Dawg Sports - All Posts

Keep Your Enemies Closer: If You Couldn't Be A Bulldog Fan, Just What Would You Be?

2013-05-24T19:22:06Z

Kick it, maestro:

In summers past Dawg Sports readers and authors shared their "Dawgographies", stories about how we each came to be red and black dyed Georgia Bulldog fans. Those stories were as varied as they were entertaining. There were stories about our college days, about family, about exhilarating victories and crushing defeats.

But recently while considering these stories about lifelong fanhood being born I asked myself a perplexing question, one which I now ask you, Dawg Sports readers: if you had to be a fan of an SEC school other than the University of Georgia, which one would it be?

I know, it's borderline unthinkable. I've tried to imagine myself in the colors of all thirteen of our conference coevals one after the other. None of them quite fits, but some fit more poorly than others. For example I couldn't even begin to allow myself to imagine life as a Florida Gator fan. I hate Florida. That one was just unthinkable. I don't think I'm paranoid enough to be a South Carolina fan. Besides, even if I was the SEC office would hatch some sort of plot to make me become an Alabama or Georgia fan.

Every Missouri fan I've ever met was nicer than every fan of any other school. And if I was an Alabama fan I would be able to pretend that I know more about football than other fans because my school's coach does. I thought being an Auburn fan might be lucrative, but then I realized that being an Auburn player is where the real loot is at. So no go on that one.

If I were a Kentucky fan I'd have to forget that the game of football exists, but I might get to sit near Ashley Judd at a basketball game. It would take me a decade or more to get up to speed on all the indecipherable jibberish one has to master to become a Texas A&M Aggie. Really, it's a commitment that I'm just not certain I'm willing to make.

Finally I decided, I think I'd be an LSU fan. For one thing, drunk LSU fans are at least as obnoxious as drunk Georgia fans. I'd fit right in. Also some of the nicest visiting fans I've met in Athens have supported the Bayou Bengals, like the one who came up to me as I trudged to the car after the 2009 debacle, slapped me on the back and said "don't nobody deserve to get punched in the nuts like that." With the possible exception of Florida Gator fans he was right, and I appreciated the gesture.

I'm a huge admirer of cajun and creole cooking, so I think the tailgates consisting of various jambalayas, gumbos and etouffees would work for me. Really there's nothing that walks, crawls, flies or swims that can't be made edible with a roux and enough time. The Abita Brewing Company, makers of the first ever Cocktail Thursday drink (Turbodog Ale) are right down the road from Baton Rouge. The football team is excellent, the stadium is raucous, and the coach is a wacky bastard who everyone, even bitter rivals, have to admit is at least entertaining.

So there you go, I've made my choice. Now tell me yours. If you couldn't be a Bulldog, where would your SEC allegiances lie? Until later . . .

Go 'Dawgs!!!

CBS Announces First Few 2013 SEC Television Matchups.

2013-05-23T22:00:08Z

We need a little mood music:

There, that's better. Obviously the meat of CBS's college football broadcast schedule be be fleshed out mid-season based on the relative strength of available match ups. For now CBS still has hegemony over which games it chooses, and has already locked in several intriguing contests.

Coverage kicks off on September 14th when the Alabama Crimson Tide take on the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station in a rematch of last year's exciting late season upset, a game which provided Auburn fans with their only moment of joy on the evening of November 10, 2012. If you've never been to southeast Texas in September and/or always wanted to know what heat stroke looks like, here's your opportunity. It will also be America's first chance to see what a Nick Saban-coached defense can do with Johnny Scooby Costume the second time around.

Arkansas and LSU will play their always entertaining Black Friday contest at 2:30 Eastern on November 29th, giving me something to do while I avoid every retail establishment in the civilized world.

The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party will take its customary 3:30 slot on the afternoon of November 2nd, to no one's surprise. I hate Florida.

CBS has also scheduled SEC doubleheaders on October 19th and November 9th. And while the precise match ups will be determined later, there are some really interesting possibilities. For example, October 19th will feature Florida traveling to Missouri, Bret Bielema's Razorbacks venturing into Tuscaloosa, the Bulldogs visiting Nashville to once again shut James Franklin up for a little while, and the South Carolina Gamecocks roadtripping to Knoxville.

One of the two November 9th matchups is almost certain to be Alabama/LSU. Also available are the match up of freshman head coaches between Tennessee and Auburn, an Arkansas/Ole Miss game which could have significant bowl implications, and Vanderbilt looking to hand the Florida Gators their second loss in as many weeks.

All in all, plenty of reasons to begin looking forward to college football 2013 even as we continue our look back at 2012. Until later . . .

Go 'Dawgs!!!

2012 Dawg Sports Football Season Review: The Cocktail Party. (Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the defense.)

2013-05-23T15:00:10Z

This is the eighth entry in the Dawg Sports 2012 football season review. Our crew has taken you through the Georgia Bulldogs' first 7 games, in which we compiled a 6-1 record that was only punctuated by one truly impressive win, and since it was against Vanderbilt, no one was going to give us credit for it. (And still, no one gives us credit for pummelling, 48-3, a SEC team that finished the season 9-4, ranked in the top 25, and won their bowl game against an ACC team. Hell, LSU didn't do all 3 of those things. But, as usual, I digress.)

Mostly due to the fact that we began the season so high in the polls, the Dawgs rolled into Jacksonville ranked #10, ready to face a Florida Gators team that had reeled off seven straight victories and was ranked #2 in the country.

We never need motivation in Jacksonville. It's Jacksonville. It's Georgia-Florida. It's the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, where about 200,000 Georgia and Florida fans will converge on an 85,000-seat stadium, determined to party harder than they ever will again all year. One of our other rivalries is called "Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate." Well, Georgia-Florida is Old-Fashioned, and it's chock full of hate, but this ain't clean, and it ain't good. Much like the town in which the game is contested, this game is a nasty, smelly mess, full of people on both sides of the fight desperate to destroy each other at any cost. It's an epic battle, fought (mostly) on neutral territory, that has been ongoing for the last 108 years. We even have our own dedicated Hate Week for it here at Dawg Sports.

All the same, though, our defense was prodded prior to this game with a sharp pointy stick provided by one of our own players, and a senior leader, no less: Shawn Williams. After the Kentucky game, the senior safety spoke out to the media, saying, "We've been playing too soft as a defense... That goes for the D-line, linebackers, corners, safeties, everybody." Then, he went on to criticize the lack of playing time Alec Ogletree and Amarlo Hererra had been getting. And, really, you could hardly blame him for being so frustrated. After being touted as a shut-down unit that we would be relying upon to win games, they had given up 20 or more points in 6 of our first 7 games of the year.

Even though his outburst was defensible, however, the key when a senior leader publicly calls out his teammates and coaches is how they react in response. And going into the Florida game in Jacksonville, no one knew for sure if Williams' comment had caused his teammates to be extra motivated or extra divided into camps supporting and opposing him. Oh, sure, everyone was saying the right things... but what was really happening in that locker room? And how would it translate onto the field?

Well, we know how it turned out. I probably don't even need to give you a detailed recap of the actual game, so I won't. Georgia scored first, never trailed the Sunshine State Saurians, and rode a massive wave of crushing defense to a 17-9 win. Our defense absolutely dominated the day. We made the Gators turn the ball over 6 times, which was more turnovers than they'd had in their first 7 games combined, and Kyle Weblog was suitably exuberant. No team would score more than 20 points on our defense again during the regular season. Our defense finally found their groove.

Some Orange-and-Blue partisans (and windbag ESPN personalities who share a last name with the fifth month of the year) would like you to believe that someone on the swampy side of the field gave the game away with all of those turnovers. Well, let me tell you something, you cold-blooded, scaly, reptile lovers... just watch the following 3:00+ highlight reel and tell me which of the 9 combined turnovers were not explicitly caused by the defense. (Hint: There's only one, and it was an Aaron Murray non-hurried pass to a wide open Gator defensive back.)

So, at the end of the day, a Georgia defense held a Florida offense without a touchdown for the first time since 1988, which was Vince Dooley's last year patrolling the sidelines. And the good guys left Jacksonville with a winning streak in the series for the first time since 1989. It was a good day.

The full video of the game is here, if you'd like to watch the whole thing:

I don't care who you are, and I don't care how much you hate Florida in relation to Auburn, Tech, Cocky, or even Clemson. This game felt good when it was over, and established an excellent precedent. We won a close game against the Gators for the second year in a row, when we previously always seemed to let the close ones slip between our fingers. Our head coach is now 3-3 in the last 6 games in Jacksonville, while Florida's head coach is 0-6 all-time at the Cocktail Party (0-4 as a player and 0-2 as a head coach).

There's no question of whether or not this thing is turning around for the Dawgs in Jacksonville. The coin has turned. It's now the Gators' coach who has to make bold proclamations in the offseason about winning in Jacksonville. It's now the Gators who had an SEC Eastern Division title and national championship opportunity taken from them by the banks of the St. John's River. It's now the Gators who have found ways to p*** the game away in the closing moments two years in a row.

Jacksonville may not be within the state boundaries of Georgia, but for at least the next 5 months, it's Bulldog Country. And the way things are looking, we may just want to re-think that whole "bitching about playing in Florida" thing.

Go Dawgs!

2012 Dawg Sports Football Season In Review: Kentucky

2013-05-22T13:00:07Z

The Dawg Sports staff is looking back at the 2012 season. Today we'll look at game 7 against Kentucky. You can find the previous installments here (Buffalo), here (Mizzou), here (FAU), here (Vandy), here (Tennessee) and here (REDACTED).

I've said many times on the podcast that this 2012 UGA team reminded me so much of the 2007 UGA team which I have said is the best all-around Bulldog team I've ever personally witnessed. What was so key for that 2007 team was a late fumble against Vanderbilt that gave the Bulldogs the ball and the opportunity to kick a game-winning field goal. That fumble woke UGA up, and was the turning point of a disastrous season into a successful one.

Truthfully, Georgia should've lost that game in 2007 against Vandy, just like they should've lost against Kentucky. The main difference between that Vanderbilt game and this Kentucky game was that it wasn't until that next Monday after Kentucky that UGA had their moment to turn things around. Shawn Williams stepped out in front of the press that Monday afternoon and called UGA's defense "soft." Not only soft, but he named names. He hurt feelings. He basically said what only the fans had been grumbling about all season long.

Williams didn't say what he said because UGA had a bad practice. He said what he said because UGA could have, and probably should have, lost to Kentucky. Not a bowl-eligible Rich Brooks Kentucky team (not that it's much better), but a Joker Philips, 2-10, 0-8 in the SEC Kentucky team. This team was terrible.

There were a lot of positives in this game from an offensive standpoint. Granted, our running game was less than stellar, to say the least, garnering only 77 yards on 32 carries. However, Murray made up for the lack of production by throwing four touchdown passes for over 400 yards of offense. Tavarres King also had his best game as a Bulldog, with over 188 yards of receiving and two touchdowns. That's really where the good news stops, though.

Marshall Morgan still had problems hitting extra points. He missed a big one in the first half that put UGA behind the 8-ball before redeeming himself with a field goal to give the Bulldogs the lead 16-14 at halftime. Kentucky hit a field goal in the third quarter that gave them a 17-16 lead, but Murray hit Chris Conley for a score to put the Dawgs ahead at 22-17 (the two point conversion failed), and the Dawgs didn't relinquish the lead again.

The big problem with this game was the underwhelming feeling that played out those 60 minutes. Any Dawg fan in the stadium or watching from home (as I was) had to have been sitting there with this "I shaved my legs for this?" feeling. You never really thought that UGA would lose, but as the game went along, the possibility became more real, and you were so embarrassed that you knew that even a win would hurt you on the national stage, especially after the whipping you took at REDACTED the week before. Look, I don't care who you are, but if you give up 206 rushing yards to Kentucky in 2012, you deserve to be embarrassed. It's even worse when those yards came right up the gut.

While this game isn't the one of which we do not speak, and it certainly wasn't the offensive display that was the Tennessee game, it was instrumental to the Bulldogs' success in 2012. Sure, that turnaround didn't happen on the field, but at least Kentucky played a role in it. If you don't believe me, just ask Shawn Williams.

Until next time kids.

Be safe.

2012 Season Review: The Game Of Which We Do Not Speak.

2013-05-21T23:38:31Z

The Georgia Bulldogs rolled into Columbia, South Carolina on the evening of October 6, 2012 sporting a 5-0 record and ranked #5 in the nation. They rolled out after a bitter 35-7 loss to the 6th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks, a loss in which the Classic City Canines' weaknesses were laid bare. About the best that can be said of the game is that it was the low point in an otherwise excellent season, the one performance which essentially all fans and players would agree they'd like to have back. This wasn't a moral victory. It wasn't a good effort spoiled by bad breaks. It was a bad performance dropped at a bad time against the wrong opponent. The 'Dawgs laid an egg, unruly "fans" followed suit, and a bad night was had by all.

Frankly, all the signs were there. The 'Dawgs came out on fire the prior week against a struggling Tennessee squad before a series of crippling turnovers, special teams gaffes, and defensive letdowns led to an absolute dogfight to the end. It was an ugly win, the kind which you can expect even the best teams to have at least one of. But in this case it wasn't so much an outlier as a harbinger of things to come.

The Gamecock faithful were amped for this one, and to their credit, the student athletes from Columbia didn't disappoint them. The 'Cocks came out clawing, and this one was over almost before it began. The vaunted Georgia offense, led by legendary strategic genius Mike "The Chessmaster" Bobo, had averaged 48.2 points and 536 yards per game in its first 5 contests. On this night, when South Carolina fans showed up early and raucous, the offense never looked in sequence. The 'Dawgs totaled only 224 yards of offense, their lowest total since 2006. Even more demoralizing, they were held scoreless until Ken Malcome plunged over the goal line with 1:55 left in the 4th quarter.

The Gamecocks on the other hand put 21 on the board in the first 10 minutes of game time en route to the largest margin of defeat ever dolled out by the Palmetto State Poultry over the good guys. The Bulldogs came in knowing that they needed to slow down All-American tailback Marcus Lattimore. Ironically, Lattimore was among the least of Todd Grantham's worries, gaining a pedestrian 109 yards on 24 carries.

It was everybody else in garnet and black who was the problem. QB Connor Shaw hit Damiere Byrd and Bruce Ellington on early touchdown passes against a Georgia defense that, in hindsight, was ripe for the picking. With several key contributors coming back from suspension the red and black defenders looked confused, lost, and ultimately just a little defeated. In fact it wasn't until senior Shawn Williams called them out prior to the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party that things really seem to have fully turned around.

But that fine day was still weeks away as Mark Richt and crew left South Carolina's capital. At the time it seemed that their national championship hopes had been dashed. Ultimately that wasn't the case. But a small segment of the Bulldog fanbase did not know that, and reacted . . .very poorly. Oh, and it turns out that Murray's uneven performance followed his finding out that his father was about to undergo cancer treatment. It was, in a lot of ways, about as bad as things could get. Redemption was around the corner, but no one knew that at the time.

All we knew was that on this night Mark Richt's Bulldogs had managed to lose a third game in a row to the South Carolina Gamecocks for the first time in series history, and that it seemed that our shot at playing for a national title had passed once again. But it turns out that it is in fact a long season, and there were a lot of triumphs and just a little more heartbreak yet to be had. But those are other stories for other days. For now let it only be said that October 6, 2012 was perhaps the most disappointing evening in recent Dawg Sports memory.

And I shall thank you to never, ever mention it again. Until later . . .

Go 'Dawgs!!!

2012 Dawg Sports Football Season In Review: Tennessee

2013-05-20T15:00:08Z

The Dawg Sports staff is looking back at the 2012 season. Today we'll look at game 5 against Tennessee. You can find the previous installments here (Buffalo), here (Mizzou), here (FAU), and here (Vandy).

When Tennessee kicked off to Malcolm Mitchell at 3:30 on a sunny Saturday afternoon between the Hedges, I'm not sure anyone would have predicted what followed. Over the next three hours, the Dawgs and the Vols would roll up 1,038 total offensive yards and forty-six first downs while trading seven turnovers. Both teams would miss PATs, and Tennessee would block another. And when the dust settled, the Dawgs would wind up on the right side of a 51-44 shoot-out despite failing to score in the fourth period.

The 2012 Tennessee game really had it all, and I don't just mean in terms of drama and offensive fireworks. In hindsight, during this one game we saw everything that made the 2012 Bulldogs so great and so frustrating. On offense, Gurshall continued to run all over the competition, combining for 294 yards and 5 TDs on just 34 touches. Aaron Murray overcame an early, freakish pick-6 (and an ugly fumble) to finish 19-of-25 for 278 and 2 TDs of his own. Coach Bobo drew up the game plan that yielded those garish stats, but he also made Aaron Murray run an ugly option play (what???) and completely abandoned the pistol formation that shredded the Commies the week before (why???).

On defense, we held Tyler Bray below his season average in terms of both yards per game and yards per attempt. We also picked him off thrice. In what would become a troubling theme for the year, however, we gave up 197 yards on the ground... to a team that averaged just 160 rushing yards per game and finished in the bottom half of the FBS. But we never stopped clawing or fighting, and Sanders Commings came through in the clutch to seal our victory with a pick in the final minute.

On special teams, well, the less we talk about that the better.

After the game, chuckdawg had this to say:

UGA won ugly. The Bulldogs had a lot of horrible stuff, but hey, UGA had a lot of good stuff as well. And this is the first game I remember, thinking on SECCGs, Bowl Games, and big games that a Mark Richt team was on the verge of folding up, and fought back to tie in the first half with a FG, and kept in the game and won in the second half. We would have lost today almost any other time. It's ok to win ugly, as long as you win.

That really says it all. The 2012 Bulldogs were many things: They were fun to watch at times and absolutely depressing to watch at others. They could look like world-beaters one minute but then be dominated by inferior competition next. But no matter what, they never stopped fighting. They may not have won any championships, but, damn, they were fun to watch.

As a final note, this was Michael Bennett's last game before he tore his ACL. He caught 5 passes for 70 yards and 2 TDs. If you weren't already excited about our offense's potential for next season, just remember that we played our last 9 games without one of our best weapons.

Go Dawgs!

2012 Dawg Sports Football Season In Review: Vanderbilt

2013-05-19T13:17:23Z

In short, Georgia's absolute dominance of Vanderbilt was the most complete game I've seen the Dawgs play in a long time. While Vanderbilt came in talking about a "culture change," what they got was a lesson in the traditional culture of the SEC.

What ostensibly began with a kerfuffle following the 2011 game resulted in a Georgia team that came out attacking in all phases of the game. Long passes, long runs, and a relentless pass rush resulted in an absolutely beautiful dismantling of the Commodores. Should you feel moved to do so, you should treat yourself to this display again and again:

While the Georgia highlights from this game are almost too many to mention, Vanderbilt's highlights consisted of a few decent runs, a couple of long passes, and a 30 yard field goal just before halftime. That should really tell you all you need to know about this game, but for the sake of basking in the glow of this victory we'll go a little deeper.

In the previous posts in this series, the Dawg Sports staff has given you a rundown of the back and forth of each game. But as there wasn't really any back and forth in this contest, I thought I'd just give you a scoring summary... plus, I really like how this turns out visually:

GEORGIA - Gurley Run, Gurley, Murray Pass, Murray, Gurley, Muray, Gurley.... TD

GEORGIA - Gurley, Gurley, Murray, Murray, Murray, Marshall Run, Marshall.... TD

END OF Q1

GEORGIA - Gurley, Gurley, Murray, Gurley, Murray, Murray to King.... TD

GEORGIA - Marshall, Marshall, Murray, Marshall, Marshall, Murray, Malcome Run, Murray, Malcome, Murray, Marshall, Murray Run.... TD

VANDERBILT - Rodgers Pass, Rodgers, Rodgers, Rodgers, Rodgers, Rodgers, Rodgers.... FG

HALFTIME -- UGA 27 VANDY 3

GEORGIA - Gurley, Mitchell Run, Gurley, Murray, Marshall, Murray, Gurley, Murray, Murray to Brown.... TD

GEORGIA - Murray, Marshall, Marshall.... TD

GEORGIA - Gurley, Murray, Gurley.... TD

END OF Q3

END OF GAME -- UGA 48 VANDY 3

It has such a nice flow to it. So much variety! So much balance! But in a good way! Its almost as if Mike Bobo found his inner offensive coordinator.

And that defense! My God, that defense!

The offense could have hung more than 50 on them and I'm sure the defense would have preferred the shutout, but its hard to complain about the type of performance we're always clamoring for. And while the team performance was outstanding, there were certainly many individuals deserving of accolades.

Unsurprisingly, Aaron Murray performed admirably against the Vanderbilt defense. Murray picked apart the secondary, completing his first 12 passes. On the stat sheet, Murray's performance isn't all that impressive by his standards (just 250 yards with 2 touchdowns through the air and another on the ground -- and isn't it nice to be able to say that this stat line isn't up to his normal performance?). But what set Murray apart in this game was his efficiency and command of the game as he completed 75% of his passes.

The running game was nothing short of outstanding. Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall continued their progression toward becoming the hybrid beast "Gurshall," amassing over 300 yards on the ground (with a little help from Boo Malcome) to go with 4 touchdowns. Both backs averaged over 8 yards per carry and tore off some long runs with Marshall's 56 yard TD being the longest. But my favorite run of the night had to be Gurley driving the final nail into Vanderbilt's already nail-riddled coffin:

Marlon Brown really deserves special recognition for this game as well. Throughout his career, Brown has faced a lot of ups and downs, but he really brought it against teams from his home state. Murray predictably spread the ball around, but Brown was certainly his favorite target against the Commodores. When it was all over, Brown had caught 5 passes for 114 yards, including a 58 yard reception.

And while I don't think anything needs to be said about the defense (after all giving up 3 points sort of speaks for itself), I will note that they proved pretty conclusively that Jordan Rodgers is not Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers was sacked 3 times and, with the exception of a series of passes culminating in Vanderbilt's field goal, could never get much of anything going against the Georgia secondary. The Dawgs also held Vandy's rushing attack to just over 100 yards in the game. But again, the 3 points sort of speaks for itself and was every bit the statement Grantham wanted it to be.

Overall, September 22nd was a damn good day to be a Georgia Bulldog. It was a day of joy and celebration. As such, I thought I'd also take a moment to share some of celebratory comments from our Dawg Sports commentariat on that joyous occasion:

Awwww cool

the Vandy coaches are yelling at each other…

by podunkdawg on Sep 22, 2012 | 7:55 PM

i just dont even understand this beautiful drive right now

by Anthony Pace on Sep 22, 2012 | 7:58 PM

Vandy has poopy pants

by DavetheDawg on Sep 22, 2012 | 8:29 PM

Hey remember that time when I said Vandy would score 27 points tonight?

Yeah, me neither.

by MaconDawg on Sep 22, 2012 | 8:58 PM

This is almost what it feels like to be Alabama. And I aint complaining.

by chuckdawg on Sep 22, 2012 | 9:19 PM

They doubled Jordan Jenkins and left Jones unblocked?

Not a good day for you, sir.

by CIA Chef Dawg on Sep 22, 2012 | 10:04 PM

I am running out of room in my heart for all of the players I am crushing on tonight.

by dawgfan will on Sep 22, 2012 | 10:07 PM

Last time I saw a beating like this was in the stands at a Premier League soccer match

by GrumpyMongoose on Sep 22, 2012 | 10:09 PM

Have I said "Suck it Vandy"jere?

Cause I’ve said it a lot from where I’m sitting tonight.

So, Suck it Vandy… You’re not a rival yet. Go play Duke.

by Just Some Dawg on Sep 22, 2012 | 10:10 PM

Take Vanderbilt Seriously

as a Homecoming opponent.

by EdDawg on Sep 22, 2012 | 10:14 PM

Ha!

Culture change my ass

by DavetheDawg on Sep 22, 2012 | 10:17 PM

this is nice.

i can go back to not caring about Vandy.

by RxDawg on Sep 22, 2012 | 10:24 PM

Wow. Next!

by chuckdawg on Sep 22, 2012 | 11:06 PM

So just remember all the good times we had in a couple of days when we revisit the South Carolina game. That one wasn't quite as much fun. But for this one glorious evening in September, we were on top of the world.

Until next time... GO DAWGS!!!

2012 Dawg Sports Football Season in Review: FAU

2013-05-18T15:00:07Z

The previous Saturday saw Georgia scratch and paw their way to a closer-than-the-score-indicated win over a game bunch of Missouri Tigers. Thankfully, the scheduling gods had the foresight to entice ~~pay~~ Florida Atlantic University (3-9, 2-6 in SunBelt Conference play in '12) to travel north from Boca Raton for an expected butt-whippin'. As with Buffalo, and to a certain degree Mizzou, this game - despite the big margin of victory and 5,723* yards of total offense - certain facets of team play raised more questions than answers.

Carl Pellini's Florida Atlantic Owls came out of the blocks with a purpose in the first half. On the ~~Boca Burger's~~ visitors opening drive, they marched 46 yards in 12 plays only to fumble deep in Georgia territory when Chase Vasser crashed an FAU receiver. Malcolm Mitchell, making his 3rd defensive start because of continuing suspensions affecting our secondary, recovered at the Georgia 26.

Georgia promptly drove 71 yards in 7 plays to open the scoring when Aaron Murray dove in from 1-yard away. The key play on the opening drive was a Rantavious Wooten's end-around for 24 yards.

FAU and Georgia traded punts on the next two series, but the Owls scored with under 4:00 remaining in the first half when Damian Fortner ran 43-yards to pay dirt past an utterly confused and disgusted secondary. Georgia 7, FAU 7.

The following kickoff pinned Georgia deep at their own 6 yard line. Keith Marshall promptly ripped off 20 yards to get out of the hole, then Murray began picking apart the Owl's secondary with successive passes of 34, 10, and 24 yards to get Georgia inside the Owls 2 yard line. Keith Marshall scored on the next play to put the Dawgs ahead 14-7. Five efficient plays, 94 yards in 1:19.

FAU opened the second quarter by promptly driving the ball with more big plays against a still discombobulated Georgia defense, tying the game as the 2nd quarter got underway on a 2-yard Graham Wilbert touchdown pass. This particular drive was highlighted by a 48 yard pass on 3rd and long from Wilbert to William Dukes to set up FAU at the 2. At this point, my flat-screen was in real jeopardy of getting an empty long-neck thrown at it. Maddening. Dawgs 14, The Fightin' Pellini's 14.

Both teams swapped punts mid-way through the 2nd quarter. Georgia's 6th possession of the night resulted in an 8-play, 67 yard scoring drive culminated by Aaron Murray's second 1-yard touchdown run of the evening. Dawgs 21-14.

FAU's next drive stalled after 33 yards, and punted. Georgia got the ball with 2:33 left before halftime. Aided by two costly FAU penalties, Aaron Murray went deep and found Michael Bennett down the middle for a 67 yard touchdown pass. The Owls received the ball with 1:34 left before the half and ran the clock out. Halftime: Georgia 28, FAU 14.

There was never any doubt that Georgia could score at will, but the defensive gaffes - particularly in 3rd down situations - was most troubling. At any rate, the flat-screen survived.

Georgia received the 2nd half kickoff and picked right up where they left off prior to the break, going 6 plays for 85 yards with Arthur Lynch catching the ball and tip-toeing just inside the pylon for a nifty 36-yard score. Georgia 35, FAU 14.

Todd Grantham's halftime ass-chewing must've worked as FAU went 3'n out for the first time in the game on the Owls first possession of the half. Georgia got the ball back, gobbling up yardage in huge chunks before Todd Gurley scored on a 38 yard run at the 10:18 mark in the quarter. Tavarres King hauled in a 25 pass to open this particular drive as the rout was on. Dawgs 42 - 14.

FAU punted again on their next possession, another 3'n out. The Dawgs again began to zip down field and were about to score from the Owl's 8 yard line when Murray threw a horrible interception in the end zone for a touch back. This turned out to be insignificant, as on the very next possession, Amarlo Herrera picked off Graham Wilbert and returned the ball 35 yards in front of the student section for a defensive touchdown. Dawgs 49 - 14.

The 4th quarter opened as FAU went for it on 4th down, but came up short on the Georgia 35. At this point, Christian LeMay spelled Aaron Murray and promptly hit Justin Scott-Wesley for a 43 yard gain to the FAU 27. Ken "Boo" Malcome rushed the next 3 plays down to the FAU 1, where LeMay took it in to cap off the Georgia scoring for the evening. Dawgs 56 - 14.

Unfortunately, LeMay also capped off FAU's scoring for the evening when he threw a pass that was picked off by FAU's Adarius "Sugarfoot" Glanton (I made the "Sugarfoot" part up) for a 42-yard pick-6.

Georgia 56 - 20. Mark Richt continued to clear his bench with wholesale substitutions as the 4th quarter wound down.

T. Kyle King probably said it best in his wrap-up, which was most prescient:

The metaphor, though, was hard to ignore, as the Georgia football team, like the Georgia Tech electronic billboard, is largely functional yet just slightly off. The Alabama Crimson Tide are the No. 1 team in the country for the simple reason that they play their best in all three phases of the game for 60 minutes every Saturday. The Georgia Bulldogs are this close to being that good, but they aren’t there yet, partly because we have not seen the full starting lineup take the field together, but mostly because the Classic City Canines just can’t seem to play that elusive complete game. Can you imagine what the ‘Dawgs would look like if the defense we saw against the Missouri Tigers appeared in the same game as the offense we saw against the Florida Atlantic Owls? I’m looking forward to seeing that some Saturday this season, but it hasn’t happened yet. Until it does, Bulldog Nation will continue to hold its collective breath and grouse about 36-point victories that were harder than they had to be.

Damn, that boy can write.

Of course, Yours truly had to poop in the pool with this little gem in the subsequent comments:

At some point in the season, we put it all together. Maybe this will happen at Columbia, SC.

Uh...no.

Anyway, an imperfect win against a totally outmatched team is still a win despite the fact that the first half saw much confusion on defense and the maddening, continuing trend of allowing big plays on 3rd and long. This would never get totally rectified, although there were some marked improvements in individual games. Sure, we didn't have Rambo or Ogletree playing, but by the third week of the season a team like FAU should not have rolled into Athens and racked up 316 yards of total offense with or without them. Mystifying.

Still, the offense was something to behold. Here are the highlights. It will be damn good to get Michael Bennett back this season. Kid's a player.

Here's the YouTube link of the entire game. (Whoever prsonmike is, he's doing the Lord's work.)

Next up, RedCrake revisits the Vandy game as the 2012 Year In Review cruises on...

Until then, GO DAWGS!

*I rounded up.