Say Goodbye to Dreams of Mullen

A while ago, after Mississippi State's loss to LSU, I wrote this post explaining why I didn't think Dan Mullen would be a good choice for UGA if we were to make a coaching change in the near future.

Now it appears that Mullen has tried to emphatically pronounce to UGA that he is not the guy for the job.  First, his Bizarro Bulldogs were dominated by the real Dawgs between the hedges on Saturday.  We all know that the final score of 24-10 does not properly illustrate the true embarrassment suffered by the cowbell ringers, as Mark Richt and co. apparently decided that Georgia had enough points at the half and could just mess around a little in the 2nd and practice (poorly) field goal kicking.

Not only did Mullen's rising power in the west have a horrible day in Athens, but he seemed to have let his squad run out and celebrate midfield before the game even began, causing a bit of a scuffle between the teams.  Of course, Mullen claims that his team didn't mean to disrespect anyone, and it was clearly a Georgia player who started the whole thing.  Just to make himself sound more guilty, he also threw in that his team "won't back down" to anybody, and as the attacking UGA players approached, his innocent guys just wouldn't back down.  Too bad they aren't as tough on the field during the game.

Here is a video of the incident below (courtesy of ecdawg1).  It replays in slow motion toward the end so you can clearly see the MSU players rushing the G, and then the UGA players coming out toward them.  And at 1:17, you can see Mullen smiling while the refs are breaking it up.



Finally, Mullen perhaps also allowed one (if not more) of his players to... relieve themselves on the hedges, as photo evidence here purportedly shows.

This guy really knows how to build a résumé.   

Welcome Back to the Backfield, Mr. Samuel

First off, thanks to the person who wrote three enormous comments on my last post about Tech.  They were very enlightening.

Second, Richard Samuel is back at RB.  Some may worry that this is a sign of things not looking so great in the current backfield of Crowell, Malcome, Thomas, and Harton.  Others are quietly excited that maybe Samuel has the experience and motivation to actually compete and play at the position this year, or at least to provide good depth in case of disaster.  

If you look for Samuel's player page on ESPN.com, you won't find any rushing stats right away.  It does, however, list his tackles in 2009... while playing RB.  (Just click on stats to see his rushing numbers)

Quick stats from 2009: Samuel rushed 88 attempts for 395 yards, for an average of 4.5 ypc, a long of 80, and 2 TDs.  

Below is evidence of the said 80 yard run.  Look at 'dem wheels.  

Welcome back to the backfield, Mr. Samuel.  Good luck, and Godspeed.

UGA Returning Percentages 2011 Edition: Rushing

Yes I am reusing my photos.

So now football practice has resumed and it's springtime, which means there's really not going to be any real news other than funny little anecdotes and interviews with players/coaches for a while.  That means it's time for the fun stuff: NUMBERS.

You may remember last year when I looked at the numbers of what percentage of yards, touchdowns, tackles, sacks, and other fun stats were returning for Georgia's team. Maybe the most exciting fact I found was that UGA was returning EVERY rushing yard from 2009 to 2010.  Of course, that changed slightly when only days later running back Dontavius Jackson decided to transfer, leaving us 38 yards shy of that achievement.  But still, I thought that the returning rushing experience was a great sign for how the team would perform in that area in the fall of 2010, and I even found an interesting pattern that showed a correlation between large returning rushing percentages and success in the following season.  Needless to say, that didn't turn out to be the case in 2010.

But why not look at it again for this year?

Going into 2011, UGA is once again losing very little from the rushing department (percentage-wise).  This is mostly due to Georgia losing no running backs, but both experienced fullbacks (Shaun Chapas, Fred Munzenmaier) have departed, along with AJ Green and Logan Gray (both having a handful of rushing yards last season).

Even with those four players leaving and taking a total of 118 yards with them, the numbers look very, very nice.

• UGA is losing about 6% of the 1854 rushing yards from 2010, which means a return of 94%.

• Shaun Chapas did have 2 rushing TDs in 2010 which accounted for 9.5% of the 21 total rushing touchdowns, so without those, UGA returns just over 90% of rushing scores.

Now of course in 2010, the returning rushing percentages didn't account to much, which was unusual according to recent trends.  We'll have to wait and see if things will be different this season, and we have yet to see how Ken Malcome or new recruit Isaiah Crowell might contribute to the rushing numbers.

Rating this Season's Opponents

Here's my very subjective list of this year's most difficult games, based on not just each team's talent, but also where the game is played and when it appears on our schedule.

1. Florida: Even if UF isn't the best team we'll play this year, Jacksonville hasn't been kind to us much for a couple of decades.

2. @Oklahoma State: OSU may be overhyped and the Dawgs could have a great game here, but their offense is clearly talented, the game is in their new stadium in another part of the country, and it's the season opener, leaving a lot of questions to be answered come September 5.

3. @Tennessee: No one will probably agree with me here, but I think this game looks really difficult from a distance. Bad memories come to mind when I think of the last time we played in Neyland Stadium. Even if UT is having another bad season by game 6, this game looms large like a "trap." Also, it comes right after LSU at home.

4. LSU: Most will have LSU much higher on their lists (probably #2 even), but I'm not seeing it. LSU will almost surely be undefeated coming into Athens (playing Washington, Vandy, UL-Lafayette and Miss. State to start the season) and riding high in the rankings. UGA might even be lower ranked and have a chance to play an upset between the hedges. There will be plenty of motivation for us to win this big game at home, but LSU will obviously be a very talented team as they always are.

5. @Georgia Tech: I struggle even putting Tech this high on here, but I will. It all depends on what happens in the ACC and with the triple option "run, run, or run?" offense in year 2. At this point, I'm confident that by the end of the regular season our UGA team will have things figured out enough to be able to win this one. Even if Tech is doing well I'd still feel pretty confident about this game. But if UGA somehow is undefeated or with 1-loss going to Atlanta with a lot on the line, this game will worry me, as it should everyone.

6. South Carolina: Once again, they aren't looking like too big of a threat in the SEC, but they love to be an upset. If UGA comes out of Stillwater with a big win, this game looks like a big trap.

7. @Arkansas: They're a favorite pick to be a "surprise" team in the SEC this year, so they aren't to be taken lightly. But like some have said, it may be good that we catch them early in the season.

8. Auburn: They're going to have to win again sometime, and I'm sure they'd love it to be this year. If Auburn is much improved, they could be coming to Athens with only 2 or 3 losses and motivation toward the end of the season.

9. Arizona State: Don't know too much of what to expect from this ASU team that was embarrassed last year. But an out of conference game will likely be hyped up and could be an early test for the Dawgs, not to mention it comes a week before LSU.

10. @Vanderbilt: This game gets the nod over Kentucky simply based on where the game is played. Last time UGA played at Vandy, things were very stressful, but of course a close win helped to spark a great 2nd half of the season in 07.

11. Kentucky: At home and against a UK team with low expectations. Also the second-to-last game of the season, so we should have things pretty figured out by then.

12. Tennessee Tech: We better not lose this game.

I know, some of them appear strange. Have your own opinion on the matter? Post it in the comments.