Why a Playoff is a Good Thing

Last night solidified why a college football playoff is inevitable. The sport has gotten so big that we virtually have to enter into this unchartered territory. I had been on the fence about this topic, but last night my mind was made up.

We were one sleazy coach and a tattoo parlor away from having witnessed The Ohio State University and Notre Dame play an incredible football game for the 2013 MNC. No doubt, that game would have been epic. It also would have been akin to watching Ole Miss and Vanderbilt play for all the marbles. Alabama proved, once again, that the SEC is the elite college football conference in America. So, to sum up that thought, a playoff will bring us year-in year-out what almost didn’t happen this year.

There is zero doubt in my mind that if we had a 4 team playoff this year, Notre Dame would not have been playing for the MNC. There is zero doubt in my mind that if we had an 8 team playoff that Notre Dame would have made it out of the first round. You can bicker about how many teams and who those are, but I guarantee you Alabama would have made it into the title bout. Had Ohio State not been on probation, the best team would not have won the National Championship, and that’s a shame. In a world of transparency, we need a clearly defined winner. A playoff is the only system that allows that.

Stumbling slightly off the beaten path, I’m fairly certain that if we had a 16 team playoff that allowed multiple schools from the SEC to play, you would wind up with at least 3 in the final 4 if scheduling allowed such an event to take place. Point is, and I’m not trying to be SEC homer guy, but the SEC is the home of the best football in the nation. To have any type of scenario where an SEC school doesn’t have a fair shot at playing for the MNC at the current day in age is a travesty. I know how that sounds, but it’s the truth. Notre Dame can’t play with SEC schools, but had a place in the big game when more deserving teams did not. It’s not just Notre Dame. I don’t think Oregon, Stanford, Ohio State, Kansas State, or others are in the same class as the big boys of the SEC. I believe the two best teams in the nation played on December 1 in the Georgia Dome. I believe the best team in the nation won that game and walked to a much-too-easy win against a team that shouldn’t have been in Miami.

Lots of rambling thoughts, but bottom line is I do believe last night proved the need for a playoff system, and I’m glad we’re moving in that direction. We’ll argue about that format for years to come, but the good thing is we won’t be stuck with 4 teams for very long. It will get to 8 and then 16 within a decade, and to me, that’s a good thing. 

Go Dawgs!

Ucheedawg

Richt 1, Media Hack 0

You know, anytime someone markets themselves as the ‘King’ of anything, it says a lot of about how big of an assclown they are. Chuck Oliver actually did all of America a favor with his cowardly post-game stunt on Saturday night. Last week, all of Atlanta knew how much of a bumbling fool the “Kang” is. Now all of America knows.

Were there questions about Georgia’s big-game showings coming into Saturday? Sure. But after a game like yesterday, to not only ask that question but also cowardly hide behind ‘some people’ is chickencrap.

Chuck Oliver is the King is only one thing. Being a first-class joke.

Lugnut Dawg

The Good, Bad and Ugly from Week 4

This was the first of several “big” weekends coming up. A few thoughts from around the SEC….

The Good

UGA- what can you really say? That’s how the number 5 ranked team in the nation is supposed to look.

South Carolina- SC offered up a beat-down of Mizzo. Good statement win for Cocky. October 6 looks pretty interesting right now. Can’t wait to find out who CBS picks this afternoon for their game.

Florida- The WLOCP could have a HUGE national impact if things shake out. Florida continues to look better. I know they only beat Kentucky, but they did it like we did against Vandy, how they’re supposed to.

Mississippi State- These Bulldogs are quietly playing good football right now.

The Bad

LSU. I thought LSU would win this one by 4 td’s. Instead, this was reminiscent of the 9-6 game a few years ago, only uglier. Still think LSU has talent, but that UF game looks alot tougher right now.

Mizzo- Really, they could fall into the next category, but while they’re pledging we’ll leave them here.

The Ugly

Arkansas- Dern. Rutgers? Really? The only question, as has been posed by many already, is where Petrino ends up next year. My money is on…..

Tennessee- My bet is that DD is lawyering in Georgia before UGA plays Tech. Or working on a contract with CBS. He does have the face and the personality. Either way is a win-win for him. Watch out for these guys next year with Petrino at the helm. I underestimated him it seems.

ucheedawg

All We Ask is 3 Years

I’ve said it about many UGA players, most recently Crowell. All we really ask is that for 3 years you make good decisions. It’s not that hard. 1,095 days of working hard, listening to your coach, and staying out of trouble. I think it can be done. After that, you can write your own ticket. Make millions as a 21 year old. Do whatever you want, you’ve got more money than you’ll ever need. All you’ve got to do is stay out of trouble for 3 years. Yes, I understand how tempting trouble is as an 18-21 year old. I was there, and I didn’t always make the right decision. But I managed to make it through 5 years in Athens without once getting locked up, receiving a ticket, or doing anything that would harm my future too bad. For these supreme athletes, you don’t have to make it 5 years. If you give it 3, then you’re free.

That concept blows my mind. I can already envision what some of the comments may be, and everyone is entitled to your own view. But really, it’s not asking that much to make good decisions every day for 3 years. The pull from evil forces isn’t that strong. So for someone like Tyrann Matthieu to have the desire to do drugs so badly that it harms what would be millions and millions of dollars for him just 1 year from now is absurd. Not saying I’m perfect, but if I’m Matthieu, I can guarantee you I’m not doing drugs. If I get in trouble, it’s for something else.

I do applaud Matthieu for taking corrective steps. For the sake of the Honey Badger, I hope he gets his life in order and comes to play in the defensive backfield for the Atlanta Falcons for many years to come.

ucheedawg

I Could Be The Best In The SEC, but Then I Got High

h/t edsbs

First before I rip into Crowell, let’s dispell any internet message board rumor with facts and precendence.  I am no lawyer, although Kensingtondawg pretends to be sometime.

There is speculation that perhaps Georiga Coach Mark Richt knew the “positive” drug test results before Saturday’s game against the Gators.

(Allow me to ramble for a second:  does it not bother you that people refer to test results backwards?  “Your cancer tests came back negative” is  a good thing, but testing positive is a bad thing.  Very confusing.  A little hang up I have about the medical profession, and another reason our English language is tricky.)

At no time in his tenure at UGA has Mark Richt ever skirted discipline.  While other blue and orange schools to the south of us have relatively light discipline, there is one thing that Mark Richt has never done, and that is skirt discipline, and Lord knows he has had plenty of opportunities to dole it out.

It doesn’t matter when a player commits an infraction, the penalty has always been the next game.  Claude Felton addressed this yesterday (I couldn’t find his quote I saw somewhere) as did Greg McGarity:

Athletic director Greg McGarity said “absolutely not,” when asked Tuesday if discipline was held over until after the Florida game.

“This had nothing to do with the Florida game or anything,” McGarity said. “It was all timing.”

Georgia said it has strict policies that suspensions “as a result of team or Athletic Association policies are immediate and occur at the next scheduled competition.”

Most folks seem to hold Greg McGarity in high regard, Claude Felton is the most respected SID in the country, and Mark Richt has never skirted discipline no matter who the next oppent was.  The rule of missing the next scheduled competition has been seen before, and it hasn’t matterd if it was against a directional FCS team or a BCS team:

-Tripp Chandler was suspended the first game of 2007, when the opening opponent was Oklahoma State.

-Fred Munzenmaier was suspended two games, one of which was South Carolina, for talking smack to a cop following an alcohol related arrest in 2008.

-Justin Houston was suspended for the first two games of the 2009 season against top ten ranked Oklahoma State and SEC Division foe South Carolina, despite being the only scholarship defensive end with any game time playing experience.

-Most Georgia folks were concnerned that Cornelius Washington’s suspension would hurt the pass rush against Tennessee.  It ended up not mattering, but UGA suspended one of its best pass rushers before going on the road to play a team with a good quarterback.

Sure, most transgressions take place in the off season, and most of the time the next opponent is a cupcake team where it really doesn’t matter.  But there have been instances where the suspensions have been against legitimate teams, so to think that Richt is cherry picking punishment is a bit of a conspiracy theory.  Sure, Richt’s seat has never been as hot as it was before Saturday, and this was a year UGA most definately HAD to beat Florida.   I don’t think Richt would decieve us at this point, when he hasn’t done that in his 10 previous seasons.

I am not one of those who love Richt becuase he is a good person.  Sure, him being a good guy and doing good things is a cherry on top, but I am not one who says we should keep Richt just becuase he is  a good guy.  But of al the on and off the field issues the last few years, one thing Richt has that is his Ace in the hole is he has always done the right thing.  What has kept him out of the administration’s dog house during the down years is his tremendous amout of good will he has stockpiled, from the early victories and the fact he has not embarrassed the University.  The Georgia fans (the ones who pay the large donations, anyway) are by and large old, white, upper class, conservative people.  I don’t think they would look to fondly on losing to the Gators, but I also don’t think they would look to fondly on lying and being dishonest, either.  When Mark Richt is being scrutinized the most, I just don’t see him selling out, regardless of the Gators being the next game or not.

I don’t know the procedures for drug tests, but I don’t think Richt would lie to us.  I think he has proven to do the right thing, and I think he and the Athletic Deparment have earned the benefit of the doubt here.

Now, onto Crowell:

What an idiot.  Crowell has the talent to be an elite SEC runningback.  But he has already been in Richt’s dog house once this season, and this surely will keep him in it for a little while longer.  Isiah Crowell, statiscially speaking is having a good year, being the 5th best running back in the SEC.  The folks ahead of him are no slouches-Marcus Lattimore, Trent Richardson and Michael Dyer.  I believe Richardson is down to just a few more games at Alabama, and Lattimore will surely only play one more year at South Carolina.  In just a season or two, Crowell has the talent and potential to become the BEST running back in the SEC.  His problems have been his durability.  But that was expected this preseason, coming from a AA high shcool to the SEC.  He needed time to get conditioned and get up to the speed of SEC play.

Short term, this is not a problem for UGA.  We caught a huge break by playing New Mexico State.  Crowell was only going to get 10-16 carries (he got 16 vs Coastal Carolina, and this late in the season, you’d expcet him to get less).  LSU had players suspended two weeks ago for Auburn, and they are in a National Title hunt.  This doesn’t derail the chances of UGA to win the SEC East or win 10 games in a rebound season.

But get out of the weeds and look at it long term?  Can Isiah Crowell be the best running back in the SEC if he doesn’t have his crap together?  Will he be Weshaun Ealey Part II?  You know, these guys are 18 year old kids.  I am not going to cast stones at them.  I never smoked pot or even got arrested, but I did other things that I am sure if I was under the same microscope the football players are under I would have gotten in trouble. I drank cold beer (gasp!) before I was 21.  I cut classes.  We all did.  These guys are going to make mistakes, and he is paying the price.  If you randomly drug tested the whole student body at Georgia, or just the fraternity houses or dorms, I am sure there would be a lot postive test results.  He is a 5 star recruit playing running back at the same school where Herschel Walker played.  His scrutiny is high.

But what is alarming that he has already gotten in some kind of trouble once.  Crowell isn’t just like everyone else.  This is twice in his freshman year he has found trouble.  If Crowell is going to be an elite player, ergo if UGA is going to be an elite program again, then Crowell has got to recognize he is not like everyone else.  Uncle Ben told Peter Parker in the Toby McGuire Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility.  Crowell has to grow up fast, man up and learn his responsibility, or UGA is going to be in bad shape.  Not this season, but not too far down the road.  And not just for UGA’s or Mark Richt’s sake.  Crowell no more wants to be playing at Georgia Southern or Jacksonville State no more than I want another hole in my head.

Corbindawg

False Identity

I know that many of you readers of the blog use pseudonyms. I’m sure there are some of you who also pretend to be someone you’re not. That’s ok, we all use pseudonyms as our names, for a variety of reasons. It’s all fun and games, the wide world of the internet, right?

Well….sometimes that gets taken to a different level. Check out this fascinating story. Our state senate is……………..(finish that thought yourself.) One of my favorite blogs, Peach Pundit, had the story also.

You can’t make this stuff up.

ucheedawg

UPDATE

It just gets better.

Hartman Fund Changes

Today is the final day to purchase your tickets for the 2011 and the powers at be over at the Athletic Association have decided to shut down their website.  So if you are like me and forgot until today to renew your tickets you may be surprised when you try and go to GeorgiaDogs.com and the site has been removed.  The new official sports site is TheGeorgiaBulldogClub.com.  Hell of a day to make a switch but the IT department never asked my opinion.

Dukes of Hazzard Meets Mayberry Meets Twiggs County

I really didn’t have a good title for this post. And I really have nothing to add. You’ll just have to read it yourself. Good work, Twiggers. Don’t mess with rural cops, lawyers or judges. You’ll always “be had” in the end.

ucheedawg

Say Goodbye to the Sweater Vest

I just can’t foresee this ending well for Corbin’s favorite coach, Jim “Sweater Vest” Tressel. As the lies build up, the picture gets bleaker for The Ohio State University.

For the first time in years the most overrated team in America won’t open up as favorites to make the MNC game. I hate to find happiness in others misery, but I just can’t help myself.

Have a wonderful, pollinated weekend.

ucheedawg

Difference of Opinion

I am not a Jay Cutler guy. He’d be one of the last qb’s I’d choose in the NFL for my team. That said, I wanted to scream yesterday as the talking heads and pundits around America talked uncontrollably about him not playing the 2^nd half of Sunday’s game against the Packers.

The talk started immediately on Sunday as folks sitting at home in their overstuffed sofas, mouth full of chips, began calling him a wimp and a coward. On Monday, it’s all anyone talked or wrote about. A bunch of “Joe 6-packs” calling this NFL QB out for a knee injury. I’ve got two words for that: Busch league.

There are many things that bother me about this situation. First of all, if you watched any of that first half, you saw Cutler getting pounded, just as he did all season long behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league. However, he kept grinding and fighting. Then his knee gets blown (2^nd degree sprain/tear, if you’ve never had that then shut up). He goes out and tries to play before halftime, then talks his way onto the field after halftime. His first throw he can’t even plant, short hops an 8 yard pass, and is pulled. The Head Coach made that decision, with his advice coming from the doctors. Lovie Smith thought, correctly so, that his quarterback who can’t plant and throw, needed to come out in order for them to win. Yet Cutler is the one who is hanged for it.

The other thing that is driving me nuts is people talking about the “perception.” Jay Cutler has been the same stoic person since he was at Vandy. It’s just who he is. He’s not your Aaron Rodgers who fist pumps and jumps on his linemen. It’s just not his personality. Brian Ulracher is the vocal leader of the Bears, not Cutler. Yet folks are saying Cutler laid down because he was not fired up on the sideline. If you follow the Bears one bit, you know that it is just his personality. Period. America loves the “Cinderella” comeback story, but what America does not understand is that some of that is put on, and it doesn’t involve a knee. Playing with a broken thumb is not the same as playing with a torn knee.

I played ¾ of a season in high school with two broken toes. It hurt like the devil, but I could still play. Everyone plays football hurt. There’s not a player in the NFL who suits up a game not hurt to some extent. But knees are different. I also had to undergo knee surgery in high school due to a football injury. The knee is that one thing that limits you more than any other injury. I played with a concussion (not smart), broken fingers, and all sorts of ailments. But with the knee, there’s no playing. You can try, but it doesn’t work. Most importantly, it doesn’t give your team the best chance to win.

I understand that I am digressing, almost to the point of a rant. The fact of the matter is, it has driven me crazy to witness folks sit behind a computer or in front of a microphone and bash Jay Cutler for something out of his control. There is ZERO chance Jay Cutler was going to lay down in that situation unless he absolutely had to. You don’t get to that level as an NFL QB and not be a tremendous competitor. It just does not happen. That may be the most absurd part of this whole argument to me. Just put yourself in that mindset if you can. Do you really get to the pinnacle of the NFL not wanting to play? NO! The weak are the ones who don’t make it to the NFL. There are hundreds of quarterbacks in America who have great skills. Only a select few have the drive to get to that upper echelon of starting NFL QB’s.

Jay Cutler was near tears due to frustration of hearing people say these insane things. I can only imagine his pain; to know something that the public doesn’t understand, yet not be able to explain it. Forget the idiots like Dion Sanders who tweet from their home; I guarantee that clown wouldn’t have been playing with a torn MCL. The bottom line is, when you get taken out by the coach and training staff due to a severe knee injury and get hung publicly by it, that is just wrong. Forget the fact that he’s diabetic, and that plays into his stoic nature on the sideline. The bottom line is that everyone, from Mike Ditka to Joe 6-pack, needs to get a life and get over this. We don’t care if you played football hurt, everyone does. But you cannot play quarterback, especially in the NFL, with a 2^nd degree sprain on your MCL.

I apologize for my rant, but it’s therapy for the soul.

ucheedawg