College Football
New To The Hive
By: TJ Hartnett
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
After Paul Johnson retired from coaching the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team after 11 seasons, there was a big ACC hole to fill. They filled it with former Tech assistant and erstwhile Temple head coach Geoff Collins.
Collins was 15-10 for the past two seasons at Temple and before that worked as the defensive coordinator at both Florida and Mississippi State. He began his career in Atlanta as a tight ends coach for the Jackets under George O’Leary and also worked as a recruiting coordinator for Chan Gailey in 2006.
This amounts to a dream job for Collins, a Conyers native, who has already been on the recruiting trail since being hired last month.
Collins has fairly sizeable shoes to fill: Johnson managed 82 wins during his stint, against 59 losses; the Yellow Jackets also made three ACC Championship game appearances. Last season they finished 7-5.
In addition to recruiting, Collins has spent his time filling out his coaching staff for the upcoming season.
His first move was to bring on former Yellow Jackets running back Tashard Choice as the running backs coach. The former NFL player spent the past two seasons at North Texas as an assistant and RB coach.
Collins followed that hire up by adding Kerry Dixon and Lewis Caralla. Dixon will be the Jackets’ wide receivers coach. He held the same job in the past at the University of Florida, where he first ran into his new boss.
Caralla will serve as Tech’s strength and conditioning coach, the same position he held in Buffalo. He was an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Yellow Jackets in 2010 and 2011.
Collins brought a familiar face with him from Pennsylvania, former Temple assistant Nathan Burton, a Teaching graduate, who joins the staff as a co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
Collins has also brought on Boise State coach Jeff Popovich to coach GT’s cornerbacks and coordinator of defensive special teams.
Larry Knight, Jim Panagos and Chris Wiesehan have also been added to Collins’ staff. Knight will serve as defensive ends/outside linebackers coach; Panagos as defensive line coach; and Wiesehan as tight ends coach/offensive special teams coordinator.
Additionally, Knight will carry the title of defensive recruiting coordinator. Tashard Choice, previously hired as the Yellow Jackets’ running backs coach, will serve as the program’s offensive recruiting coordinator.
Collins followed those hires up with a pair of steals; first swiping Patrick Suddes from Auburn to run his recruiting office, then taking Brent Key from Nick Saban to serve as assistant head coach. Key, another Tech graduate, has been coaching Alabama’s best-in-the-nation offensive line for the past three seasons.
While that seemed to close the book on Georgia Tech’s staff, this week Collins created and filled four new positions that did not exist during Paul Johnson’s tenure in charge.
Football research and analytics coordinator Pat Boyle, analysts Joe Battaglia (offense) and Ronell Williams (defense) and brand manager Santino Stancato all jumped ship with Collins from Temple.
With a new cohort of coaches and assistants (and a brand manager, of course), the Geoff Colllins era at Georgia Tech is ready to begin in earnest.
With so many staff members from Georgia, much like Collins himself, and/or doubling as graduates from the very institution they now work for, local recruiting is sure to be a focus, and strength, of this team.
Choice in particular brings a youth and energy to the staff that did not exist during the Paul Johnson era.
Despite his predecessor’s successes, Collins decided to start entirely fresh when he took over the job in December. Soon, the time will come for these new faces to prove what they can do.
SEC Stock Report
By: Kipp Branch
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
My annual SEC football stock report? Let’s take a look at the SEC Football Stock report currently after the completion of the 2018 football season.
Alabama: Hold for now. Good historical producing stock that is one of the top investments out there. CEO was the best, but may have lost his fire. Been a top producer for over a decade now. After a hostile takeover by Clemson the stock may have peaked watch this one closely but hold for now.
Arkansas: Buy for now. Second year CEO at the helm with expansion into the Texas marketplace as his top priority. First full recruiting class was solid. This stock is worth a small investment.
Auburn: Dump it. This company has the most overpriced CEO in the business. Dump this stock now. This stock will bounce back under new leadership eventually. Once a new CEO is hired then buy it all. Watch how this stock implodes next fall. Don’t get caught holding this stock. Sentimental stock holders end up being broke.
Florida: Buy as much as you can. This stock is valuable once again. New CEO has built this brand back into a top tier stock. Still a year away, but buy now and watch your value increase over time. UCF tried to play hardball with this stock, but learned that this stock is the most prized in the Sunshine State and calls the shots.
Georgia: Buy it. This stock is one of the best in the business. Top producer that lost a little value over the holidays, but will peak in 2019, 2020, and beyond.
Kentucky: Sell. Other divisions are steady performers, but this football brand peaked in earnings last fall and will start dropping in value. Get what you can now for it and take a nice vacation. This stock booms every 30 or so years.
LSU: Hold. CEO performed better than expected in 2018. Traditional producing stock, but time will tell if this CEO has it in him to keep all stakeholders happy. Hold for now and gobble it up if this brand starts peaking next fall.
Mississippi State: Sell. This is a worthless penny stock that is a traditional loser. If you own this stock please don’t tell anyone and dump it quickly.
Ole Miss: Buy. This stock endured some tough times, but the forecast looks good in future. It’s a light snack, but will be a producer once again.
Mizzou: Buy. This stock was a producer in 2018 and the trend will continue in 2019 with a new field general with a terrific resume.
South Carolina: Dump it. This stock resides in tough marketplace where it looks up to top cat Clemson and rise in value looks bleak short term. Reminds me of Sears trying to compete with Walmart/Target/Amazon. You want it to do well but who in the hell is going to invest in it?
Texas A&M: Buy everything in sight. New CEO brought in at $75 million, and the cash reserves in this company are through the roof. New CEO turned a huge profit immediately and the stockholders are just plain giddy for what the future holds. I bought a few shares of this stock personally.
Tennessee: Hold. This stock has bottomed out and has nowhere else to go but up. This stock is showing signs of a huge rebound. The hope is that the new offensive coordinator doesn’t eat up the profits. Watch this stock closely. Be ready to buy at a moment’s notice.
Vanderbilt: Hold. This stock holds its value quite nicely. Hold what you have but don’t invest in more of it. One of the better CEO’s out there that gets the most he can out of this stock. You would love for this stock to spike through the roof just once before you die.
College football season goes by so quickly. Money never sleeps, however.
Keep That Window Open
By: Mike Anthony
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
Winning an FBS national championship has to be one of the toughest things to do in all of sports.
As it stands, the current setup of a four-team playoff for the national title – and decisions that have been made by the playoff committee in choosing those teams in recent years – have made it clear that only the well-known, well-financed, heavy hitters of the ‘Power 5’ conferences have a seat at the table.
And even amongst that small subset, there are myriad hurdles that can derail a promising September outlook and leave it well short of postseason expectations.
With college rosters constantly in flux, many teams (with the apparent exceptions of Alabama and Clemson) only figure to have one or two shots in any five-year timeframe at making a national championship run.
Georgia fans should take plenty of pride in what the Bulldogs were able to accomplish over the last two seasons, but that also comes with tons of ‘what-ifs’ and the creeping sense that another run at a national championship could take some time to materialize.
Georgia saw its perfect storm come together in 2017. The Bulldogs were every bit the national power they were expected to be. They took care of business in the regular season and were able to avoid a date with Alabama in the SEC Championship game, winning a league title before coming within a play or two of upsetting the Crimson Tide in a title game that was UGA’s for the taking.
A wealth of returning talent this season gave UGA the second chance that many schools never receive. Georgia had the benefit of a returning starter at quarterback, a nasty defense, one of the nation’s best kickers and a head coach who was fast becoming one of the biggest names in the game.
But the stars never quite aligned for the Bulldogs. UGA laid a regular season egg at LSU and after keeping itself in the playoff discussion down the stretch, blew a pair of big leads against Alabama in the SEC championship game.
Crazier years in the FBS may have seen fewer undefeated teams or more drama in the closing weeks, but there was little argument to be made that a two-loss Georgia team belonged in the playoff, even as it had given Alabama its biggest scare of the season up to that point.
Such is the nature of college football for the small group of teams that are always hopeful to be in the mix.
It seems to be a prerequisite that a spot as a Power 5 school and at least one marquee win is required for admission into the postseason party.
A couple dozen schools can claim to have that profile at the beginning of each season, but four months of unpredictability in both opponents and team health never fails to lay waste to most of those dreams.
And that’s where UGA will begin 2019.
The Bulldogs will still have a stud quarterback and a hot-list coach. Their kicker will be back again to lean on in close games and the defense will likely be stout once again.
But the window is closing. The list of key graduating starters, early entrants into the NFL draft and transfers to other programs is already over a dozen and may still grow.
Georgia is bound to be a good team once again in 2019, but the cruel nature of FBS football will force UGA to take two years’ worth of heartbreak and force it to start from square one once again with even fewer certainties than it has had in its two best runs in the last quarter-century.
Winning isn’t easy. Even harder is having to fall all the way down the hill after coming so close, only to try and regroup to make the summit attempt once again.
Bouncing Bama
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
Going into the college football season the top two teams were Clemson and Alabama. They met in the national championship again this year, making their fourth consecutive match up in the College Football Playoff. Most of us expected these two teams to play but the outcome was shocking.
The Tigers trounced Bama 44 – 16. This is the largest margin of defeat in the Nick Saban era in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide got out played and out coached.
Since the national title game last year, the media has hyped up Tua Tagovailoa and rightfully so. Tua has struggled against elite competition and that played a factor in the blowout loss.
He threw two interceptions that resulted in 14 points for the Tigers. The first was returned 44 yards for a touchdown only 100 seconds into the game.
The Tide also had six penalties for 60 yards.
“I just have a feeling that I didn’t do a very good job for our team, with our team, giving them the best opportunity to be successful,” Saban said. “I always feel that way, even sometimes when we win, I think there’s things we could do better or that I could have done better.”
“But particularly in this case, never really ever got comfortable with what we needed to do to win this game, especially on defense, especially the matchups we had in our secondary versus their receivers. That was something that was kind of bothering me going into the game, and as the game unfolded, it worked out that those matchups were a big difference in the game.”
Alabama came back to take a 16 – 14 lead in the second quarter before the wheels fell off. Saban seemed to feel the pressure and made some very puzzling moves.
They struggled in the red zone and ran one the worst fake field goal I’ve ever seen in the third quarter. On fourth and six they snapped the ball to holder Mac Jones and kicker Joseph Bulovas was the lead blocker (no, seriously). He ran right into Clemson’s elite defensive line to lose yards.
One big take away from this game is true freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence is a stud. I knew he was the projected top overall pick in 2020 but I thought the moment might be too big for him right now.
Lawrence threw for 347 yards, 3 touchdowns, completed 63% of his passes and did not turn the ball over. I’m expecting him to be the Heisman front runner next year.
True freshman receiver and Alabama native Justyn Ross had another huge game. He had 6 receptions for 153 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore running back Travis Etienne ran for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The Tigers only had 1 penalty for 12 yards. They converted on 66% of third downs.
“There was a lot of talk about best ever, all year long,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “We were never in that conversation.”
This is the first time I’ve seen a team with more speed and athleticism against Alabama. Clemson looks like the team of the future but I wouldn’t panic yet if I were an Alabama fan.
They have the topped rated recruiting class coming in this year. The Tigers are also losing several senior defensive linemen.
I fully expect to see a rematch in the playoffs next season.
Groundhog Day
By: JJ Lanier
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
After four months, what has to be close to a thousand games, and countless hours of my life I’ll never get back listening to people complain about who made the college playoffs and how many teams should be included, we end the season right where most thought we would before it even started; Alabama and Clemson, battling it out for the national title. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I know there’s some fatigue going into tonight’s national championship game since this is the fourth year in a row both teams will have met in the playoffs, with three of those meetings for the national title. But as much as people like to compare it to the Golden State/Cleveland series, and their four straight matchups, this budding rivalry between the two premier programs in college football is much more compelling.
Throughout the season Alabama and Clemson have been the two best teams. There may have been a couple that could make an argument for a week or two, but nobody has consistently been as dominant as either of them.
It’s hard to see where the advantages are, too. Normally each team has a glaring weakness, if not two, the other team tries to exploit.
However, tonight it’s going to come down to scheme and execution. I know that’s not a very insightful analysis, but neither team really has any major deficiencies.
Both teams’ strength is their defense; they both have a strong running game that enables them to control the time of possession, as well as the ability to milk the clock when needed; and both have quarterbacks that more than lives up to the hype and are able to score points in a hurry.
As great a coach as Nick Saban is, it’s not like Dabo Swinney is the college version of Rich Kotite. Both coaches are great with in game adjustments and have obviously proven they aren’t afraid to make a gutsy decision with their season on the line.
As great as the play on the field promises to be, the mental matchup between these two might be even greater.
I think Alabama is the more talented squad, so if they play up to the level, they’re capable of I believe Saban will walk away with his seventh national championship. The Crimson Tide will have to play that well though, because Clemson isn’t too far behind.
The Tigers are deep and skilled at every position, and are not intimidated.
When it comes to titles games, whether it’s college or professional, all you can hope for is a well-played game that has some semblance of tension at the end.
I understand fans may feel like they’re living their own personal version of “Groundhog Day” and would love to see someone else in the title. It’s hard to root for either team when they’ve already gotten an embarrassment of riches. I mean, even during all those Warriors/Cavs series, there wasn’t much question as to who the superior team was.
With all due respect to teams like Georgia, Ohio State, and Oklahoma, these have been the two best teams all year and deserve to be in this game. As exciting as their first two games were this one has the potential to be just as good.
It may be a story we’ve all seen before, but it’s a hell of a good one.
Alabama 30, Clemson 24.
Sour Sugar Bowl
By: Kipp Branch
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
Georgia got whipped in the Sugar Bowl by a Texas team that had something to prove and the Longhorns came out and took it to Georgia; winning the Sugar Bowl 28-21. The Dawgs ended the season with two straight losses, but great lessons come from a little adversity.
Georgia went into the Sugar Bowl over-confident and it showed throughout the contest. Jake Fromm probably had his worst game in a UGA uniform. D’Andre Swift could not hold on to the football. JJ Holloman had a bad case of the drops. Richard LeCounte tackled like a Pop Warner league defensive back.
The only player that played like he wanted to be in New Orleans was Brian Herrien. UGA only had 69 yards rushing against a Longhorn defense that had leaked all season like a West Texas oil well.
Texas beat UGA at its own game, which was being physical at the point of attack. Texas is on its way back to being a national power. Great job Texas you earned the Sugar Bowl trophy.
What can UGA learn from this effort?
Social Media is not the place to vent your frustrations about not being selected for the college football playoff. Going into this game against the Longhorns’ T should have stood for Texas and not Twitter.
Take care of your business on the field and not put it in the hands of a committee. UGA lost by 20 in Baton Rouge and blew a two-touchdown lead against Alabama in the second half.
Notre Dame looked bad against Clemson, but Georgia players after the way UGA looked against LSU had no business blowing up social media after Clemson beat the Irish 30-3.
I told my wife Saturday night that UGA was in trouble against Texas. Georgia was not a focused football team in New Orleans.
You need to limit your distractions. Deandre Baker you are a DGD, but when you made the decision not to play in the Sugar Bowl then you became a former player getting ready for the NFL draft.
Best of luck to you, I and the rest of Dawgnation will be supporting you in the future. BTW, you didn’t come to UGA as a first round draft pick. Georgia helped prepare you for the NFL. You are an all-time UGA great and a favorite of mine.
Touchy subject matter here I know, but you made the wrong decision and as a leader of the football team your decision spoke volumes about how much the Sugar Bowl really mattered to the younger kids in the program.
All of those years of Outback, Citrus, Liberty, Belk, Taxslayer/Gator, and any other insignificant bowls; then this team wasn’t ready or motivated to play in the damn SUGAR Bowl.
Really? The Rose, Sugar, Orange and Cotton are the historic bowl games guys. Hines Ward, Champ Bailey, current UGA head coach, Kirby Smart, Robert Edwards, Todd Gurley, Rodney Hampton, Garrison Hearst, and the list goes on, would have loved an opportunity to play in the Sugar Bowl.
Deandre you should have followed your heart and played in the game. We still love you though #18 and always will.
Justin Fields. UGA does not hand out starting jobs. You did not beat out Jake Fromm for the QB position.
You played in 11 games as a freshman. If you don’t want to be in Athens then take your talents to another university. There are plenty of kids that are hungry for your spot.
Competition is everywhere in life. Get used to it Justin and best of luck to you. I hope you stay.
Now that my rant is over that Sugar Bowl loss could be a blessing in disguise for UGA.
With 88 players who are freshman or sophomores this team will learn from this, and will be a huge coaching point for Coach Smart and the staff.
Georgia has more talent than anyone in the country and a great head coach and staff are in place.
Georgia is in transition from being a good program and on the cusp of being a great program. The lessons learned from the last month will help define that greatness just on the horizon.
The Richt Time
By: JJ Lanier
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
The Urban Meyer retirement I saw coming; the Mark Richt retirement, I did not.
Whenever you have a coach as young as Richt abruptly retire, the speculation automatically turns to poor health, albeit with him or someone in his family.
I’m sure over the coming days and weeks more info will come out of Coral Gables as to the reasons why; it will also give us a little more clarification as to whether or not there’s a possibility Richt follows the aforementioned Meyer and returns to the sidelines any time soon.
Rather than try and guess any of those things, I want to take Richt retirement at face value, assume he is done coaching and talk about what legacy, if any, he leaves behind.
Since he had only two head coaching stops during his 18 years as a head coach, 15 of which were spent in Athens, your opinion of his coaching is probably based on whether his tenure at Georgia was successful.
Regardless of how you felt about Richt at the time he ceased to be Georgia’s head coach, he did have a successful run there. He took a program that had been struggling to find some consistency, amid high expectations from alumni and fans and was able to bring in some of that much sought after stability.
Georgia went from a good program to one that people outside of Athens thought could be title contenders on a regular basis.
Miami was in even more dire straits when Richt took over three years ago, and although this year didn’t live up to expectations, he was bringing that program back to respectability.
Unfortunately, despite what he was able to accomplish, I’m not sure that’s exactly what Richt will be remembered for.
As soon I wrote that his team in Coral Gables didn’t live up to expectations this year, I admit I thought “Well, isn’t that kind of his thing?” I mean, for all the triumphs he had as a head coach, his teams never quite seemed to be able to reach their potential.
When you look at all the talent that came through the program while he was there, it’s a bit surprising he didn’t win more big time games during those 15 years, isn’t it?
It’s hard to knock someone who won 2 conference titles and had the misfortune of coaching in a league with both Urban Meyer and Nick Saban, but it still always felt like Georgia could have been more.
This seems to be even more exacerbated by the success Kirby Smart has had since taking over for Richt. Smart has been more successful on the recruiting trail and was able to take them to heights- mainly being a national championship game- that Richt was never able to do.
We all like to talk about how difficult it is to follow a highly accomplished coach on any level, but sometimes it’s more damaging to the reputation to be outdone by your successor.
I have no idea if Richt will ever return to coaching, or if he even has the desire to. I imagine if he chooses to comeback at point down the road, there will a number of college football teams interested in his services. He is a good coach that seems to have a knack for elevating the level of the program he is leading. Just don’t expect him to bring you to the top of the mountain; as you’ll probably remember, that’s not exactly his forté.
A Bowling We Go
By: Kipp Branch
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
It’s that time of year again where the cream rises to the top and the really good bowl games start.
The bowl season to date has been a huge disappointment. Georgia Southern won on the last play of its game and Georgia Tech looked like hot garbage in getting blown out by Minnesota in Paul Johnson’s retirement party.
Here goes my NY6 Predictions:
Saturday, December 29, 2018 – Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Atlanta, GA): No. 7 Michigan (10–2) vs. No. 10 Florida (9–3).
The Gates led by Dan Mullen have a shot to win 10 games in what was considered a rebuilding year in Gainesville. Michigan with rumors swirling of Jim Harbaugh’s departure to the New York Jets are coming off getting 62 points hung on them by Ohio State.
Shame on the bowl system for not matching up Florida against UCF. Give me Michigan 24-20 in a close contest. Harbaugh ends up staying in Ann Arbor.
Saturday, December 29, 2018 – (CFP Semifinal) Capital One Orange Bowl (Miami Gardens, FL): No. 1 Alabama (13–0) vs. No. 4 Oklahoma (12–1).
Tua says he is at 80-85% for the contest with his injured ankle. Oklahoma has Kyler Murray the best player in college football, but a defense that can’t stopping a dripping faucet.
Alabama has Nick Saban, and a defense that is pretty solid and that should get past the Sooners 38-24 to advance to the title game.
Saturday, December 29, 2018 – (CFP Semifinal) Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (Arlington, TX): No. 2 Clemson (13–0) vs. No. 3 Notre Dame (12–0).
Clemson may be without some starters due to testing positive of a banned substance.
Doesn’t it seem like every time ND is involved in a big game the NCAA steps in and creates some controversy that will benefits the Irish?
I know ND is 12-0 and the record says they should be in the playoff, but this team played a weak schedule and struggled with Pitt, Vandy, and a 7 loss USC team. I think Clemson has more talent, better head coach, and a better QB.
Clemson beats ND 35-21 and plays Alabama for the national championship.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019 – PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, AZ): No. 8 UCF (12–0) vs. No. 11 LSU (9–3).
UCF is another overrated 12-0 team that plays in a weak conference with the likes of Houston, and Memphis. Houston just had 70 hung on them by Army. LSU has a good defense, but they are not so great on offense. 25 game winning streak comes to an end when LSU whips UCF along the line of scrimmage and wins 34-17.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019 – Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual (Pasadena, CA): No. 6 Ohio State (12–1) vs. No. 9 Washington (10–3).
Big 10 Champ Ohio State got left out of the playoff and they will take it out on the Huskies in the Rose Bowl. Urban’s last game. Washington has no shot. OSU rolls 42-24.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019 – Allstate Sugar Bowl (New Orleans, LA): No. 5 Georgia (11–2) vs. No. 15 Texas (9–4).
Will the Dawgs have an SEC title game hangover? Will Justin Fields stay, go, or play in the Sugar Bowl.
Texas is on its way back. Georgia is a national power. Fromm, Holyfield, Swift, Godwin, Hardman, Ridley and company will provide too much firepower for the Horns to match. Dawgs win the Sugar Bowl 41-28.
Enjoy the NY6 Bowls everyone and Happy 2019.
Wide Open Fields
By: JJ Lanier
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
As fans, we always want to believe the teams we root for are in the right. When other teams are caught cheating, we want to think our team would never do that. When a player chooses to sign with the program, we like to tell ourselves he or she made that decision because they bleed the school colors.
So, when a program is caught being less than truthful, or in the case of Justin Fields, there are rumors a player may leave the program, we tend to not handle it very well.
When news broke that Fields was considering a transfer, there may have been a sense of betrayal within the Georgia fan base, but for those of us whose two favorite colors aren’t black and red, it wasn’t that much of a surprise.
It’s nothing against Fields, who has the potential to be a very good college quarterback when given the opportunity, but rather says more about Jake Fromm proving that he deserves to be the starter.
I know there have been a lot of comments regarding Fields lack of intestinal fortitude, to put it nicely, when it comes to battling for the starting job. I’m sorry, but that’s ridiculous.
Yes, he could stay and battle it out against Fromm during the spring, but unless Fromm were to completely lay an egg in the Sugar Bowl, it would be a huge gamble- on the field, as well as on the recruiting trail- to sit him in favor of Fields.
Benching a two-year starter, who has put up good numbers while leading his team to two of the most successful back to back seasons in program history, is just a bad look.
Saban was able to navigate through it this year because one, he’s Nick Saban, but also because it was a bit of a different situation. Jalen Hurts was always considered to be limited and once Tagovailoa performed the way he did in last year’s championship game, it was obvious who the starter should be.
This has nothing to do with Fields being “scared” to battle for the position, but instead being realistic on the probable outcome.
And because players with the talent that Fields has don’t pick a college with their heart- no matter how much we wish they did- it makes perfect business sense for him to look elsewhere.
Playing for your dream school only matters when you’re getting the playing time you think you deserve. If you think you can further your career at another school, your childhood dream school goes out the window. As a Duke fan, I feel like this way of thinking has become an annual conversation I have with myself.
Like most things in college athletics, this whole situation is fluid. As I mentioned above, if Fromm and Fields have a Hurts/Tagovailoa moment in the Sugar Bowl, this could all change. I have to believe part of Fields hesitation to announce his intentions, whatever they may be, is because he wants to see how the bowl game plays out.
Regardless of whatever Fields decides, it has nothing to do with his competitive drive or his feelings for Georgia; it has everything with showcasing his talent and getting to the NFL.
So, if he decides to stay, forget his inclination to leave and enjoy his time in Athens.
If he chooses to go though, wish him luck and hope everything turns out for the best; it’s what you would do if this were happening to any other program.
Sugar Sweet For Dawgs?
By: Kipp Branch
GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services
It has been an interesting football season. Georgia won the SEC East and came up just short in the SEC title game against Alabama. Georgia led Alabama for 58 minutes and 51 seconds and just missed the college football playoff.
Texas has a proud football history, but has struggled as of late. Tom Herman is building the Longhorns back into a national brand. The Longhorns lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game 39-27. Texas beat Oklahoma during the regular season.
The two blue bloods meet in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Night in New Orleans.
Georgia is coming into the game as a 13 point favorite against the 9-4 Longhorns. The last time the two teams matched up was the 1984 Cotton Bowl where Georgia beat Texas 10-9.
Both teams have just finished signing top 10 recruiting classes during the early signing period.
Georgia is led by QB Jake Fromm and a pair of 1,000 rushers in Swift and Holyfield. Will Georgia feel the effects of the SEC title game loss, or the saga of Justin Fields and his potential transfer?
Sam Ehlinger has given the Longhorns a consistent, quality player at quarterback for the first time in 8-10 years. He was responsible for 38 touchdowns. Only Longhorn legend Vince Young has produced more in a single season.
He’s smarter with the football (only five interceptions vs. seven last year) and he’s a great option in the run game, using his legs to get many key first downs.
Texas has two big-time receivers on the outside in Collin Johnson and Lil’Jordan Humphrey. They are two big, physical pass-catchers who have given opponents problems all season. It’s still on Ehlinger to get the ball to them, which he has done consistently.
Georgia is going to run the football in this contest and Texas, like most teams in their conference, struggles at time against the run. Georgia has the best defense Texas will see this season.
Texas is looking for its first 10-win season in almost a decade, and I think the Longhorns will come in highly motivated to show the country they belong in this contest. Texas is always going to have great athletes and UGA better come into this game expecting a 60-minute fight to the end.
Keys to the game: The Texas run defense. Can Texas slow down the power run game of UGA?
Georgia’s motivation. Will the Dawgs be motivated to play at peak level?
Can Texas exploit the Georgia secondary?
Will Georgia open up and attack the Longhorn secondary?
I think this will be a great contest that UGA wins 41-28 and finishes 12-2. This may set up a national championship run in 2019.
Texas is on its way back in being a national power. UGA is a national power. Enjoy these times Dawg Nation.
