Georgia: Everything is Alright

Tony Barnhart (AKA: Mr. College Football) has a great blog post on the AJC.com about Mark Richt's success at Georgia, including the most wins and SEC wins out of any coach during his time here. It's a good read, although it ends with the doom and gloom of the Gator Empire. Check it out.

Why the Dawgs Should be Bearded

(Note: The following post is completely ridiculous and purposefully unsubstantiated.)
(Note #2: Click the title of this post to see pictures in full size.)

David Hale at the Bulldogs Blog wrote on Thursday that Georgia's head football coach Mark Richt is tightening the rules for players this spring, by making tucking in shirts and snapping chin straps mandatory. It seems that enforcing small rules such as these actually helps players to find more success academically and to stay out of trouble when not on the practice field. I love the fact that the coaching staff and the players are working hard to succeed on and off the field, but I believe that one aspect of the new rules program is restricting something that is natural and glorious in God's creation of man (and some women): the beard.

According to Coach Richt, the players used to be allowed to have facial hair, as long as it was trimmed and neatly presented. Now, however, prohibition of beards will be in full force.

Shocked and confused, I commented on David's blog, asking if I read the quotes correctly. He replied that although beards will be allowed during the spring (and summer I presume), in the fall, hair "from the lip down" will be punishable (by death, I presume. Or running laps).

I simply don't understand. Beards are the purest symbol of manliness, an outward expression of the strength and boldness of all that is male. Beards also symbolize wisdom and experience, and thus should be worn by our team's leaders.



Besides, plenty of famous athletes have beards, sometimes even during the best parts of their sports careers.

Ben Roethlisberger recently led the Pittsburgh Steelers to win SuperBowl XLIII, all while sporting a goatee+moustache combo.


Brian McCann, one of the Atlanta Braves' star players and representative in the past 3 MLB All Star Games, almost always sports a full beard, which is possibly responsible for his strength and finesse while hitting homeruns with ease.

And this is Rasputin. As far as I know, he was never an athlete in any sport, but he did have a pretty awesome beard. With a beard like this representing his manliness, it's no surprise that it took him getting stabbed, shot multiple times, clubbed, and thrown into an icy river to finally die. In other words, he'd probably be able to take plenty of hits at the running back position.


Now I understand that allowing facial hair above the lips means that moustaches are alright, but not all moustaches. For instance, the "fu manchu" 'stache by definition reaches below the lips on the sides of the mouth. So, Coach Richt, if these rules really are to be enforced, you won't be able to pace the sidelines wearing one of these.


Sorry, Coach, but rules are rules.

In Honor of The Dark Knight: Demarcus Dobbs

The Georgia Bulldogs are already being plagued by injuries again, this time even earlier in the off-season. The Bulldogs Blog reports that DE Demarcus Dobbs broke a bone in his foot on Thursday, will require surgery, and will unfortunately miss the rest of spring practice.

This is bad news for us, considering the defensive end position is already very thin. Also, in my opinion, Dobbs is the defensive hero we need.

Demarcus Dobbs is often overlooked after his moments of glory pass by. Last season, all eyes were on the stars of the team, who all deservedly attracted attention with big plays and athletic skill. Dobbs, however, had big moments too. In my opinion, they were some of the biggest moments of the season.

In the Central Michigan game, the second game of the year, Georgia was up 21 to 0. The game clearly going well, but CMU was nearing the endzone at the end of the first half. That is when this happened:



That was one of the most fun moments I've ever experienced in Sanford Stadium. As Dobbs was making his way down the field, we were cheering and screaming at the top of our lungs, trying to somehow help him get to the endzone. After the score, the crowd was going wild. I don't know if you'll ever see a stadium get that loud and have that much fun when the game is such a clear blowout. Why? Because it wasn't about the score of the game at that point, it was just about a great play that Dobbs made and how the crowd reacted to it. The speakers started playing the "I Put On" song, everyone was dancing on the sidelines and in the stands, and a great time was had by all.

Unfortunately, every game of the season wasn't that fun. Bad things happened when Alabama came to town, when the Dawgs visited Jacksonville for the yearly "party." Then came the game at Kentucky. After a very rough game, the Bulldogs were up 42-38 with only a little time left. Kentucky started to make their way down the field for a final attempt to come back and win it. They came up short, but defensive penalties helped them keep moving. This game was looking VERY BAD as Kentucky was getting closer to the endzone; all they needed was a touchdown to win it, and they were in our redzone.



Demarcus Dobbs single-handedly (literally) sealed the victory for Georgia that day, as he went up with one hand to bring down the interception. (seen at 1:15 in the video above)

This play wasn't as fun (considering plenty of Georgia fans like myself were holding our breaths and about to pass out on that last drive), but it was HUGE nevertheless. Without Dobbs going up there and getting that ball, Georgia may have not reached the 10 win mark last season, something that we all take pride in.

A while ago on some of the online message boards I mentioned how it bothered me that everyone called Tim Tebow "Superman." For that matter, the media loves to compare almost any great sports player "Superman," as if it's a compliment. In my opinion, Superman is one of the worst superheros, with the leggings, terrible disguise (taking off glasses), and boring alter-ego.

I then decided that if we had a hero on our Georgia Bulldogs football team, it would be a hero for the people. Someone who, despite being often overlooked and underestimated, would continue to patrol the shadows of the football field, waiting for the moment that an evildoer throws the ball up for grabs, and then leaps up and takes it, bringing justice and excitement to the people of Sanford Stadium city.

By day, this hero would be Demarcus Dobbs. But at night (gamedays), this hero would become.... The Dark Knight.



In all seriousness, I (along with the Bulldog Nation) want to wish Demarcus Dobbs a quick and easy recovery, and we look forward to seeing him this fall, getting it done for the team and the school. Thanks for being a great Dawg Demarcus, and get well soon.

Here's a kicker for you

Well, although not many on the blogosphere seemed to have had as many worries as me about Georgia's kicking situation this off-season, it looks like I was wrong to worry.

The Bulldogs Blog posted this morning that we have a new recruit, Brandon Bogotay from Grossmont College in California. 15 of 23 on field goals isn't too bad, but what I'm hoping for is someone who can kick it out of the endzone on kickoffs.

UPDATE:

Marc Weiszer at the Online Athens blog has an update with some more information and quotes from Coach Mark Richt. On that blog there's also a link to a video of Bogotay in action, and near half way through it you get to see him do a lot of kickoffs, most of which appear to be VERY long and out of the back of the endzone. Exciting stuff.

Is it alright to say "We" when talking about your team?

Some guy named Kent made a post on some website about how fans should never, ever, under any circumstances, say "we" when referring to their favorite football team.

Sometimes, the things people say make you WANT to agree with this guy. For example, hearing Tech fans say, "We finally beat you! WE have bragging rights!" I just want to say, "Actually, you didn't. The football team you root for beat the football team I root for. I don't see why I personally should be embarrassed about that." (and I'm not)

But then, on the other hand, everyone knows that no sport exists without the fans, especially college football. College football is built around universities, places where thousands of students pay money to be members, where faculty and staff work to be members. It's a large network of interconnected people, all PART of the school in some way or another, even from the newest freshman to the president of the administration.

And then of course we have the donors, the life-long supporters and fans who, even if they never attended the university in any way, do give their money, time, and cheers to help the school, program, and team carry on, hire/pay coaches, staff, and scholarships for players. And the sports teams, like our Georgia Bulldogs, are a part of the university as well. In other words, anyone associated with the whole thing in any way, can technically refer to it as a collective "WE."

All of these people give SOMETHING to the University in SOME WAY to support it, which in turn helps the sports teams, and thus our football team. Without the students, faculty, staff, and donors, our university wouldn't exist, and clearly that would mean no football. Without money, UGA's athletic association wouldn't be able to hire coaches, provide scholarships for players, build and maintain stadiums, or keep grass on the field.

Finally, being part of the "we" can have a much more direct effect, in my opinion. Everyone knows how much crowd noise can affect the players on the field, and thus the events of the game. If you go out by Sanford Stadium in the fall during the week, you can hear extremely loud cheering and drums coming from the stadium, even when no fans are there. Why? Because our coaches know how important crowd noise is, and they simulate the sounds of a game while the players practice to help them adjust.

Imagine being a quarterback for a college football team, coming out onto a field surrounded by 93,000 people who are screaming at the top of their lungs against you, and you're trying to stay calm and make good decisions.

The fans, especially at their home games, certainly DO make a difference in games.

So in conclusion, if you have never spent a cent on a university or its sports program, if you've never had any official ties to the institution or its sports, and you've never attended a single game, you may look a little stupid calling yourself "we."

But I have a pretty good feeling that those types are few and far between.

WE ARE GEORGIA. GO DAWGS

Georgia's newest recruit, and the pre-Spring Depth Chart

Everyone please welcome Orson Charles to the Bulldog Nation.



Unfortunately, the video above has no sound. I think due to copyright laws, they had to take their music out. But just imagine the UGA fight song playing behind that stuff.

In other news, the Bulldogs Blog has the pre-Spring depth chart for the football team. Keep in mind that those injured currently aren't on the chart.

Anyone remember to find a kicker?

David Hale over at the Bulldogs Blog had some interesting news about Georgia's search for a kick-off specialist: it apparently never happened.

Does anyone remember last season? Remember how difficult it was for our kickers to get the ball to the endzone on kickoffs, often resulting in the opponent starting around our 40 yard line? And then remember how Coach Richt (jokingly) said we would give two scholarships to someone who could kick the ball out of the endzone? Well, either they couldn't find anyone who could kick that far (unlikely), we were out of scholarships to give, or it was just forgotten and ignored.

So despite the kickoff troubles last season, we remain with Blair Walsh and two walk-ons who were already on the team, Andrew Jensen and Jamie Lendley.

There was also a bit of worry over freshman kicker Blair Walsh's season on field goals.

After starting 1 for 1 with a 52 yarder against Georgia Southern (which was admittedly very exciting), he was sent out to try a 57 yarder in the next game against Central Michigan, but that miss was very understandable. The Arizona State game saw his next miss, but it was another 50+ attempt.

But things went downhill starting with the Vanderbilt game at home. Up until that point, he was 10/12, and things were looking fine. But from that game onward, he finished the year 4/10, with only one of those attempts being 5o+ yards, and only 2 of those being 40+. Most frightening, there were two misses during the Florida game in Jacksonville, VERY close to being good, but missed from 37 and 27 yards. Good kicks there could have made a difference in that game. (But the weather wasn't great, and the wind was blowing, so it's hard to cast blame for those two misses.)

One thing I was asking for in the Capital One Bowl game was for Walsh to redeem himself and help us regain confidence by hitting a long one, and he sort of did with a good 32 yarder.

But it does make one wonder: Is our kicking (kickoffs AND field goals) really set and prepared for next season? For that matter, are our special teams as a whole going to get better?

They don't seem like huge problems, and maybe that's why they are generally ignored. But there's no doubt that those kickoffs, field goals, punts, etc. are very important throughout every game. Speaking of, things weren't exactly looking great for kick/punt returns either.

Let's just hope our coaches are well aware of this issue and are secretly working things out. I would guess they are.

Concluding on the last forbidden question

First off, I know it's been a while since I've posted on here. My last topic caused some fuss over at the Dawgpost on scout.com, and I guess I should have seen that coming. Aside from it being a very controversial topic that no one really wants to think about, it also had a couple of overlooked flaws. As some pointed out, if Georgia was to lose only one game next season, then it surely would not affect our winning of the SEC East if we lost to only one West team (because then, of course, we assume we'd win out in the SEC East, which would give us an automatic trip to the SEC Championship).

Therefore, perhaps Arkansas could... maybe be less devastating than a loss to OSU in the season opener. Or at least this is what some pointed out on the forums. Arkansas will be an away game, and relatively early in the season, which gives us a couple of the criteria I proposed before. Only problem is that Arkansas will likely be unranked when we play them, and it is an SEC game, but in hindsight and as explained before, that shouldn't matter. BUT, Oklahoma State will have a lot more eyes watching it, and a lot of hype going into it. Losing that game would surely have a greater stigma in the eyes of the media and fans than would a "fluke" loss to Arkansas (which would perhaps be seen as similar to UF's loss to Ole Miss last year, or USC losing at Oregon State).

Nevertheless, this is a pointless discussion. Of course we all want UGA to go undefeated, and we hope and expect to win every game.

I just thought it would be an interesting hypothetical question, but I still don't have a perfect answer. If you dare to explore such a disturbing, terrible question, which would you choose? A highly ranked Oklahoma State in the season opener on national television? Or an unranked Arkansas? Or some other?

Reply if you want, but as far as I'm concerned, no more posting on this topic. Moving onto new controversial things now.

Could Oklahoma State be the best game to lose in 09?

I figured I'd go ahead and put this out here since I've started seeing discussion about predictions for next season. I can't believe we're still 6 months away from college football becoming the main topic again. But nevertheless...

I haven't yet written down my predictions for 09, but I will sooner or later, because even though it's likely a huge waste of time, it's fun to look back and see what you thought would happen.

But one thing I have thought about extensively is the idea of "if UGA had to lose one game next season, who would be the best team to lose to?" Now I'm not saying that I necessarily think that Georgia will only lose one game next season. I haven't really thought through it much, but that would be a pretty bold prediction. But assuming we were to lose one game only, who should we lose to?

I'm thinking Oklahoma State.

Strange right? Our first game could be the best to lose?

Here's why.

1. It's a well known fact that it's always better to lose your games as early as possible in the season. This way, not only do the voters forget about it after a few weeks, but you also have plenty of time to win big games and work your way back up in the rankings. Oklahoma State happens to be our first game of the season, therefore you can't find an earlier game to lose. It would be best to get 1 loss over with, assuming we only have one loss.

2. It's also well known that when you lose a game, you usually want to lose to a highly ranked opponent (as opposed to an unranked team). This one is pretty obvious. We know that Oklahoma State will be at least ranked in the preseason top 25, likely in the top 20, and possibly in the top 10. Given that this is the first game of the season, we luckily don't have to worry about OSU losing to some D1-AA team the week before us to take away from our game or the strength of our opponent (as happened last year with Arizona State and South Carolina). Don't forget that losses tend to look better when they are away from home, especially long distances. It also doesn't hurt that Oklahoma State got a lot of hype last year, and so did the Big 12 (which is going to be continually argued as perhaps the best conference). But this doesn't all guarantee why OSU could be our best game to lose.

3. Finally, we want to win the SEC. We know by now that the only possible chance we have at playing in the National Championship game is to win the East, and then win the conference. With likely very strong competition from a weak-scheduled Florida, and maybe some surprises from other usual suspects (UT, USC, UK), we need to win EVERY SEC game we can, including the ones against West teams. Nothing speaks more highly of a team than winning the SEC, especially if a team goes undefeated in the SEC. Therefore, if we want to lose one game, it almost surely should be against a out of conference opponent.

So, according to the critera, the best loss would be:
1. Early in the season
2. Against a highly ranked opponent (and away from home)
3. Against an out of conference team

In other words: Oklahoma State

The only problem I can see with this is that the game should get plenty of attention, so a loss will be well noticed by everyone. But as I said before, with a long college football season to follow that, probably with Georgia facing multiple top 25 opponents, we'll have a good shot to climb back up in the polls (and, if we get it done on the field, play in the SEC championship).

I'm well aware that some of these criteria occasionally don't matter. For instance, Florida's loss last year to Ole Miss (at the time an unranked opponent). Remember though, that UF's loss was relatively early in the season, and one SEC loss didn't really affect them in the conference race. Another example would be LSU in 2007, who lost 2 conference games, including an end of the season at home loss to Arkansas. Well, needless to say, the Tigers were pretty lucky that the SEC West was so down that season, and they got to go to the big games. But this is surely an outlier and unusual.

End Note: Once again, I'm not predicting one loss for Georgia next season, nor am I predicting that we will lose to Oklahoma State. For that matter, I hope we don't lose to Oklahoma State, or anyone. I just find it interesting that perhaps the least harmful game we could lose this coming season might just be our first.

What does everyone else think?

Of Blog Starts and Jerseys

Well, here is the brand new, likely to be a disaster Dancing in the Endzone blog debut. I find myself spending way too much time making long, analytical reports to post on Georgia football message boards, only to find my posts become thread killers and disappear into the archival wastes. Now, with this blog, I can waste my time putting those posts somewhere I can keep track of, and hopefully, people will come on here to comment and discuss some in depth Georgia topics. So please do leave some words in the comments section. Other than that, I don't know what else to say other than welcome....

But let's just jump right into the good stuff.

The other day, I found myself walking into the UGA Bookstore (on campus) to buy some staples for a mini stapler. Interestingly enough, little tiny boxes of staples can be found in the very back of the store, which is about a mile walk. But that's not the point.

The point it, I noticed all of the old #7 and #24 jerseys gathering dust on the racks. I couldn't help but wonder, "When are they going to take these old ones out and put some new ones in?" But then I thought, "Wait... which jersey numbers are they going to replace them with?"

Will #14's show up in a few months, after our fearless new leader Joe Cox puts on a great performance at the G-Day Game? Maybe #8's seem like the most likely, considering AJ Green already has cemented himself in freshman phenom lore. Could #4 or #6 show up in the fall, depending on the playing time and what we see from Caleb King and backup QB Logan Gray? Or will some other number, that no one has noticed as much, become the new trend for the Bulldog Nation, as a new leader and Bulldog icon will rise forth before 93,000 cheering fans?

Interesting questions that only time will tell. I'm curious to see what others think.