Fixed Wreck?
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
This is the first full season for Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key.
He took over as the interim head coach last season after Geoff Collins was fired. The Yellow Jackets started the 2022 season 1 – 3 before Collins was relieved of his duties. Once Key took over he went 4 – 4.
It looks like that momentum has carried over to this season. Tech is bowl eligible for the first time since 2018, which was Paul Johnson’s final season.
Key is a Georgia Tech alumnus and football letter winner. It is impressive that he lead this team to a bowl game because it did not look possible about halfway through the season.
They were 2 – 3 at the end of September. They suffered an embarrassing home loss to Bowling Green and it looks like that was the turning point.
The next game was at No. 17 Miami and they pulled off an improbable win that turned the season around. The Hurricanes should have taken a knee in the final minute of the game but they ran a play and fumbled. Tech recovered and Haynes King threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Christian Leary with two seconds remaining to win, 23 – 20.
“We should have taken a knee,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said.
Said coach Key: “We kind of thought they were taking a knee.”
Miami outgained GT 454-250 and had 23 first downs to the Yellow Jackets’ 12 but it did not matter.
They beat Syracuse 31 – 22 at Bobby Dodd Stadium to become bowl eligible. As a result, Orangeman head coach Dino Babers was fired after coaching there for 8 years.
The defense played well and held Syracuse to 94 yards at halftime.
“With them coming out in that Wildcat offense and running the ball a bit more it kind of allowed us to showcase our talents as a linebacker group and show that we can actually stop the run,” linebacker Paul Moala said.
Syracuse ran for almost 400 yards the previous week in a win over Pittsburgh. The Jackets contained the Orange to half that total.
“We really simplified things in this game, ran some simplified things within the plan, allowed the big guys up front to be able to do what they do,” Key said. “Good plan put together by the defensive guys in being able to do that and came up with some key turnovers at some key times.”
Quarterback Haynes King has played better than expected. He was at Texas A&M for 3 seasons and he did not do much before transferring to Georgia Tech. King has passed for 2,597 yards, 26 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and he’s completing 62% of his passes. He’s also the second leading rusher with 624 yards, 7 TD’s and he averages 6.4 yards per carry.
Running back Jamal Haynes is the leading rusher with 850 yards, 7 scores and he averages 6 YPC.
I think the program is taking a step in the right direction to be a solid winning program that can expect to play in a bowl game each season.
Last Laugh
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After Florida State’s win on Saturday, I wrote that FSU fans should never, ever dismiss rivalry wins. Especially when playing for so much, a loss would be devastating .
10-0 is pretty darn sweet. Even more when considering the last five or six years and THOSE challenges.
Which builds me a bridge to what happened in College Station on Sunday:
And let’s be clear, I’m not here to kick dirt on Jimbo Fisher while he’s down. Well, maybe not a wheelbarrow’s worth. It’s hard to refer to someone getting paid $75 million to not work as ‘down’. That sounds pretty up to me all things considered.
FSU fans remember and appreciate Jimbo’s run he had and the program he rebuilt in Tallahassee for about a decade. That 2013 team was one of the best in the history of the sport. He won three straight ACC championships and coached in five straight New Year’s Six bowl games.
For a time, Jimbo Fisher was a fantastic coach. He modernized a program that was in desperate need. Fisher’s accomplishments can never be overlooked, but what Jimbo never realized is he needed Florida State as much as Florida State needed Jimbo.
Fisher complained so much during his time in Tallahassee about what he wanted, about how hard it was to get things done or built or paid for or- At the end of his time there, he never came close to appreciating how great his job was.
He intimated repeatedly that Florida State wasn’t committed to winning. Which is, in today’s football, laughable.
He needed more resources. More money. More stuff. More. More. More.
Then he went to a place that has more than anyone. Jimbo fell on his face. Meanwhile, six years later, the place that isn’t committed to winning is 10-0 and ranked in the Top 4.
I truly wonder, on a day like Sunday if it ever hits Jimbo how completely idiotic a decision it was to leave Tallahassee to go coach in the talent wasteland in College Station.
I get it. His bank account has a bunch of extra zeroes now. He’s got all the ranches he could ever want.
For a dude that seemed so competitive, that just loves ball, loves coaching ball, loves winning, he absolutely torpedoed his chances at multiple championships and a lasting legacy because he was too busy whining about what he didn’t have.
Florida State was a punchline for a few years. Even Texas A&M fans, whose program hasn’t won a national title since Bobby Bowden was a 10-year-old boy, had the audacity to make fun of FSU’s plight.
Texas A&M’s savior, the one that Florida State fans warned them about, just got canned. Aggies, welcome to the punchline, you still owe Jimbo the GDP of a small country to go away.
Meanwhile, the Seminoles are 10-0 and two wins away from a perfect regular season.
Florida State has always been a special and dominant brand. Coach Norvell has re-established that.
No one is laughing at the Seminoles anymore.
Buzzing About The Future
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
While 2023 didn’t yield the win totals that those in Jackets Country would have wanted, but there is a lot that shines a light from 2023 in the direction of the future.
Finishing up the season with a 4-6 mark overall and dropping the final 4 games of the year doesn’t sound positive, but the fact remains that Southeast Bulloch still held control of their postseason possibilities until the final horn of the season.
It’s no question that Region 3 in the 4A classification is one of (if not the single most) difficult region in the state. Benedictine, Wayne County, Burke County were all mainstays in the top 10 rankings for most of the season while New Hampstead, who earned the two seed in the region, many say (including myself) should have been in the top 10. SEB dropped all those contests but showed positives in all the games for Coach Jared Zito’s squad.
Nothing shows this more than the New Hampstead game.
The Phoenix jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, but SEB answered with conviction.
After a 26-yard Cole Snyder field goal got the Jackets on the board, he then executed a perfectly placed onside kick for the blue and gold to recover.
One play later Will Nelson found Kyon Taylor on a throw back screen for the 36-yard touchdown. After the ensuing kickoff died at the 1-yard line, SEB forced New Hampstead to a three and out.
With the Phoenix punter standing in his own endzone, Kyle O’Brien burst through the line to block the punt that fluttered out of bounds at the 13-yard line. Yet again, one play later, Kyon Taylor took it in for a score. Just that fast (2:07 to be exact) SEB had gone from 14-0 down to up 17-14.
One week later, on the Yellow Jackets’ senior night against the #1 team in the state, Benedictine jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Southeast Bulloch’s Special Teams Coordinator Randy Lee had another trick up his sleeve. A fake punt saw Colby Smith scamper 48 yards and set up the first Jackets touchdown five plays later.
Individually, there was a lot of growth for the Jackets this year. Entering the season, the linebacking core was the focus on the defense, and they didn’t disappoint.
Kyle O’Brien led the way for SEB in the stats sheet and on the field anchoring the middle of the defense.
Colby Smith continued to be a terror to offenses in his sophomore season. That combination also helped bring along younger players, most notably freshman Brant Horst, who played a big role in the back half of the season and earned a start in the season finale against Burke County.
The biggest future phenom that showed in 2023 was one that the Jackets would have rather not had to find this year. With senior quarterback Will Nelson sidelined with injury the last 2 weeks of the year, Brooklet was introduced to Rhett Morgan (at least at the varsity level).
His first drive as a varsity signal caller resulted in a 9 play 70-yard scoring drive, and while the results were 0-2, the process looked promising.
With the GHSA reclassification having Southeast Bulloch return to the 3A classification, it only adds to the positivity moving forward in Brooklet.
While 4-6 isn’t the standard expected for SEB, what you saw in this season proves it won’t be the norm moving forward.
Not Just The Windmill At Third Base
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
This month news broke that beloved Atlanta Braves third base coach Ron Washington was getting the nod to take over as the new manager for the Los Angeles Angels.
This will be the second stint for Wash as a big-league manager after piloting the Texas Rangers from 2007-2014.
Ron Washington will be dearly missed in Atlanta after becoming an infectious personality around the clubhouse, while also being a gold mine of knowledge for infielders especially.
Washington has become a fan favorite around Braves Country because of the energy that David O’Brien of The Athletic described as “more energy at 71 than many 21-year-olds.”
Alex Anthopoulos, Braves GM, encapsulated the impact of Ron Washington on the Atlanta Organization by saying, “Presence, intellect, respect, work ethic, integrity. Off-the-charts ability to lead. I mean, that guy walks in a room, it’s over. He’s special. I’ve been in baseball since 2000. I’ve never been around someone like (Ron Washington).”
Ron Washington is a “baseball guy” through and through. A native of New Orleans, Washington was signed by Kansas City in 1970, and has been in professional baseball ever since.
He spent the next ten years primarily in the minor leagues for the Royals, Mets, and Dodgers organization. ‘Wash’ made his Major League debut in September of 1977 with the Dodgers as a September call-up but returned to the minors until 1981.
In 1981, Washington was on the active roster for the Minnesota Twins and would stay in the Bigs until 1986 scattered between the Twins, Orioles, Indians, and Astros. The end of his playing career came with his playing retirement in 1990 with the Oklahoma City Triple-A club.
After hanging up the glove (at least as a player), Washington set sails on his coaching career starting with the Mets organization for five years.
Washington made his Big-League debut as a coach in 1996 as the first base coach with the Oakland A’s where he would be until 2006 and return for the 2015 & 2016 season.
November 6th, 2006 will be a day that Ron Washington will always remember. It was the day the Texas Rangers announced they were bringing in Washington to manage the Rangers. Washington spent 8 years in Arlington and led the Rangers to two World Series appearances in 2010 & 2011.
While in October of 2016, Ron Washington was a finalist for the Braves vacant managerial position (that would inevitably be filled by Brian Snitker), Snitker elected to bring Ron Washington on staff as 3rd base coach. Since 2017, Washington was always around Truist park with the undeniable Wash Smile.
Washington’s pre-game routine with all the infielders, and even non-infielders, of throwing and hitting short hops to them blew up and became a must for all nationally televised game to show at some point.
Braves Country knows, and sometimes takes for granted, how underrated and top notch the coaching staff Brian Snitker has assembled over the years.
Ron Washington was a huge piece of that and will have some additional fall out I suspect. It has already been reported that Braves first base coach Eric Young Sr will be going with Wash to LA to join the Angels staff as their third base coach, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two others from the Braves staff joined as well.
Every offseason, each team has losses that fans will say “man that stinks” (sometimes a more colorful rendition of that), but not often is it a club’s third base coach.
Heck, many times when a coach leaves (outside of a manager or pitching coach), fans don’t realize it until opening day, and say “Hey who’s that new guy!”
Ron Washington is different. He was an incredible asset for the Braves and the Angles are getting a great baseball mind and great motivator. Grant McCauley, Braves beat reporter for 92.9 the Game, said on X what a lot of Braves fans are feeling. “It’s possible to be simultaneously thrilled for someone’s opportunity while being exceptionally sad to see them go.”
The GOAT
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Alabama has played three of the top four offenses in the SEC this season. They held all 3 teams to only 10 points in the 2nd half.
Teams played, SEC ranked O and 2nd half points scored:
- LSU: 7
- Ole Miss: 3
- Tennessee: 0
Also, the Bammer offense outscored these 3 teams 66-10 in the 2nd half of those contests. How many of you wrote Alabama off after their loss to Texas? This football season shows why Nick Saban is the best coach in college football and reinforces the fact that he is the best college football coach of all time.
He has taken this current Alabama team, replaced a Heisman QB with a QB that simply has great running ability and turned them into the scariest team in the SEC.
Alabama is now imposing their will on other teams like well, like Alabama. They are big, fast, and physical and don’t make a lot of mistakes. Also, Alabama is still recruiting as well as any team in the country.
I frequently watch the SEC Network and my wife defines frequently as every single day.
All offseason the narrative has been that Nick Saban is on the decline. Alabama is not what they used to be. The talking heads on the ESPN family of networks wrote Nick off.
After the Texas loss there were should Saban retire narratives.
Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Tennessee wilted in the second half trying to match up with Alabama.
Alabama is going to the SEC Championship game in early December, and it appears the Georgia Bulldogs and Kirby Smart will be the opponent.
Yes, UGA is back-to-back national champions and going for a third straight, which is a feat that has not been accomplished since the 1930’s.
Well, Alabama was going for a 3-peat in 2013 then the “Kick Six” happened at Auburn.
The Saban era at Alabama was the best run-in college football history with six national championships in twelve years (2009-2021).
The problem with that statement is that the run is not over. If Alabama can beat Kentucky which they will, a paycheck opponent, and Auburn then they are an SEC title game win away from being back in the playoffs.
Then I ask who wants to play the Crimson Tide right now? If you look at the current roster Alabama is not up to Alabama standards under Saban at QB, RB, WR, OL, DL, and LB. Yet, despite those facts Alabama is putting themselves into a position to compete for another national title.
Alabama may again be the best team in the SEC, and Saban is the architect of it.
Saban is the greatest coach in college football history. Next time his team looks like it’s taken a step back, fans should keep their traps shut before using the word “retirement.”
It appears that GOAT has been taking notes of his premature demise and has produced one of his greatest coaching jobs ever. The Tide looked like a middle of the pack SEC team after the Texas and South Florida games, but a transformation has taken place since then.
The 2023 Alabama team is not one of the greatest in school history, but the grit and determination this team displays makes their head coach proud. When your head coach is the GOAT then that is quite an accomplishment.
Once again, the Tide is rolling right into Atlanta with a College Football Playoff berth at stake. Nick Saban and Alabama will have a say in the matter.
Chanting Through The Storm
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It is officially Miami week for the Florida State Seminoles.
No. 4 FSU is an early 14.5-point favorite for Saturday’s game, set for 3:30 p.m. at Doak Campbell Stadium.
The Seminoles are 9-0 and 7-0 in Conference, while Miami is 6-3 and 2-3.
Despite dealing with several injuries, Tyler Van Dyke is leading the Hurricanes at quarterback once again this season.
He has 2,057 yards on 170-of-251 passing, which is a solid 67.7 percent completion percentage. But he also has thrown 11 interceptions to go with his 16 touchdowns. Van Dyke has thrown more picks than any quarterback in the ACC.
Freshman QB Emory Williams has also played in four games for the Hurricanes, completing 36 of 48 passes for 295 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
In the running game, Miami has distributed carries between several different backs. Henry Parrish and Don Chaney have shouldered most of the load, but freshman Mark Fletcher ran for 115 yards on 23 carries last Saturday against N.C. State.
Parrish leads the running backs overall with 469 yards and four touchdowns on 77 carries. Chaney has 379 yards and two touchdowns on 75 carries.
Receivers Xavier Restrepo and Jacoby George have been solid for Miami in the air.
As for the defense, safety James Williams leads the team in tackles with 51. All-ACC safety Kamren Kinchens and Te’Cory Couch have also been notable leaders in the secondary for Miami. Kinchens has four interceptions on the year (second in the ACC) and Couch has three, tying him for third in the conference.
Freshman Rueben Bains Jr. leads the team with 6.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss. His sack total ranks 4th in the conference.
As a team, the Hurricanes have lost three of their last five games, starting with a late collapse against Georgia Tech. Then, they lost at North Carolina before beating Virginia and Clemson in overtime at home. The Hurricanes come into Doak after a 20-6 loss at N.C. State last Saturday.
The Hurricanes rank 38th nationally in scoring offense at 32.1 points per game and 30th in scoring defense at 20.0.
If history is any indication, the odds are very strong that the Florida State football team will defeat Miami this Saturday and improve to 10-0 on the season.
Since 1997, the earliest point spread records available online, Florida State is a perfect 5-0 when favored by double-digits against the rival Miami Hurricanes. And UM has never lost to FSU when favored by that much.
Miami is a bit of a mess right now (always?), but I think the game states that the Hurricanes are likely to be playing angry against Florida State. I think Miami might be able to find a little more success through the air than one would expect. Meanwhile, Florida State should be getting a little healthier on the offensive side of the ball.
FSU 38 Miami 13
Barking Up The Right Tree?
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We all know Georgia is a football school. The Bulldogs have had a tough time finding consistent success on the hardwood for men’s basketball. Let’s take a look at UGA and see if they can turn that around this season.
Mike White is in his second season as the head coach in Athens. He coached at archrival Florida previously from 2015 – 2022. He replaced Billy Donovan but he did not have the same level of success. His record for the Gators was 142 – 88 with four NCAA Tournament appearances.
Last season the Bulldogs went 16 – 16 in his first season. They are losing their top three scorers from last season but the team was 190th in offensive efficiency. Former four-star prospect Jabri Abdur-Rahim is the best returning player. He was the most efficient player for the Dawgs last year but he played the role of a non-creator.
Point guard Justin Hill transferred to UGA from Longwood last year. He started ten games but his offensive impact was inconsistent. He is expected to be better this season.
There are some new faces that are expected to make an impact. Senior guard Noah Thomasson played at Niagara the last two seasons. He averaged 19.5 points per game last year. We will see if he can make the jump from the MAAC to the SEC.
White brought in four freshman, all are four-star players. They are point guard Silas Demary Jr., wing Blue Cain, power forward Dylan James and wing Mari Jordan.
They also have four more transfers, headlined by seven foot senior center Russel Tchewa (South Florida).
The season opener was against Oregon in Las Vegas in the Naismith Hall of Fame Series tournament at T-Mobile Arena. The Ducks won 82 – 71. It is impressive that they fought to get this game within single digits.
“I loved the fight down the stretch,” coach Mike White said after the game. “The press was really effective for us, and this is really not a pressing team. But we fought to the bitter end. If we get the ‘pick 6′ at the end it could have been a little more respectable than that. But we fought to the end.”
Abdur-Rahim showed new-found offensive aggression and led the Bulldogs with 18 points, including three 3s. RJ Melendez overcame a slow first-half start to finish with 12 points and Cain scored 12 and had a pair of steals in his first collegiate game.
The Dawgs shot 30 three-pointers, only making ten of them.
“I liked our spacing and I like that this team got off 30 3s. That’s what this team needs to do. Sixteen turnovers was too many and we broke off our some of our execution on four or five possessions, which bled us a little,” White said.
The next two games are at home against Wake Forest and North Carolina Central.
After that they travel to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship. The first game is against No. 13 Miami. Depending on the outcome the next round is against Kansas State or Providence.
I think Georgia will have another .500 season. If they do better than that I would consider it a success.
A New Buzz
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The NBA season has started and college basketball is right around the corner.
We are going to take a look at Georgia Tech and see what we should expect this season.
Former head coach Josh Pastner was finally relieved of his duties after last season. He coached at Tech from 2016 – 2023 with a record of 109 – 114. He was replaced by Damon Stoudamire.
You might remember Mighty Mouse from his playing days. He was a point guard at Arizona and was a three-time First-team All-Pac-10 player (1993-1995). He was also Pac-10 Player of the Year (1995) and a consensus first-team All-American (1995). He was drafted No. 7 in the NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors and he was the first player drafted by that franchise. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1996.
Stoudamire played in the NBA from 1995 – 2008 for the Raptors, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies and Spurs. He has been coaching since he retired. He was an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics from 2021 – 2023. He was the head coach at the University of Pacific (2016 – 2021) and his record was 71 – 77.
I think he has done a good job of putting together a good coaching staff that consists of veteran and young coaches.
“I’m excited about the people we’ve been able to bring in to this program,” said Stoudamire. “This is a versatile group, and it’s a youthful group. I wanted some younger guys for the most part, but we do have some experience on the staff as well. I like the diversity, I like the different basketball minds that we have. We have a mixture of college and pro backgrounds that will serve us well.”
Karl Hobbs was a great hire. He was the associate head coach at Rutgers from 2016 – 2023. He was the head coach at George Washington (2001 – 2010) and he was an assistant at UConn for two separate stints.
Terry Parker, Pershin Williams and Nate Babcock were also hired. He also hired his former Portland teammate, Bonzi Wells.
The Yellow Jackets return their leading scorer, junior guard Miles Kelly. The 6’6 Stone Mountain native averaged 14.4 points per game last season. They also have returning players Dallan Coleman, Kyle Sturdivant and Lance Terry.
A transfer player expected to make a big impact is big man Tyzhaun Claude. Last season at Western Carolina he averaged 15.4 ppg and 8.6 rebounds per game. They also have transfer point guard Amaree Abram (Ole Miss) and small forward Kowacie Reeves (Florida), who have major upside.
Tech has only made the NCAA Tournament once since the 2009-10 season so the program is trying to change that.
At ACC media day Stoudamire was asked what his goals were this season:
“You know what, I haven’t made any goals. Honestly, I don’t know what a successful season looks like, but I do know this, I think this team is just going to keep getting better and better. I can see it. It’s probably the first team that I’ve ever been a part of where the offense is ahead of the defense.”
The season begins November 6, at home against Georgia Southern. They have two more home games after that, against Howard and UMass Lowell. They should get off to a fast start.
I do not expect them to make the NCAA Tournament this season but I think their record will be around .500.
Almighty Georgia Bulldogs
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The St. Johns River will soon be flooded with fans of orange and blue, and fans of red and black. It’s Florida-Georgia week, one like none other in over 30 years.
The No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators will meet at TIAA Bank Field on Saturday and Georgia will come into the game as the two time defending National Champions.
Georgia handled business in their last game when they defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores 37-20. They will look to nurse their injured players during their bye week and return with more strength on the roster.
The Gators, on the other hand, overcame a double-digit deficit on the road to defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks. They’ll also be taking advantage of the week off.
Despite both teams coming off wins, the Bulldogs still find themselves as massive favorites. Georgia is currently a -23.5 point favorite over the arch-rival Florida Gators.
The Bulldogs, 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the SEC East with a Oct. 28 showdown with Florida approaching, lost their Superman (Brook Bowers) to an ankle injury that required surgery.
Bowers is a junior and will enter the NFL Draft after the season. A high ankle sprain heals by itself with plenty of time before the NFL combine.
Instead, Bowers is getting the tightrope surgery, and right away. That’s a huge sign from him that he wants to play again this season for Georgia.
He doesn’t need to show anything to NFL scouts. But his team is in contention for a national championship, and while it’s easy for outsiders to say “Just opt out, make a business decision,” it’s much harder for someone to abandon his teammates when a ring is on the line.
Bowers has played in every game since he arrived at Georgia. He’s not the sole reason Georgia is 36-1 over that span, but he’s a big reason the offense took off during that time: Defenses had to account for him in coverage, and Bowers is also a good blocker.
The Bulldogs are still loaded with talent. Carson Beck, in his first year as Georgia’s starting quarterback, has the fourth-most passing yards (2,147) in the nation. And barely more than a quarter of those (26.4 percent) have gone to Bowers.
Oscar Delp, who now becomes TE1, is no slouch. He’s Georgia’s fifth-leading receiver and was a top-100 recruit in the 2022 class. His blocking has been rough at times, which is why Lawson Luckie may see a lot of snaps in rotation as TE2.
Georgia’s main emphasis may become “spread-out-and-throw”. Beck likes to sit back in the pocket and find the open receiver, and the pass blocking this year has been good.
Plus, you have Ladd McConkey being back, Rara Thomas getting more comfortable, and other receivers who can make plays.
Georgia’s running game has also started to get stronger, especially if Kendall Milton can stay healthy. That could also allow Dillon Bell to play more receiver or a hybrid position.
Maybe Georgia doesn’t have the X-factor for its’ offense as long as Bowers is out, but a more traditional receivers-and-tailbacks game can get you through an opponent like Florida.
The Bulldog defense will keep the Gators in check, maybe along the lines of 14-to-20 points, a Bowers-less offense will take it from there, and the lead will get bigger and bigger.
Georgia 42 Florida 17
Law of Averages
By: Jeff Doke
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As I write this, we are getting closer to the 102nd edition of the Georgia/Florida game (101st if you go by Florida’s lackluster standards).
Close to kickoff of one of the most anticipated editions of the WLOCP in recent memory, and I’m as jittery as a hyper-caffeinated hummingbird. I’m sure most of my fellow Dawgs are feeling the same way, but not for the same reasons.
I mean, sure, the temporary loss of Brock Bowers has all of us walking on eggshells, but that’s not it. With Oscar Delp Lawson Luckie, and Pearce Spurlin still in the TE room, we’re still above the curve in that position.
Never mind the fact that Georgia’s WR corps is the strongest it’s been in…well, arguably ever. Dominic Lovett, Rara Thomas, and a finally healthy Ladd McConkey are finally coming into their own. In fact, receivers not wearing the #19 for the Dawgs have amassed almost 1800 yards so far this season.
The defense isn’t it, either. Sure, they’re not as legendary as the last two years’ squads, but they’re not Division II scrubs either. In fact, going into the bye week, the 2023 UGA Defense is ranked first in the SEC in:
Scoring
Rushing yards allowed
Passing yards allowed
Total yards allowed
Interceptions
3rd Down conversions
Passes defended
Plays of 20+ yards
The disappointing Vandy game, maybe? Nope, not that either. Let’s be honest. Kirby Smart and company took on that game like a scrimmage. They ran a noticeable number of plays and formations that they’ve been having problems with just to work on them while they could.
And don’t get me started on that field. The fans noticed players slipping all over the place, and the players confirmed it during postgame. The Commode Doors stadium quite aptly lived up to their nickname.
I bemoaned the “sky is falling” mentality of Dawg Nation in cyberspace in my last article. You would think that would be it, but TwitterX seems to have cleared it’s head, and as for Facebook…let’s just say the “Snooze for 30 Days” feature is one of the few things that future lizzid people overlord Mark Zuckerberg has gotten right in the last decade. No, I’m in a good headspace there as well.
What’s got me nervous is two things from what I can tell.
First, Florida is bad. REALLY bad. They lost a spring game to themselves and their head coach was the quickest Gators head coach to reach 8 losses since Jim McElwain. Yet, they continue to win games that they shouldn’t. I was sure Tennessee was finally going to break their losing streak in Gainesville this year, and the Orange & Blue had absolutely NO BUSINESS coming back to beat USC jr like that.
Second, things are just lining up too nicely for Georgia if you look at the numbers. I once again quote the Floridian singer/songwriter Delma Suggs when I say, “when everything’s coming up roses, I get suspicious.”
And as a bonus, there’s the sinking feeling that these are the last few WLOCPs in Jacksonville.
The Jags are going to have a massive stadium overhaul that’s going to take the better part of 2026-2027, and the current GA/FL agreement with the city of Jax runs out in 2025. I know Dawg Nation is pretty bitterly divided about this one , but I fear the game’s days in DUUUVAL are numbered.
Enjoy it while you can, my fellow 912 Dawgs. The end of our halcyon days may be approaching.
