New Year’s Eve Linkage

Was going to post these early this morning.  But since the kids are away and I was off work, I was actually able to sleep in.  Please forgive me.

UGA-Central Florida

For someone as humble as Mark Richt, the pressure may be beginning to get to him as he now starts defending his tenure with the Dawgs. 

Seth Emerson also says that the motivation for the Liberty Bowl lies with UCF .  However, I dispute that here.   But, Seth does give us a nice breakdown of the game.

A stomach illness will keep UGA VIII out of the Liberty Bowl.  But have no fear Russ is here!

Dawgsonline has five questions heading into today’s Liberty Bowl.

Gentry Estes who is a twitter follower of the Grittree, gives the clueless “Fire Mike Bobo” zealots something to chew on.

UGA Recruiting

Rusty Mansell another fan of The Grittree says that Corey Moore is ready for next Saturday’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl.  I have seen Corey in camp, practice, and live in game for Griffin HS.  He is big sleeper in this class.  Dude plays with a BIG chip on his shoulder and plays with a nasty streak.  He is also not afraid to take your head off.  I’m real excited about this kid.  He will fit in perfectly at safety for Scott Lakatos.  He is excellent in coverage and has great fundamentals. 

Bowls

Is there a coach more snakebit than Derek Dooley?  Knoxville News Sentinel columnist John Adams says last night loss was another major kick in the gut for a program that has been in major turmoil going on 3 years now.  But, what a wild game it was.

The Miami Herald‘s Susan Degnan gives us a  great breakdown of today Sun’s Bowl between traditional powers Miami and Notre Dame.  Jacory Harris will start at QB for the Canes.

Our friends over at Plant the Spear tell us how FSU must stop Marcus Lattimore.

And a nice Did u Know for tonights Chick fil A bowl matchup by ESPN.com’s Chris Low

Low also gives us the keys for Alabama in the Capital One Bowl and Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl.

The blog Saturdays Down South exposes the corruption of the NCAA and the Sugar Bowl with regards to the eligibility issues for Ohio State’s 5 suspended players heading into the Sugar Bowl.

Other College Football News

The blog SportsbyBrooks reports that some think Kansas City Chiefs OC Charlie Weis could be joining Will Muschamp’s staff in Florida.

A big raise for Dan Mullen but increased expectations says Rick Cleveland.

And Dennis Dodd has the top 10 college football stories for 2010.

Kensingtondawg

Today’s Game Huge for Richt and Closing out 2011 Recruiting Class

Most of the stories surrounding today’s Liberty Bowl between Georgia and Central Florida have focused on whether the Dawgs will have enough motivation.  Georgia finished 6-6 and despite the great BBQ Memphis has to be offer, it is not the highlight of bowl spots around the New Year.  There’s also a big concern about the focus of a few players who could be thinking of the NFL Draft, most notably AJ Green and Justin Houston.  It appears the motivation in today’s game lies with UCF.  In today ‘s gameday story , Seth Emerson lists two big motivational factors that rest with the Golden Knights. 

1.  UCF has never won a bowl game

2.  With an upset of Georgia, UCF would be a great position for an invitation to a BCS conference.

Nevertheless, this game is huge for the University of Georgia football program, especially its head coach.  It’s known everywhere in the college football world, that the coach on the hottest seat in the SEC entering the 2011 football season will be the one Mark Richt sits on.  With that in mind, Richt must not lose today to flame that talk throughout the entire offseason.  A UGA win, and Richt’s hot seat talk will be quiet until SEC Media Day in late July.

The game is also important for Signing Day 2011.  If signing day were New Year’s Eve 2010, I believe Georgia would finish with maybe the best class in the entire Richt tenure.  It appears Valdosta TE and Thomas County Central DE Ray Drew are already locked up to sign with the Dawgs.  While trailing Alabama throughout most of the year, many think Griffin DE and Valdosta WR Malcolm Mitchell would ink with the Dawgs. 

The prize of the class is Isaiah Crowell.  In Mark Richt’s entire 10 year career, he has never had a running back that could score from anywhere on the field.  I believe  Crowell is the best running back to come through the state of Georgia since Garrison Hearst who signed with UGA back in 1990.  He is built like a tank and has EXPLOSIVE speed.  He is a must sign for Richt.  Throughout all of last summer, most felt that Crowell’s was Georgia’s too lose.  But a 1-4 start and Bama was then the clear frontrunner.  But Georgia fought back, and with the return of AJ Green finshed on a 5-2 run.  Suddenly, the Dawgs were bowl eligible.  Crowell attended the Georgia Tech game  and loved it!  Most feel now UGA has a comfortable lead.  But with a UGA loss today and the increased talk of  the lack of security in Richt’s job status in 2011, Crowell may have serious reservations about signing with UGA.  The talk would then feed over to Xavier Dickson and Malcomb Mitchell.  Make no mistake Dawg fans, the Liberty Bowl is a must win!

Kensingtondawg

Nobody is more eager for 2011….

than Derek Dooley.

That guy has had it rough in 2010. Not that I feel sorry for him, but the emotions he’s gone through is enough to make me almost feel sorry for any man. But the game last night was potentially the most interesting game of the 2010 bowl season.

Here’s to hoping today’s game isn’t nearly as interesting as last night.

Go Dawgs!

ucheedawg

Russ Returns

UGA VIII has come down with an intestinal illness in his stomach and will miss the Liberty Bowl according to the AJC’s Tim Tucker. 

However, “Russ” the former stand in for UGA VII, who died prematurely in 2009, will return to fill in for the Liberty Bowl.  Russ’ record is  mediocre at 4-4.  However, he led the Dawgs to a huge win on Grant Field last year as the Dawgs upset the 2009 ACC Champion “Maggots” from North Avenue 30-24. 

I believe UGA’s biggest rival will ALWAYS be the “Maggots”.  As Vince Dooley so eloquently stated “If you don’t think Georgia Tech is our biggest rival, then try losing to them.”  Jim Donnan had to come to the realization of that fact the hard way as he was 2-3 against the “Maggots” losing his final 3 in the series. 

 The 2009 win over Tech was special, and in my opinion one of the most important in the history of the rivalry, because it left a gigantic asterisk on Tech’s championship season.  For that reason alone, Russ will always have a special place in my heart.

Go Dawgs!

Kensingtondawg

Kensingtondawg

Tavarres King, Marlon Brown and Branden Smith: Your Starting Recievers in 2011

Seth Emerson posted an interview with speedster Branden Smith today. 

Seth ask Branden if he would mind playing more on offense, or making the switch entirely in 2011.  I think he should, assuming Brandon Boykin returns. 

This season, Branden Smith missed 5 games, and only had one interception.  He is a small guy, 5’11” 175 lbs.  Coach Lakatos likes the bigger sized corners that Willie seemed to avoid recruiting if possible. 

Sanders Cummings proved that he could be the second starter at corner when Smith was out.  Sanders did a fine job, in my opinion, and he was only a sophomore with limited playing experience before that.  If Jordan Love and Derek Owens develop well (and with Lakatos’ history of developing corners with lesser talent at smaller schools, I have no reason to think it is not possible), you could have some serious depth at corner in the next couple of years. 

Branden Smith’s talent’s could be used better elsewhere.

With the imminent departure of A.J. Green lurking, the Georgia offense needs a playmaker who can take it the house everytime he touches the ball.  Now, I think the Georgia offense can be pretty good without A.J. Green in 2011.  Aaron Murray will continue to get better, ergo making everyone around him better.  King, Brown, Charles and hopefully Crowell will still be solid. But sometimes, you need that spark to get things going. 

Branden Smith can offer that spark.  

If a dynamic playmaker is on the field, it keeps the defense honest.  It will only take couple of times of this happening before opposing defenses will start to respect him, and open things up for other people:

The Georgia coaching staff has made some mistakes over the last few years, but recently have seemed to be correcting these mistakes (albiet a little slow or late).  I know he was hurt a large part of the year in 2010.  But only letting Branden Smith touch the ball 8 times on offense this year was a mistake.  Hopefully it will be one that is corrected in 2011.

Corbindawg

Lewis Grizzard Wednesday

It may be past Christmas, but we are still in the Christmas spirit. 

Christmas Moose Smooch

I was driving along and listening to Christmas carols on the radio, and I started thinking back to those wonderful days when I was a kid and we used to draw names for the annual class Christmas party.

What a blast that was. What fun to share Christmas gifts with your classmates.

A bunch of cheap, ungrateful toads, all of them.

In the third grade Alvin Bates got my name. Alvin Bates was the kind of kid who would bring a candy bar for afternoon recess and then lick it all over before taking a bite so nobody would ask him to share it.

In the third grade Alvin Bates gave me one of those stupid wooden paddles with the balls and the rubber strings attached. You hit the stupid ball with the stupid paddle and the stupid ball, attached to the rubber string, comes back and you hit it again.

Terrific. Fun for any awkward child under six. For fifty-nine cents, which is exactly what Alvin Bates shelled out for the paddle and the ball, he could have brought me something useful and educational, like a copy of Stag magazine they kept on the back shelf at the drugstore.

Stag was nothing compared to the magazines they have today, but in 1954, seeing a picture of a lady in a girdle could make your month.

Later I reaped revenge. I drew Alvin’s name in the fourth grade, and I gave him a subscription to Boy’s Life. Anybody caught reading Boy’s Life was obviously a complete a) mama’s boy, b) nerd, c) sissy, d) wimp, e) fruit, f) several other things I can’t mention here.

“Hey, Four-Eyes,” we used to taunt Alvin on the playground, “what’s the centerfold this month in Boy’s Life? Picture of a pup tent?”

Alvin spent most of his fourth-grade year crying.

In the fifth grade, Frankie Garfield, the school bully, drew my name.

Having your name drawn by Frankie Garfield was both good and bad. The bad part was Frankie’s usual gift wouldn’t exactly fit under the class tree.

The good part was Frankie’s gift was a promise he wouldn’t beat you up for at least a week.

“I let you live, Duck-Face,” Frankie would say.

The worst thing that ever happened to me, though, was in the sixth grade when Cordie Mae Poovey, the ugliest and meanest girl in my school, drew my name.

Cordie Mae was from a poor family, and she never had much money to spend on a gift. A pair of socks, I figured. Or a box of peanut brittle.

Worse. I opened my gift from Cordie Mae, and all I found was an envelope with a note inside that read, “Merry Christmas. I give you the gift of love. One (1) kiss and (1) hug. Meet me after school. Cordie Mae.”

I’d kiss a pig first. And Cordie Mae was as strong as she smelled. She could break a couple of ribs.

After school I ran as fast as I could, but she finally chased me down, hammerlocked me, and then planted one right on my mouth. Smmmmmmmack!

“How’d you like that, big boy,” asked Cordie Mae.

“Ever smooched with a moose?” I answered.

“Ever been run over by a herd of reindeer?” replied Cordie Mae, who had no sense of humor whatsoever.

The swelling in my nose went down in a couple of days, but it was a week before my eyes opened again.

To Any Dawg Fans Driving to Memphis This Week

Ucheedawg and I made a drive to Branson, MO last summer.  Memphis is about the halfway point of the trip.  We stopped and ate BBQ coming and going .  I have a few words of advice for anyone driving:

-Make sure you have gas once you get past Tupelo.

-Don’t speed in the state of Alabama, ESPECIALLY in Jasper between Birmingham and the Mississippi state line.  If you must have a heavy foot, wait until you get to Hwy. 78. 

We got stopped by a Smokey and the Bandit wannabe cop.  He was a douche…we weren’t even speeding.  He was your sterotypical southern cop.  Big hat, cocky walk, big sunglasses and the attidude to go along with his dress up outfit.  “Why in the hell are you driving so fast on my road” was the first thing he said to us when we rolled down the window.  So, yeah, be careful.

-The drive through Mississippi is much more pleasent than the drive through Alabama.  What does that say for Alabama?

-If you feel like your wheels are going to fall off your car, don’t worry, it is just the Alabama roads.

-Once you get in Memphis, you will eat some good BBQ.  Now, everyone probably knows about Rendezvous.  Go to this website and see other good places.  We did reviews of A&R’s and The BBQ Shop.  The BBQ Shop comes highly recommended from the Grit Tree. 

-When you get to Memphis, be lucky you aren’t having to drive through the state of Arkansas.

Drive Safe and cheer on the Dawgs!  Enjoy the BBQ!

Corbindawg

McGarity Does It Again With Football Schedule

This is a big sigh of relief for all you golfers out there.  Greg McGarity announced there are plans to move the G-Day game away from Masters weekend. 

I never knew why UGA was hell bent on having the G-Day game the same weekend as the Masters. 

Corbindawg

To the Falcons out there: Rise up!

Here’s a little Samuel L. to help you ease your case of the Mondays.

 

If that doesn’t get you excited, allow this to take you back. The year: 1998. The game: NFC Championship. The Dance: Dirty

 

And if that doesn’t get you pumped, this will.

(Watch this version if no one is around. Not safe for work)

 

And watch this version if in front of mixed company or just because this is probably the best TV edit I have ever heard.

 

 

So from one fair-weathered Falcons fan to the next: Rise UP! Beat those monkey-fighting Saints!

 

-BuyPropertyUcheeDawg

Buckeye Player Sanctions Shows NCAA is Making Up Rules

In what was thought to be an issue of players getting cheap and free tattoos, turned into a much more gigantic issue.  The NCAA announced today that it is suspending five Ohio State players for the first five games of the 2011 season for receiving improper benefits due to the selling of awards, gifts, and university apparell totaling approximately $1,000 to $2,500.  The five must also repay the amount of benefits received to charity.

Despite what Buckeyes Athletic Director Gene Smith called “severe sanctions”, the NCAA once again showed how flawed the organization has become.  The five game suspension rendered does not include the upcoming Allstate Sugar Bowl and all participating parties will be allowed to play in the game.  The reason, according to the NCAA, is that the “student athletes were not aware they were committing violations.”  Are you kidding me?  Once again the NCAA, as it showed in the Cam Newton saga, is giving a pass due to ignorance to the law.  You cannot be an enforcement arm if this continues to be the standard by which student athletes are judged.

In 2007, the NCAA ruled that 12 Florida State players had to sit out the Music City Bowl against Kentucky due to an academic cheating scandal.  Did the FSU players know they were cheating?  I bet if you asked them they would tell you they had no idea they were committing any sort of violation.  Even worse the NCAA also acknowledged that the FSU coaches in the program did not know commit any wrong doing.  Yet the program stripped legendary former FSU coach Bobby Bowden of 14 wins!   Yet the NCAA admitted that Bowden didn’t know!!!!  Unreal!  This organization has become beyond a joke and as Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated said is “clearly making up the rules as they go along.”

Kensingtondawg