Bishop Media Sports Network
I Have The Power
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Thanksgiving is almost upon us in the pandemic-stricken football season of 2020.
Just this weekend alone you have four games in the SEC that have been postponed and scheduled for a later date due to the Coronavirus. Will we make it through the regular season?
Who knows that answer, but here are my SEC Power Rankings at this point of the season:
Alabama: The Crimson Tide hung 52 points on Texas A&M. Alabama hung 41 on Georgia before Georgia’s defense was officially exposed as a fraud.
Mac Jones and Najee Harris are Heisman candidates.
This defense is starting to come around, and there is no team in the conference that will stand in their way on a cruise to the SEC Championship.
Florida could pose some problems, but that defense can’t stop a faucet drip.
Nick Saban is still the best in the business. Alabama’s offense might be better than a couple of NFL teams that are in the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes. SEC Champion and College Football playoff team.
Texas A&M: By virtue of beating Florida the Aggies land here.
The Aggies played awful against Alabama, but doesn’t everyone not named Auburn and LSU once every 8 years?
Jimbo Fisher is in position to get a College Football playoff bid without winning a conference championship if his team can run the table and finish 9-1 in this pandemic season. This team is improving weekly.
Florida: The Gators got over the UGA hurdle last week, but UGA left three TD’s on the field with awful QB play.
Kyle Trask may be the Heisman front-runner at the moment.
Dan Mullen needs to get something out of this season because Trask will not be back next year.
This defense can’t stop an elite team like Alabama. I see Florida finishing the season with a 10-2 record with a nice NY6 Bowl win over someone to be determined.
This offense is really good, and they just completed another 40-yard wheel route to a running back on Georgia.
Mullen still has a month to fix this defense before the Alabama SEC title game.
Georgia: UGA lands here by default.
The QB room is a mess and the defense can’t stop a good college passing offense.
UGA may finish 8-2 who knows, but last weekend in Jacksonville left a bitter taste in the mouth of the Bulldog Nation.
Carson Beck needs to get his shot Kirby.
Auburn: With the win over a bad LSU team Gus may have survived once again.
Perception is reality you know.
This is a team that did not score a TD against UGA.
Arkansas: The Razorbacks are the most improved team in the SEC.
“The Pit Boss” Sam Pittman is the SEC coach of the year. Arkansas is the SEC feel good story of the year. The Hogs are 3-3 currently and are a pretty decent football team.
Ole Miss: The Rebels have the third best offense in the SEC.
Once Lane Kiffin can shore up that defense with a couple of recruiting cycles look out SEC.
This is an exciting team to watch.
LSU: Yeah, we know the Tigers lost 14 players to the NFL draft, but damn this is LSU.
Covid-19 delayed a monumental beating from Alabama this weekend, but don’t worry LSU its coming in December.
Tennessee: You can shake 9-14 up in a bag.
Tennessee should be better than this.
Missouri: The Tigers are rebuilding and show signs of life.
South Carolina: Hugh Freeze is sitting by the phone Carolina fans.
Kentucky: Watching this offense is like staring at paint drying.
Mississippi State: The Air Raid is a dud in the SEC. The LSU game was fool’s gold against an awful defense.
Vanderbilt: Baseball season will start soon Vandy fans.
Power Rankings in Coastal Georgia seem to be a hot topic these days.
Glynn Academy Red Terrors Coach’s Show w Rocky Hidalgo November 12
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick November 11
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Sean Pender November 11
The Quarterback Room
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The eighth ranked Florida Gators topped the #5 ranked Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday in the World’s Largest Cocktail Party, taking control of the SEC East at the midway point in the 2020 season.
Florida was led by Senior quarterback Kyle Trask. Trask completed 30 of 43 passes for 474 yards, 4 touchdowns and an interception. Trask became the first quarterback in SEC history to throw for 4 plus touchdowns in 5 consecutive games.
Trask was a low three-star quarterback coming out of Manvel, Texas, where he played behind D’Eriq King. Trask’s composite score was 0.7984 and ranked the 2123rd player in the country.
Georgia’s starting quarterback Stetson Bennett was a high three star with a composite score of 0.8304. Bennett was replaced by four-star quarterback D’Wan Mathis, whose composite score was 0.8992.
After the game on Saturday, whining Bulldog fans were making excuses for the loss.
Some were saying ‘we would have won but we have five players out with injuries and a walk on quarterback’.
Another said I really miss Jake Fromm. I also heard Bennett could not start for Valdosta State University. Injuries are part of the game, but the quarterback position at Georgia is another issue.
Georgia’s quarterback issues started when Justin Fields transferred to Ohio State. The Georgia coaching staff selected Fromm over Fields and the rest is history. Fields is currently the front runner for the Heisman Trophy.
In January, Jamie Newman, the Wake Forest graduate transfer, announced he was transferring to Georgia. On September 2, Georgia’s projected starting quarterback opted out of the 2020 season.
Many speculated that five-star transfer from USC J.T. Daniels would assume the starting job. Daniels has yet to see the field due to medical clearance on his knee. Daniels was the 18th overall in the 2018 class and threw for 2,672 yards as a true freshman in 2018.
D’Wan Mathis started the opening game against Arkansas but was benched in the second half for former walk-on, Stetson Bennett. Bennett has done a very serviceable job for the Bulldogs leading them to victories over Arkansas, Auburn and Kentucky. Bennett gives UGA the best chance to win.
Georgia’s quarterback problems can be traced to a couple factors: coaching, development and offensive systems.
Georgia’s offensive coordinators/quarterback coach under Kirby Smart have been Jim Chaney 2016-18, James Coley 2019 and Todd Monken 2020. Three coordinators in three years, how can a player be developed?
The product on the field in big games prove that UGA quarterbacks are not being developed or coached up to their true strengths.
Kirby Smart has brought in three different coordinators to run a spread offense in Athens, but Smart’s football DNA is to run the ball and play stout defense. The strength of this team is its defense and running the football.
However, it appears offenses have finally caught up to Georgia’s defense. LSU sliced and diced the Dawgs in last season’s SEC Championship Game and Alabama did the same three weeks ago.
Florida handed Georgia their second loss of the season by a score of 44-28.
The defeat also makes it very unlikely for the Bulldogs to claim its fourth straight SEC East title.
It also created questions at the quarterback position moving forward. Who should start at quarterback: Bennett, Daniels, Mathis or Carson Beck (true freshman for Jacksonville)?
Wait until next year when another five star comes to Athens in Brock Vandagriff.
Bulldog fans, accept your loss to the better team last week and stop making excuses! It is embarrassing!
Making The Grade?
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Going into the season many experts thought the NFC South would be the toughest division. Now that we’re a little more than halfway through the season let’s take a look at how each team is doing and grade them on their midseason report card.
Tampa Bay: The Buccaneers (6-3) have a lot of hype surrounding them.
As you know they signed the greatest quarterback of all time Tom Brady in the off-season. They also traded to get his favorite target, tight end Rob Gronkowski. They already had Pro Bowl wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
They also signed running back Leonard Fournette and recently acquired future Hall of Fame receiver Antonio Brown.
They are stacked with talent, but the Saints are their kryptonite. They were swept by New Orleans and they did not play well in those games.
This past week they were pummeled 38 – 3 by them. The week before they barely beat the 1-7 New York Giants 25 – 23.
The defense is pretty good, ranked fourth in the league in total defense.
The Bucs are a playoff team but not as good as we expected. Grade: B-.
New Orleans: The Saints (6-2) are flying high. Their tied for the best record in the NFC.
They have the potential to be the top seed and have home field advantage in the playoffs. I will admit that with limited crowd sizes this season due to the pandemic it might not mean as much as it has previously.
Star wide receiver Michael Thomas has missed several games due to a suspension for a fight in practice and a hamstring injury.
In the two games he’s played in he has 8 catches and 68 yards. On the bright side he should be well rested.
The defense is 3rd in the league in total defense, allowing 312 yards and 25 points per game.
New Orleans is the total package. Grade: A.
Atlanta: The Falcons (3-6) got off to another slow start, losing the first five games of the season.
Head Coach Dan Quinn was fired, and Raheem Morris was named the interim head coach.
In those four games they are 3-1. I look at it as too little, too late. Quarterback Matt Ryan is leading the league in passing yards and he’s on his way to another Pro Bowl.
Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley are both on pace to have over a thousand yards and they both have missed games.
Running back Todd Gurley was signed as a free agent and he’s having a decent season.
Gurley is fifth in rushing yards (584) and second in rushing touchdowns (9). The defense is 28th in total defense, allowing 410 YPG and 27.9 PPG.
Grade: D-.
Carolina: The Panthers (3-6) got rid of Cam Newton and signed Teddy Bridgewater to replace him.
The best running back in the NFL, Christian McCaffrey is their only real threat on offense.
McCaffrey injured his ankle Week 2 and missed 6 games before returning Week 9.
They signed former Jets receiver Robby Anderson as a free agent and that was a great move. Anderson is fourth in the league in receiving yards with 751. DJ Moore is also having a good season with 640 receiving yards and 3 TD’s.
The defense is average, ranking 17th in total defense. They give up 362 YPG and 25 PPG.
Grade: D.
Jimmie
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
With the exception of a few years in the mid to late 2000’s where I was a casual watcher, I’ve never really been a fan of NASCAR.
It’s not that I had anything against it, watching racing just wasn’t my thing.
However, as Jimmie Johnson’s full-time career comes to an end- and I say full time because race car drivers are like WWE wrestlers, they never seem to completely retire- I can’t help but think back on how he was perceived during that time.
Now, just to be clear, I’m not talking about his legacy- I’m not nearly knowledgeable enough to make those kinds of assessments. I’m referring to how he was viewed among most NASCAR fans, and why.
Johnson entered NASCAR as Jeff Gordon 2.0. He was a good looking, well dressed, articulate speaking (no accent) individual, which meant the ladies loved him and the men, not so much.
The fact he drove for the same owner as Gordon, Richard Hendrick, led to me hearing them referred to as the “Backstreet Boys of racing” on more than one occasion.
It would be easy to put the lion’s share of Johnson’s struggle to win over the diehard fan on him being an outsider, but it goes a little deeper than that.
NASCAR is a tight knit community where names like Petty, Wallace, and Allison mean something; and no name carries more weight in that sport than Earnhardt.
I honestly think had Earnhardt been around the Hatfield and McCoy’s feud would’ve ended with “…and they all gathered around the table in their Earnhardt shirts, thanking the good lord for placing the Intimidator on this earth.”
Fan loyalty runs deeper in NASCAR than any other sport, so to have a racer like Jimmie Johnson winning five straight Cup Series Championships over Dale Earnhardt Jr. was blasphemy at its highest level.
It would’ve been bad enough to have a racer like Tony Stewart or Kevin Harvick defeating Earnhardt Jr. when it was supposed to be his time, but for those defeats to come at the hands of a pretty boy from California was unacceptable.
If Johnson was your average racer, winning a race or two here and there, I still think fans would’ve had the same opinion of him, it just wouldn’t have been nearly as deep seeded.
(I feel like I need to mention I don’t ever remember Earnhardt Jr. and Johnson having any issues with each other, outside of the normal confrontations all drivers seem to have with each other some point. Like most things related to sports, it had nothing to with the drivers themselves, but rather the fans.)
I also believe Johnson’s popularity with the casual NASCAR fan outside of the south was a major reason the sport reached its peak around that time- something I think the diehard fan had difficulty coming to grips with.
If I had to guess it’s been ten years since I, not only watched a NASCAR race, but actually followed what was taking place. I have no idea if Johnson’s popularity within the sport has increased over that time or if it’s stayed the same; I imagine it’s gotten better, but probably not by much.
I have no idea where Johnson ranks among the pantheon of great race car drivers, but for a few years he was one of the more polarizing drivers in the sport, and NASCAR was all the better for it.
Bark and Bite
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
When Kirby Smart took the UGA job in December of 2015 the two main things he had to do was change the mental aspect of the Florida series, and make UGA a more physical football team.
Here are a few things you hear from Florida fans these days:
“We gave the game away”
“We had too many turnovers”
“Georgia is killing us on the recruiting trail”
“Mullen is a better game day coach than Kirby”.
And a new one for 2020: “Covid-19 put us at a competitive disadvantage”
You hear Florida players and coaches say this is just another game, and every sports cliché you can come up with and it will start up right after Florida takes care of Missouri on Saturday.
The fact of the matter is this UGA is one win away from a complete brainwashing of the Florida fan base and that will carry over to the football program.
Let me go on record and say Georgia is going to win the Florida game on November 7th, and with that win you will have an entire senior football class at UF go through the program without a win in the Georgia series.
Sunday, November 8, 2020 will be a glorious morning for Georgia football because The Dawgs will control the series, once again both physically and more importantly mentally, which is something UGA hasn’t done since Vince Dooley decided he didn’t want to control Florida any longer when he retired.
Dan Mullen is already hearing it when he travels around to all the Gator Booster events around the State of Florida now. “Coach, when are we going to beat Georgia?” “Coach, we are letting Kirby come into our backyard and take too many kids out of the State of Florida”. The list goes on and on.
Name me a signature Dan Mullen win in his head coaching career? I’m listening Florida fans.
Going into this game Florida fans have got themselves wound up so tight that they are asking “How are we going to screw this one up?” Prior to 1990 this was the life of a Gator fan.
UGA would roll into Jacksonville, take the game, take all the pretty women, and drink the most cocktails, and roll out of town and leave the Florida fans bitter and resentful because they were mentally brainwashed.
Then something magical happened for UF, they hired Steve Spurrier, who became bigger than life for the program. He became their Sigmund Freud.
Spurrier ushered in the Golden Age of Gator football, but that glimmer is gone, and Steve won’t be roaming the sidelines in Jacksonville anymore.
Urban Meyer rode the Spurrier mystique and left that program in shambles.
Dan Mullen has now been hired to reclaim the glory, but one thing stands in his way and that is the Georgia Bulldogs led by Kirby Smart.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the entire Florida fan base and program are one more loss away in the series from being conditioned from one recruiting to the next that we just can’t beat Georgia.
Physically Georgia is better that Florida currently. Mentally Georgia is light years ahead of Florida currently.
Mark Richt was fired because he was 5-10 against Florida. Will Dan Mullen be the first Florida coach in three decades to eventually get fired because he couldn’t beat UGA enough?
I love the UGA/UF game. I love the game in Jacksonville and hope it stays there forever.
As a UGA fan Kirby Smart has me expecting to beat Florida every year.
Gator fans don’t lose too much sleep worrying about what’s going to go wrong this time.
Dawgs win again 35-20.
The Matchup
By: Teddy Bishop
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Even though the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party is being severely curtailed due to Covid-19, the game that accompanies The Party still has significant meaning.
The winner of the Georgia-Florida shootout will likely win the Southeastern Conference East title and take on Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.
The winner of the match-up against Alabama will win the SEC title and secure a spot in the College Playoffs for an opportunity to win a National Championship.
Florida had two games postponed because of a Covid outbreak, including head coach Dan Mullen testing positive, and couldn’t even take the practice field for twenty-one days. But all of that seems to be in the rearview mirror, at least for now.
Mullen has returned Florida to national prominence, going 21-5 in his first two seasons, but has not found to way to beat Georgia. Mullen’s Gators lost to the Bulldogs 37-26 in 2018, and 24-17 last year.
In Athens, Kirby Smart took over as Head Dawg in 2016 and had compiled a 44-12 record going into this Covid-plagued year, including three feasts on Gator tail with only one loss.
Florida opened the season with convincing wins over Mississippi 51-35 and South Carolina 38-24, before falling to Texas A&M 38-41.
Georgia rolled to three consecutive wins to start the 2020 season, beating Arkansas 37-10, Auburn 27-6, and Tennessee 44-21, before running into an Alabama buzzsaw 24-41.
The debacle in Tuscaloosa notwithstanding, Georgia’s defense has looked good for the most part. On the other hand, the Gator D has been porous at times.
The high-powered Gator offense is forcing maintenance crews to change a lot of light bulbs on scoreboards, averaging over 42 points per game, but the Bulldogs offense hasn’t done too shabbily either, putting up 33 points per contest.
A huge key to any game, of course, is the play of the quarterback, and it says here that Kyle Trask gives Florida the advantage over Stetson Bennett and the Dogs in the QB Dept.
Through three games, Trask has thrown 14 touchdown passes with only one interception, averaging well over 300 yards passing per game.
In four outings, Bennett has 7 TD passes and 3 interceptions, while averaging about 240 yards passing per game.
Having quoted all those stats, I don’t believe Florida has faced a defense as good as Georgia’s. If you take away the Alabama game, which you can’t, of course, the Dawgs are surrendering fewer than 13 points per game.
Trask’s task is to avoid pressure from the Georgia defense, and I just don’t see that happening.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention two local players now wearing the Red and Black for Georgia: former Brunswick High offensive lineman Warren McClendon and former Glynn Academy kicker Jack Podlesny.
Podlesny is having a sterling season for the Dawgs, converting 14 of 14 extra points and eight of 10 field goals, including a 51-yarder.
McClendon (Willie’s nephew), a redshirt freshman, is arguably the best offensive lineman ever to come out of Glynn County, certainly the best I’ve seen in my 18 years of broadcasting Brunswick High football.
Final score for the 2020 Georgia-Florida game: Bulldogs 33; Gators 30.
Podlesny kicks a last second field goal to win the game. McClendon, of course, makes the key block.
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick November 4
