Carolina: What I took from it

I'm certainly late in my thoughts on the game so I'll give a quick list of what I liked and what I didn't like regarding Saturday's game in Columbia.

What I liked:

(1) We beat Carolina.

Many don't take Carolina that seriously in the Bulldawg nation, but I consider them to be one of our biggest rivals.  This may be because I'm from the border city of Augusta where you are either a Georgia or a Carolina fan.  I always take delight in beating a Carolina team, no matter the circumstances.  I don't care whether it's ole' slobber knocker Holtz or Spurrier, I want to beat Carolina every year.

(2)  We beat Spurrier.

To add to my earlier comment, it is that much sweeter when Spurrier goes down in flames.  As the infamous Shaq would say "How's my ass taste?".  Spurrier was such a dick for so long to so many schools that I take great delight in seeing it handed to him like he never thought.

(3)  Blair Walsh.

Mr.  Walsh was in my list of concerns before the game, but he hit two big field goals in his first SEC road test.   Anybody remember Andy Bailey's shank at the Auburn game in 2004?  None of that for Mr. Walsh.  Well played, sir.

(4)  Matthew Stafford

Say what you will about his lack of yards or touchdown tosses, this man singledhandedly kept us alive on Saturday.   He made plays with his legs and that throw that he completed on third and forever to AJ Green for a first down is a throw half the QB's in the NFL can't make.  You can see that he's very comfortable in this offense and he has taken his game to another level this year.

(5) Knowshon's 79 yards

Have you ever seen a more gutsy 79 yard performance?  Behind a suspect line and receivers that must have soaked their hands in butter the night before, Knowshon willed his way to 79 yards against one of the best defensive front 7's we will face all year.  That TD run was a thing of beauty.  Nevermind the leap over the CMU player, that TD run may have been the best run of his career at UGA.

What I didn't like about Saturday:

(1) Kickoffs

We continually kick the ball short of the end zone when we have the ability to boom it through and constantly give great field possession to our opposition.  This might not matter early in the season, but if we give the short field to teams with great offenses, we will get shredded.

(2)  The penalties

How many times can we shoot ourselves in the foot?  This team needs to get disciplined and disciplined soon or these penalties are going to cost us a game or two down the road.

(3)  The officiating

This goes both ways on this one.  That might have been the worst officiating I've ever seen in an SEC game.  Seriously, we can't get both playclocks to run simultaneously???

(4)  Willie Martinez's "Cover Two"

For the love of everything that is holy, can we please pressure the QB and give up on this bend but don't break defense??  Seriously, Chris Smelley picked us apart in the second half.  Let me repeat that.  A QB named Smelley ripped our secondary to shreds in the second half.  'Nuff said.

(5)  The dropsies

I thought we got over this part of the way through last year.   Looks like Tripp Chandler is reverting to his old ways and passed them on to the usually sure-handed Kris Durham.  Come on guys, this is D-1 football, those are passes you should catch in your sleep.  AJ Green is putting you guys to shame.

All in all, this was quite the ugly game that we've come to expect in recent years versus Carolina.  Once again the Ole' Ball Coach had his team very ready to face Georgia.  If Carolina played like this against everyone else they might not be 522-525-44 in their history.  In the end, a win on the road in the SEC is a win is a win.  It might have cost us style points, but I think we've gained so much more by facing adversity this early in the season and realizing teams aren't going to just lie down because we're Georgia.  Hopefully, CMR beats that point into his players' heads and we come out with a vengeance next week in the desert.  

Twas' Ugly

This was an ugly win. As was much of Saturday. The thoughts have been spread around thusfar, but since work is calling today, I'll get my thoughts up later.

Friday Gator

I'm going to start a new feature here at the Hobnail Boot. We're gonna have a Gator Photo up every Friday just to remind us all why we are blessed to be Dawgs and not Gators. Here's candidate #1.

I don't know what's better, the man bag or the T-Bone tatoo?

Either way, here's to a great weekend and a victory against the 'Cocks. Go Dawgs!

It's the Apocalypse. No!!!!

Phil Steele is taking the upset even against his computers. I don't know what to think about that. (H/T: The Senator).

A Day for Remembrance

Normally, it's fun-loving Georgia Bulldog talk here, but today take a minute out of your day and have a moment of silence to remember our fallen from that terrible day seven years ago. It's a day I'll certainly never forget and one that deserves our remembrance.

Know Your Enemies - South Carolina Edition

Well, here's my first try at handicapping a Bulldog game this year:

Five Reasons Carolina Will Win:

(1) Do I even have to post this?

The simmered down Ball Coach still just reeks of evil.

Everyone that bleeds Red & Black knows that the Ole' Ball Coach has had a hankering for beating the living crap out of Georgia since we ruined his Heisman Trophy season more than 40 years ago. It seems every year, Spurrier will run those same bubble screens out to the receivers and somehow we'll miss tackles and give up larger gains than we should. Spurrier's offense has looked particularly atrocious at times the last two weeks, but I've got a feeling he's got something up his sleeve for the game this Saturday.

(2) Vanderbilt Redux.

You can't tell me those Carolina players won't be fired up to beat a Georgia team with SEC and national title aspirations after losing to Vanderbilt for the second time in as many years. This is a team that's going to be gunning for blood.

(3) September 4.

By playing that Vanderbilt loss on a Thursday, the Fightin' Cocks have 9 full days to prepare for the Bulldawgs. This gives them more time than normal to work out the kinks and perhaps get that offense rolling.

(4) That defense.

Have you watched the last two weeks? Carolina's defense has been downright scary at times. They completely shut down Vanderbilt for the better part of the game and made NC State look like they were setting offensive football back 30 years.

(5) Blair Walsh.

This is the real schedule. No more cupcakes to practice and show off how far we can kick the ball. Right now, kickoffs have been a problem for the 'Dawgs and Walsh has not been tested in a pressure situation. It seems like every year a few games come down to kicks for us. How many games were won/lost over the Mark Richt era because of Billy Bennett, Andy Bailey, or Brandon Coutu? Enough to worry about a freshman kicker in a hostile environment.

Five Reasons Why The Bulldogs Will Win:

(1) Matthew Stafford.

Remember Stafford's first major playing time? It was in Columbia two years ago when he was a blubbery, baby-faced freshman. He threw three INT's, but made a clutch play call change at the line that allowed Danny Ware to score a TD that basically put the game out of reach. He won't be intimidated by the crowd in Columbia, which might be the loudest stadium with the most rabid fanbase I've ever been to. You also can't discount his performance in last year's game, which was pretty pitiful. The way he's played thusfar this year, he looks heads and shoulders above the guy that lost in the Carolina game last year so I look to him to make big strides.

(2) Chris Smelley/Tommy Beecher/Stephen Garcia/whatever random Carolina fan Spurrier decides to plug in as QB.

If you haven't noticed, the 'Cocks have been having a few problems with the QB. If the QB's perform like they did against NC State or Vandy this one won't even be close. They got away with tons of interceptions because NC State nor Vandy have any offense to speak of. Let's see that fly against a good offense.

(3) Knowshon Moreno will touch the ball more than 14 times.

Last year Knowshow had 14 carries for 104 yards. If he touches the ball less than 14 times in the first half, I will be shocked. I think we'll see that Carolina defense get a healthy dose of 'Shon on Saturday. This team started rolling last year once Knowshon became the focal point of the offense and as the old quote goes "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I look for a big time game from Knowshon. Who knows, maybe Sportscenter might show a highlight of him this team, but only if he's in the background of Spurrier.

(4) Mark Richt.

The proclaimed "King of the Road" is at it again. The man just knows how to prepare a team to play in a hostile environment, evidenced by his road record in the SEC. After that win in Knoxville in 2001, I think Dawg fans realized this wasn't Jim Donnan or Ray Goff anymore and UGA wasn't going to lay down just because we were outside the hedges (except for Jacksonville, of course).

(5) Because it's South Carolina.

Come on. Yeah, our neighbors to the east every now and then come up and take a bite out of the 'Dawgs, but for the better part of this series, it's been pretty darn one-sided. The overall record following last year's loss "Between the Hedges" stands at a pretty robust 44-14-2. Georgia has won 73% of the games in the history of this "rivalry". That is astounding. Coming into this year South Carolina's overall record as a program was 521-523-44. They have to finish at least 7-5 this year to be .500 overall as a program. Is that mediocrity, or what?

Being from Augusta, this is the first time since 2001 that I won't be personally attending this game. So, I've got the beer, chips, and CBS HDTV ready to watch the Dawgs romp at 3:30 tomorrow. Despite all my talk earlier, my prediction:

Dawgs' 27 Carolina 13

Go Dawgs!!

More Updates Coming

As I mentioned earlier, the updates are going to keep flowing now that the craziness that has been my personal life the last few months has finally calmed down and now I can focus on more personal things: Georgia Bulldawgs! I added my earlier post over to Kyle's great website for all to see. Later, a preview of our mortal enemy for this week, South Carolina and the OBC.

Why It's Great to be a Bulldawg These Days

Obviously, I've not been posting much lately, but I'm trying to change that. Work and family obligations come up and since I'm the only one maintaining this site, the responsibilty falls on me to update it. Anyways, the reason for this post is that I keep seeing on various message boards and blogs is about how overrated these Bulldogs are this year and they are not a great team. Messages like "Bulldogs are overrated, the higher the ranking, the higher the fall". To all those spitting the vitriol, I say "BRING IT ON". For the better part of my 25 years on this Earth, autumn Saturdays in Athens have been a regular tradition. And also for the better part of my 25 years, the Bulldogs have been largely irrelevant not only in the national picture, but also the SEC picture. Sure, we had the occasional 1992 or 1997 seasons to perk up our hopes, but for most of my life I've known mediocrity, underachieving teams, incompetent coaches, boneheaded plays, freakish calls, and all the rest that has gone with this previously dormant program. And you know what, for all the badmouthing about this team, I've never enjoyed being a Bulldog fan and alum more than I have this past 11 months beginning in Jacksonville last year. For once, our team is relevant outside of the Georgia stateline. Other schools in the SEC now see us as a team that should they beat us, they've accomplished something. It's like Florida in the mid-90's, Tennessee in the late-90's and LSU for the better part of this decade. This last 11 months have really made me realize how lucky we are as a team to have a coach like Mark Richt. There are a lot of Bulldog fans out there very shortsighted that don't remember years like 1994 and losing to Tech, Tennessee, and Florida regularly. I do remember and that's what makes these days that much sweeter. You know, there's a chance the Dawgs could fall flat on their collective faces this year and screw the pooch by losing three or four games. Then all those Tech, Auburn, Florida, Tennessee, and Carolina haters will come out of the woodworks proclaiming how overrated we were and we never deserved those lofty expectations. And they'd be right. But you know what. Right, now I wouldn't have it any other way and I'm going to enjoy this season no matter what happens. Because in the end we are so much better off now as a program than we have been since a guy named Herschel decided to test the professional waters as a junior. My fellow Dawg fans, it has never been better to be a Dawg and as long as Coach Richt is at the helm, I don't see these level of expectations dropping anytime soon. We have become what we so wanted to be; the team that contends for titles every year. And we haven't been able to say that for awhile. Folks, it's gonna be a great ride no matter what happens this year and we are in good hands for the years to come.

Go Dawgs!