Just as we're beyond tired of the ill-gotten 2007 Alabama analogy, I'm also tired of one other talking point that I'm hearing a lot this season, but especially after Saturday's loss.
But first I want to say that losing to Vanderbilt at home in no way completely sours my view of the program's direction. I believe the change we made last December, while it may not have come due in my eyes at the time, was what was best for all involved. Kirby can get us there, but we knew it wasn't going to happen overnight.
That said, since we made the change, using phrases like "Calm down, it's going to take some time" or "Hey, Kirby just needs some more players" is way off the mark.
Once we said ten wins wasn't good enough we became that program. We became the fans that expect to win each and every Saturday. So losing to Vanderbilt does not and should not evoke a sense of calm. Mostly because even though Kirby may not have all the players he needs to get us to Atlanta, he certainly has enough of them to win that game Saturday.
Many are expecting to lose to Florida. I get that. Losing three of the last four games will do that to you. But it's not in my makeup and I doubt it's the kind of mindset that a true championship program would tolerate much.
The bar has been set high and we need to get used to seeing it up there above our fingers yet still desperately reaching to grasp a hold. Kirby knew this when he took the job and he'd probably be the first to tell you that the time is now. It's Attack the Day not Get ready to attack in another couple years...hopefully.
In short, we're still a winning program that aspires to be a championship program. The difference is that ten months ago we pushed all our chips to the center of the table. So it's a new era. We need to start acting like it.
Monday, October 17, 2016
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Sunday Thoughts on being seated on the short bus
Yes, the play call on 4th and short where we ignore the fact that we have the nation's best running back and toss it to the smallest kid in D1 football...that sucked.
But that's not what lost us that game.
Wow! We found new and exciting ways to get penalized! Ways I've never even heard of before!
But that's not why we can't stop gnashing our teeth.
Yes, giving up three billion yards on that screen pass on their last drive was as frustrating a play as I've ever witnessed.
But that's not what made us lose to Vanderbilt on Homecoming.
Yes, unimaginably giving precious seconds, no minutes, back in time management absolute brain farts was indescribably idiotic.
But that's not why we kicked ourselves in the balls yesterday for 60 minutes of a tackle football game with Vanderbilt University only to lose by one point.
Special. Teams.
We went into Sanford yesterday having been told that the 'Dores were as bad if not worse than we were in special teams.
And Lawd Have Mercy did we prove we're the worst there! Sure, we have found ourselves a placekicker as Rodrigo was most certainly a player of the game for us. But we can't cover kicks...we can't cover punts...we can't use half a brain and let the ball go out of bounds on a kickoff and instead decide to let the offense start on our own 2 yard line...we can't do anything special or even remotely close to Beamer Ball.
Shane Beamer can't even spell Beamer Ball.
Special Teams is why we lost yesterday. The defense gave up 171 yards, two and a half of which came on Vandy's first scoring "drive" thanks wholeheartedly to...you guessed it! Special Teams!
Yes, kids. This is what it feels like to lose to Vandy. At home. On Homecoming.
It's ugly and it pits our own fans against each other because we're all just so goddamn miserable. But what matters now is Jacksonville. What matters now is washing that stink off our backs and learning how to cover a damn kickoff. What matters now is recognizing that when the game is on the line the goddamn football needs to be in 27's hands.
Jesus. It's not rocket surgery and yes I know a coaching change comes with its inherent growing pains. But Holy Hell, did Chubb really fight all the way back from the most devastating knee injury I've ever seen to watch 16 get dragged down to the turf like a rag doll a full yard short?
Players play and coaches coach. Draw a line in the sand and let's play some damn football!
But that's not what lost us that game.
Wow! We found new and exciting ways to get penalized! Ways I've never even heard of before!
But that's not why we can't stop gnashing our teeth.
Yes, giving up three billion yards on that screen pass on their last drive was as frustrating a play as I've ever witnessed.
But that's not what made us lose to Vanderbilt on Homecoming.
Yes, unimaginably giving precious seconds, no minutes, back in time management absolute brain farts was indescribably idiotic.
But that's not why we kicked ourselves in the balls yesterday for 60 minutes of a tackle football game with Vanderbilt University only to lose by one point.
Special. Teams.
We went into Sanford yesterday having been told that the 'Dores were as bad if not worse than we were in special teams.
And Lawd Have Mercy did we prove we're the worst there! Sure, we have found ourselves a placekicker as Rodrigo was most certainly a player of the game for us. But we can't cover kicks...we can't cover punts...we can't use half a brain and let the ball go out of bounds on a kickoff and instead decide to let the offense start on our own 2 yard line...we can't do anything special or even remotely close to Beamer Ball.
Shane Beamer can't even spell Beamer Ball.
Special Teams is why we lost yesterday. The defense gave up 171 yards, two and a half of which came on Vandy's first scoring "drive" thanks wholeheartedly to...you guessed it! Special Teams!
Yes, kids. This is what it feels like to lose to Vandy. At home. On Homecoming.
It's ugly and it pits our own fans against each other because we're all just so goddamn miserable. But what matters now is Jacksonville. What matters now is washing that stink off our backs and learning how to cover a damn kickoff. What matters now is recognizing that when the game is on the line the goddamn football needs to be in 27's hands.
Jesus. It's not rocket surgery and yes I know a coaching change comes with its inherent growing pains. But Holy Hell, did Chubb really fight all the way back from the most devastating knee injury I've ever seen to watch 16 get dragged down to the turf like a rag doll a full yard short?
Players play and coaches coach. Draw a line in the sand and let's play some damn football!
Friday, October 14, 2016
the Friday Misery is COMING HOME
Been under the weather and this is the best I can manage. Please file your complaints here. Thanks.
One thing to say
I'm ready to reach for the pylon.
I'm ready to shout to the Heavens.
I'm ready to hear the Bell.
I'm ready to bring the Payne.
I'm ready to put their ball carrier BEHIND the sticks.
I'm ready to give my all.
I'm ready to call the Dawgs.
I'm ready to ATTACK THE DAY!
Yes, I'm ready to persevere.
I'm ready to beat Vandy.
Please bow your heads...Dear Lord, bless the Redcoats and the forward pass. But please, please let us run free on Homecoming. Amen and Go Dawgs y'all!
I'm ready to shout to the Heavens.
I'm ready to hear the Bell.
I'm ready to bring the Payne.
I'm ready to put their ball carrier BEHIND the sticks.
I'm ready to give my all.
I'm ready to call the Dawgs.
I'm ready to ATTACK THE DAY!
Yes, I'm ready to persevere.
I'm ready to beat Vandy.
Please bow your heads...Dear Lord, bless the Redcoats and the forward pass. But please, please let us run free on Homecoming. Amen and Go Dawgs y'all!
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Staying hungry
On one hand you could read that as "Well sure, he should be considering how talented he is."Natrez Patrick says DL Jonathan Ledbetter has been a scout team player of the week every week during his suspension.— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) October 11, 2016
But given all of the circumstances Ledbetter put himself through to get to a point where he finally found the bottom, good to see he is making the most of the opportunity. Given that he hit that bottom during a coaching change, would've been easy for Kirby to give him a pink slip.
Monday, October 10, 2016
326 - 30, the only thought that matters
Doesn't matter that Eason struggled yesterday.
Doesn't matter that the 1st half clock ran out on us.
Doesn't matter that Isaiah McKenzie only touched the ball six total times.
Doesn't matter that we totaled eight penalties, some at crucial points.
The only thing that matters is that we out gained South Carolina on the ground by nearly 300 yards. You do that you can work around a young quarterback that is struggling on the road with the wind. You can survive a big road test that was far from perfect when you have two rushers over 100 yards and a third very close.
Survive and load the bus. Let's get better each week.
Go Dawgs!
Doesn't matter that the 1st half clock ran out on us.
Doesn't matter that Isaiah McKenzie only touched the ball six total times.
Doesn't matter that we totaled eight penalties, some at crucial points.
The only thing that matters is that we out gained South Carolina on the ground by nearly 300 yards. You do that you can work around a young quarterback that is struggling on the road with the wind. You can survive a big road test that was far from perfect when you have two rushers over 100 yards and a third very close.
Survive and load the bus. Let's get better each week.
Go Dawgs!
Saturday, October 8, 2016
the Saturday Misery hates Matthew as much as carnies
First off, and in all seriousness…
We have spent the week concerned about the time and whereabouts of a football game. It’s only appropriate that we spend a moment of reflection on the devastation that this storm has caused and focus any possible effort towards assisting those left in its wake.
That being said...
You know, "hate" is strong word. Until it comes to college football rivalries in the South. Then it ain't remotely strong enough.
As Georgia fans, we often ask ourselves where exactly Sakerlina ranks on the list of most-hated rivals. Wait, strike rivals. We lead the all time series 40-18-2. That just makes them plain old regular opponents.
No wait, recent history suggests that it is a rivalry though as the game often has some impact on the divisional outcome. Also, in the last ten years the series is split evenly. (And for those of you chicken farmers that just wandered up in here that means we're both 5-5.)
Back to which team I hate the most...I typically put Florida 1A, followed by the engiNerds at 1B. Every other team in the SEC East plus Auburn is tied at 2. Notre Dame is 3. I'm going to put Florida again at 4. And also at 5. Until Thanksgiving week when Tech will take their place there at both 4 and 5. At 6 I think we should avoid putting any team from the north or midwest or way out west because to add them there would be a way of recognizing their existence, and truly I don't even watch their games except for an occasional highlight. So at 6 goes FSU. And then I'm changing my mind again and putting Ohio State at 7A and Michigan at 7B. Nope, make that Penn State at 7 all alone and then those other two at 8A and 8B. At 9 we clearly have to put Florida in there again and to round out this list we'll put Louisville, with the caveat that this team changes to wherever Petrino motors off to next.
Anyway, back to the second most hated team - the South Carolinian Cocks! I HATE them! I HATE the way they use any minutiae and fraction of a positive sign to rush to any and EVERY opportunity to trash talk. They could win a golf match by sinking a 150 yard 7-iron off a tree and they will go on and on and ON AND ON about how awesome they are and HOW MUCH YOUR MOTHER SUCKS!
Seriously, in 2014 we practically gave them the game. It was a terrific game to watch. I even had a seat by the Redcoats. A storm had given us an extra hour to tailgate. The Dawgs fought hard and lost. Walking out I found one, just one, gamecock fan willing to admit it was a great game. I shook his hand and then walked a never ending gauntlet of "F Georgia!" and also so much carnal knowledge about my own dear mother that I had to call her for reassurance and to erase the shame.
But kudos to them. They are the eleventy-billion repeat and undisputed national champion in yapping and trash talking and general lewd and lascivious prattle. They rule the world!
But who can blame them considering their other life choices. Those cluckers over yonder like some tired ass drive thru barbeque washed down with BOGO monster energy drinks. Those penned hens over yonder love them some backup quarterbackers, preseason aspirations, and pecking seed off the dusty ground. Those backyard cockerels over yonder puff their chest and strut their stuff at kickoff then chirp chirp chirp (win or lose) leaving the stadium.
 |
| With the game tied, Betty decided it was time to show her son just how few F's she had to give. |
As Georgia fans, we often ask ourselves where exactly Sakerlina ranks on the list of most-hated rivals. Wait, strike rivals. We lead the all time series 40-18-2. That just makes them plain old regular opponents.
No wait, recent history suggests that it is a rivalry though as the game often has some impact on the divisional outcome. Also, in the last ten years the series is split evenly. (And for those of you chicken farmers that just wandered up in here that means we're both 5-5.)
Back to which team I hate the most...I typically put Florida 1A, followed by the engiNerds at 1B. Every other team in the SEC East plus Auburn is tied at 2. Notre Dame is 3. I'm going to put Florida again at 4. And also at 5. Until Thanksgiving week when Tech will take their place there at both 4 and 5. At 6 I think we should avoid putting any team from the north or midwest or way out west because to add them there would be a way of recognizing their existence, and truly I don't even watch their games except for an occasional highlight. So at 6 goes FSU. And then I'm changing my mind again and putting Ohio State at 7A and Michigan at 7B. Nope, make that Penn State at 7 all alone and then those other two at 8A and 8B. At 9 we clearly have to put Florida in there again and to round out this list we'll put Louisville, with the caveat that this team changes to wherever Petrino motors off to next.
 |
| Sakerlina fan last week after the women's Cross Country team placed first in the Winthrop Adidas Invitational. |
Seriously, in 2014 we practically gave them the game. It was a terrific game to watch. I even had a seat by the Redcoats. A storm had given us an extra hour to tailgate. The Dawgs fought hard and lost. Walking out I found one, just one, gamecock fan willing to admit it was a great game. I shook his hand and then walked a never ending gauntlet of "F Georgia!" and also so much carnal knowledge about my own dear mother that I had to call her for reassurance and to erase the shame.
But kudos to them. They are the eleventy-billion repeat and undisputed national champion in yapping and trash talking and general lewd and lascivious prattle. They rule the world!
But who can blame them considering their other life choices. Those cluckers over yonder like some tired ass drive thru barbeque washed down with BOGO monster energy drinks. Those penned hens over yonder love them some backup quarterbackers, preseason aspirations, and pecking seed off the dusty ground. Those backyard cockerels over yonder puff their chest and strut their stuff at kickoff then chirp chirp chirp (win or lose) leaving the stadium.
Their diet consists of dashed dreams and Pepsi Cola. They’re corn-pecking herbivores in a carnivore’s environment. “Cluck like Tarzan! Football like Jane!”
So keep cluck clucking Gamechicks. The pan ain't hot enough just yet.
So keep cluck clucking Gamechicks. The pan ain't hot enough just yet.
Words are fun!
Hurricane - a really big tropical storm that turns wind into a lethal weapon
Sand storm - 100% drier than a hurricane; a major dust up that only makes a gritty mess; also a huge an annoyance of a sound; worse than this. Much.
Willy B - a gorilla that raised a family at Zoo Atlanta; also a college football stadium that is not actually on a college campus. Weird.
Willy M - a reference to Coach William Muschamp of the Sakerlina Gamecocks; also a rage-o-holic with veins the size of pool noodles in his forehead
Carnie - a Stephen Garcia form of gypsy, quick to anger and awful beards; (also, see below)
Cockfight - regular folk take in a movie or even an off Broadway production, USCjr fans gather around a pit and watch poultry peck each other to death; its as noble an illegal tradition as you can find these days
Fowl - the figurative description of the gamecocks' offense
Born from corndogs, candied apples and ferris wheel lights
The University of South Carolina’s most productive degree program is a bachelor’s of arts in Carniedom, a complex study of ring toss, back roads, and using cotton candy as bait. I mean, how do you think Spurrier found Stephen Garcia? The kid was running The Duck Pond as a 17 year old county fair traveler outside of Spartanburg. The Ol’ Ball Coach gave him a ten, took a swig of his Banquet Beer and said, “Boy, show me whatcha got!”
 |
| Carnie Cum Laude |
Garcia knocked over nine of ten ducks, missing the last, then got so mad he shoved a funnel cake in some old ladies’ face.
“I like your drive kid.”
Eight months later Garcia had graduated from trading tickets for currency all the way up to funneling Bartles and Jaymes and keying professors’ cars.
He was the classic case of you can take the gypsy wanderer out of the fairgrounds but you can't take the questionable character references out of the carnie.
Eight months later Garcia had graduated from trading tickets for currency all the way up to funneling Bartles and Jaymes and keying professors’ cars.
He was the classic case of you can take the gypsy wanderer out of the fairgrounds but you can't take the questionable character references out of the carnie.
But where I come from we don’t treat old ladies like trash cans and we don’t find our amusement from cleaning the puke out of the Gravitron. As the song goes, we prefer “cornbread and chicken...and a lotta front porch sittin’.”
A chicken raises too much cain around here we sic ol’ Petey on it and heat up Grandma’s pan of Crisco. As long as Matthew is ready to say grace, we are ready to eat!
End of the slide
All slides end with your ass being reunited with the hard ground. Coach Freeze pushed us to a glide in Oxford and just as we thought we were regaining our composure back in Athens we realized there had been ten more seconds on the clock. So the descent had only just begun.
Now we got former friend and frequent foe William Larry pecking (not chomping) at us for the first time. He wants a fight and that’s exactly what he’s gonna get. I’m frequently reminded when confronted by a lunatic that the less you say the crazier they look. This needs to be the case Saturday night.
Actions speak louder than words. Let em gobble and crow and scratch in the dirt all they want. Let their excitement rise to unfathomable levels just because they have the intestinal fortitude and manual dexterity to wave a towel to some goddamn techno "music". Let’s tackle and block and run. And when we reach the end zone we can look back and smile.
Cuz chicken can taste as good on a Sunday afternoon as it does on a Saturday night. Now, please bow your heads....Dear Lord, please bring peace in Hurricane Matthew's wake and Jazz Hands to Coach Boom's endzone. Amen!
Go Dawgs y'all!
Friday, October 7, 2016
The waiting is the hardest part
Regardless, we'll have to wait another day to see our Dawgs play. The Friday Misery is done, but would feel funny posting it two days before kickoff. So you'll have to wait for that as well.
Most importantly, for our friends along the Golden Isles and in the state of Florida, be safe y'all!
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Kirby, Will, and Matthew walk into a blog...
As we wait...
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| "We'll play in Columbia, Athens, Atlanta, Clemson, wherever! Just lemme know and we'll load the bus." |
 |
| "I smell toast." |
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Georgia @ South Carolina - a special teams preview
As we watch to see how Hurricane Matthew might impact Saturday's game in Columbia East, and after providing you with some rays of sunshine yesterday, I thought I'd throw some cold water on y'all today.
Special teams have been a big part of Georgia's 3-2 record thus far. And it happens to be an area of the game that could give South Carolina a real boost against the Dawgs Saturday night.
We are 11th in the conference covering kickoffs and they are first in kickoff returns. AJ Turner is a freshman running back for the Gamecocks, and he happens to be second the conference in kickoff returns, averaging 28.43 yards a return. (He also had that 75 yard rushing touchdown on the opening play from scrimmage last week against A&M. The kid is electrifying.)
One thing I've noticed is that while Kirby mentions quite often that he'd like to kick the ball deeper on kickoffs, his real problem with our kickoff coverage is poor tackling. Georgia faced the conference's best last week in Evan Berry. Not much dropoff this week trying to contain Turner.
And then there's this (h/t):
Special teams have been a big part of Georgia's 3-2 record thus far. And it happens to be an area of the game that could give South Carolina a real boost against the Dawgs Saturday night.
We are 11th in the conference covering kickoffs and they are first in kickoff returns. AJ Turner is a freshman running back for the Gamecocks, and he happens to be second the conference in kickoff returns, averaging 28.43 yards a return. (He also had that 75 yard rushing touchdown on the opening play from scrimmage last week against A&M. The kid is electrifying.)
One thing I've noticed is that while Kirby mentions quite often that he'd like to kick the ball deeper on kickoffs, his real problem with our kickoff coverage is poor tackling. Georgia faced the conference's best last week in Evan Berry. Not much dropoff this week trying to contain Turner.
And then there's this (h/t):
This week's Sansbury Did You See That Play - Sean Kelly fakes a punt and throws it down field to Hayden Hurst for a #Gamecocks first down. pic.twitter.com/Bb89f2oX4f— Gamecock Athletics (@GamecocksOnline) October 3, 2016
This could absolutely be the get well game the Dawgs need to end a two game skid. But in order for it to be so, discipline on special teams will have to be better than what we've seen thus far.
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