. Have a great Monday!

Bernie

(not) Getting chippy (yet)

It's Vandy week. Which used to just be known as the time to stock up on Halloween candy. Now it's got a little more teeth to it however.

–On the impact of last year’s chippy game that ended with the James Franklin-Todd Grantham confrontation: “I think the big thing is to make sure we concentrate on playing football and not all the extracurricular because those things turn into penalties. I don’t want to take anything off of executing, take focus off of doing the right things fundamentally and knowing your job and taking care of your responsibilities. That’s what we’re going to focus on.”

–On the Commodore program: “I don’t think there’s any doubt that they’re the most talented Vanderbilt teams these last couple of years that we’ve played in a while. Coach Franklin’s really got them revved up and ready to go. They’ve got a lot of belief. They’re playing to win and they’re doing a good job of it I think.”

That's one punter reference away from a Dooley 5-star presser right there. It's going to be a fun week.

Movin' on up!

via the AP Top 25 Poll

Georgia - FAU highlights