Bishop Media Sports Network
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick November 9
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Garrett Grady November 9
Let’s Get It On
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The high school football regular season is over and the playoffs are now here. Let’s take a look at some of the top 7A teams and their road to the state championship.
#1 Buford: The Wolves (10-0) just moved up to 7A this season, but they have not had any trouble adjusting. They have won three consecutive state championships in 6A and 5A.
They have won state championships in every classification prior to moving up to 7A.
They are the number one seed in region 8-7A and they are playing Peachtree Ridge.
The Lions (6-4) are the No. 4 seed from region 7-7A. In their four loses the closest margin of victory was 21 points. I expect Buford to beat them by a large margin.
The second round will be against the winner of South Forsyth/#8 Walton.
#2 Colquitt County: The Packers (10-0) are region 1-7A champs. They are led by senior running back A’Marius Pace, junior quarterback Neko Fann and junior wide receiver Ny’Quavion Carr. They host No. 4 see Pebblebrook (4-6) from region 2-7A.
Colquitt County only has one win by less than 20 points this season. They will beat up on Pebblebrook. The second round they will face the winner of Harrison/Brookwood.
#3 Carrolton: The Trojans (10-0) are not a team we typically see ranked at the end of the season. They have had an impressive season and won region 2-7A. They host Lowndes (5-5) in the first round. This is a down year for the Vikings so I expect Carrolton to beat them. The next round will be against Marietta or Newton.
#4 North Cobb: The Warriors (8-2) had high hopes coming into the season. They played #1 Buford in the second game of the season and lost 21 – 14. Unfortunately, four-star senior quarterback Malachi Singleton played the entire second half with a broken foot. That was his last game of the season and he has had surgery.
Even with their best player sidelined North Cobb has had a good season and they won region 5-7A.
They host Denmark (6-4) from region 6. The Danes have some talented players on their team. This could be a close game. If the Warriors win, they will face the winner of Mill Creek/Meadowcreek.
#5 Mill Creek: The Hawks (9-1) have the top player in the state, five-star safety Caleb Downs. They also have three-star linebacker and Clemson commit, Jamal Anderson Jr. As you can guess, he’s the son of the former Atlanta Falcons running back.
Their only loss was to Buford, 39 – 27.
Mill Creek hosts another Gwinnett County team, Meadowcreek. I think the Hawks are actually the second-best team in 7A and I expect them to make a deep playoff run.
#6 Grayson: The Rams (8-2) were undefeated and won the state championship in 2020. They are trying to get back to that in 2022.
The best player on the team is four-star safety Michael Daugherty. They are the top seed in region 4-7A and host No. 4 seed Hillgrove. If they win that game, they will play the winner of East Coweta and Camden County.
#7 Lambert: The Longhorns (9-1) seem to be flying under the radar despite having a great season. They play 3 seed Wheeler in the first round. If they win, they will face the winner of North Gwinnett/Dacula.
I think Buford will win the championship but I’m ready to see how these teams perform.
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch November 4
Bogus Rankings
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Here are the initial college football playoff rankings released on Tuesday night with my thoughts by each team:
Tennessee: Wins over Alabama and LSU land the Vols in the top slot. The argument against Georgia by the committee was that they struggled with Missouri and Kent State.
Did the committee not watch Tennessee struggle against Pitt and give up almost 500 yards passing to Anthony Richardson and Florida in a 38-33 Vol win?
Vols land here by virtue of beating Alabama. I’m good with it. This defense is not championship caliber, however.
Ohio State: A brand the playoff committee loves. They always have and always will. Game with Michigan is coming up.
Georgia: Defending national champs are undefeated with number one Tennessee coming to Athens this weekend.
It will all sort itself out in a couple of days. Can you hear Kirby talking to his team about respect about right now?
Clemson: Another loved brand by the committee. The ACC did their best to protect the brand against Syracuse a couple of weeks ago. Is there a team in the top ten this week that Clemson could beat? This team is vastly overrated.
Michigan: I guess the committee does not think much of the Michigan out of conference schedule this year. That is my only guess on why they are ranked behind Clemson.
Alabama: The loss to Tennessee does not hurt Alabama as they control their own destiny. This Alabama team does not seem as good as previous Alabama teams. Loved name brand though by the committee.
TCU: Unbeaten TCU gets the hose job by the committee plain and simple. Ranked behind a one loss Alabama team and behind a Clemson team that has not beat anyone noteworthy.
If Oklahoma or Texas had the TCU resume, they would be in the top four. The committee loves name brands.
Oregon: The Ducks may be playing the best football in the country right now, but that 46-point loss to Georgia opening weekend looms large right now.
USC: The Trojans might beat Clemson in the top 10 and nobody else, but if they do not lose at Utah a couple the brand loving committee would have had this team near the top four.
LSU: The two loss Tigers believe it or not control their destiny in the SEC West. Beat Alabama this weekend and get to Atlanta and win the SEC and the Tigers will be the first two loss team to get into the playoff.
Tennessee is the easy #1 team in the country based on their body of work so far.
No argument from most reasonable college football fans that follow the sport. My question is why the committee didn’t give us a #1 vs #2 matchup this weekend?
We had an entire hour show on ESPN last night focused on the hypotheticals of it all. I firmly believe that if the Dawgs and Vols were playing on ABC or ESPN Saturday we would have that #1 vs #2 matchup.
Since the game is on CBS, I believe ESPN pressured the committee to put UGA at #3 to keep CBS from hyping a game of the century type matchup this weekend. It will sort itself out in the end but a #1 vs #2 would have been fantastic.
Initial rankings winners:
Tennessee: They beat the beloved brand Alabama.
Clemson: No way they should be in the top four.
Losers:
Michigan: Being behind Clemson is an absolute joke.
TCU: Not a preferred name brand by the committee.
Final Thoughts: If your name is Alabama, Clemson, or Ohio State you will get a favorable ranking. If you are not one of those three, then your resume gets nitpicked by the talking heads on ESPN.
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Garrett Grady November 2
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick November 2
Georgia Bulldogs and Tennessee Volunteers Preview
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Tennessee and Georgia square off Saturday afternoon between the hedges in a showdown that dictates the SEC East and the landscape of the college football playoffs.
Tennessee has scored 40+ points in all five of their SEC games. The Vols are also coming off their best defensive performance of the season after holding Kentucky to six points and 205 yards (total offense).
On the other side, Georgia just took care of business with a 42-20 performance against Florida. The Bulldogs are hitting on all cylinders, and not just on one side of the football.
The Dawgs defense has earned a lot of hype over their past seasons, but this year the offense is the only unit in the SEC that’s currently averaging both 200+ yards rushing and 300+ yards passing per game.
Georgia and Tennessee enter the battle unbeaten and on top of the college football world. Who will stay there? And who will fall?
Tennessee has risen to the occasion once this season in a similar matchup, knocking off Alabama 52-49 earlier this season.
The reigning national champions pose a real threat for this hot handed team, but the preparation remains the same for Josh Heupel and the Vols.
Georgia is 8-0 on the season, and they did go through about 10 quarters of football this season where they clearly underperformed: between Kent State, Missouri, and the first half of Auburn- they showed real signs of dysfunction and had fans convinced that they could lose.
Despite the lackluster play at the time, in each game the Bulldogs prevailed and looked dominant once the final whistle blew.
Stetson Bennett leads an offense that averages 41 points on 530 yards per game. The quarterback has thrown for 2,349 yards with 9 touchdowns and 3 interceptions while completing 67 percent of his passes. Bennett has also rushed for five scores, and that’s an underrated part of his game.
“I think he’s undervalued in some respects with his feet. He’s explosive, he’s twitchy,” Heupel said of Bennett. “When it’s not right in the pocket, he extends plays. That can be him throwing on scrambles, but also him tucking the ball and making plays. He made a couple against us last year that changed the game. You have to do a great job of bottling him up.”
Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker remains squarely in the Heisman Trophy race, but the senior quarterback’s focus is on his first goal: Atlanta in December.
Jalin Hyatt’s stats in the last four weeks (three of those SEC games) have just been ridiculous. In the Vols’ last four games, Hyatt has 584 yards receiving and 11 touchdown catches.
Tennessee’s offense is fun to talk about, I get it, but the most eye-opening thing about Saturday’s thrashing of Kentucky was the defensive dominance.
Kentucky ended the night with just 205 yards of total offense. Chris Rodriguez was held to just 64 yards rushing. The defense forced three turnovers.
Let’s be clear, Georgia remains great on defense. They’re the only team holding SEC opponents to less than 100 yards rushing (86.4 ypg) and in five SEC games they’re allowing 189 yards per game in the air.
One thing I feel confident about is that Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp will have the Bulldogs Defense ready for the high-octane Vol’s offense.
Slowing down Tennessee, to me, means keeping them in the 30s. Something no SEC defense has done yet.
With that, I think Georgia will also score, and control the clock. Saturday, Tennessee will show up prepared to play in a monster game like this under the national spotlight, but the lights will be too bright for them.
Georgia’s Defense and Stetson Bennett’s big game experience will lead the Dawgs to victory.
Georgia 48 Tennessee 31
Dangerous Gators
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It is that time of the year again when the Dawgs and the Gators tee it up on the banks of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida.
The game is known as the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” The political correctness crowd would like folks to not refer to that title, but I have never cared what that crowd thought anyway.
The series began in 1904 with a 52-0 UGA win. Florida does not acknowledge the 1904 contest and says the series began in 1915. Since UGA leads the overall series, their claim is the valid claim for this article.
Georgia/Florida through the decades:
1900’s: UGA 1-0
1910’s: UGA 3-0
1920’s: UGA 3-2
1930’s: UGA 8-1-1
1940’s: UGA 7-2
1950’s: UF: 6-4
1960’s: UF 6-3-1
1970’s UGA 7-3
1980’s: UGA 8-2
1990’s: UF 9-1
2000’s: UF 8-2
2010’s: UGA 6-4
2020’s: Tied 1-1
UGA leads overall series: 54-44-2
The series has always been streaky with one team dominating the other over a period, but the last twelve contests have been relativity even with UGA holding 7-5 advantage going into the 2022 game.
Six times over the past twenty years one team has come into the contest undefeated. Florida came into this game unbeaten in 2009 and 2012 and went 1-1 in those contests.
Georgia has come into this contest undefeated 4 times in the same window 2002, 2005, 2017, and 2021 and has a 2-2 record in those games.
Georgia comes into the 2022 game with an undefeated 7-0 record, and as you can see in the above paragraph that means nothing in this series.
So, as we preview the 2022 contest you can throw the record books out the window. Georgia ranks second in the conference in total offense gaining 526 years per contest.
On defense Georgia ranks first in the conference and third nationally only giving up 247 yards per game.
Florida comes in the game with a 4-3 record overall and 1-3 in the SEC. Florida has lost SEC games to Kentucky, Tennessee, and LSU. The three losses came against three of the better teams in the conference. Florida beat Missouri at home 24-17. Their upcoming opponent struggled to beat Missouri 26-22 and should have lost that game.
Florida ranks seventh in the league in total offense averaging around 430 years per game.
Defensively the Gators rank 12th in the conference giving up around 430 yards per game.
Coming into this game UGA is, depending on where you look, a 15.5 to 17-point favorite in the contest. That is too high.
Florida’s strengths are offensive line, running backs, and QB Anthony Richardson. The Gators run for 213 yards per game which ranks as fourth best in the SEC.
I think UF comes into Jacksonville and tests a UGA run defense that has not really been tested in 2022. If Florida can run the ball and control the clock, then this will be a tight contest with Richardson factoring into the run game.
Georgia is a well-rounded football team. I think the Georgia passing game against a Gator secondary that has been torched in Tennessee and LSU losses will be key factor in the outcome.
UGA should be getting some key receivers back for this contest which will be huge.
Prediction: Georgia 31-21. Stetson Bennett has a big game passing and keeps some key drives alive with his feet to get UGA past Florida.
The UGA defense gets tested early but adjusts to take control in the second half of the contest.
I was thinking about this, if UGA wins this contest it will be their 55th win in the series.
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch October 27
