Georgia Sports Blog

Hey.

Yes, I still have access to this account. Back in Fall of 2018, I decided Waitn' Since Last Saturday provided the much needed outlet blogging previously provided, Twitter is actually much easier for me, and I suck at writing.

Mostly, though, it was because I didn't have anything new to add. After ten years of blogging and 3+ of podcasting, it felt well worn.  

Because it was.

When Kirby was hired, I promised myself I'd write a post when Georgia won the National Championship, one in which I'd formally retire from this blog. It is said that you can't really retire when you aren't working, but I've always admired folks like Spencer Hall or Kyle King that could openly and publicly say they were done. Honestly, I expected to see the post that had been languishing in drafts since January 2019 after the Texas Sugar Bowl loss, the one in which I said I was done. It never became a post because I figured UGA would get a bigger stage and one that I'd feel good about doing a last post on. I never considered that for the Sugar Bowl last year, not because of the opponent or anything like that, but because I'd totally forgot I still had access to a blog.

But then they actually went and won it. 

So, there you are. Georgia won the National Championship. I was there. It happened.  

It was a blast doing this. I appreciate Westerdawg (Quint and Dawgnoxious, too) for letting me play in the sandbox they built. Who knows, I may end up unretiring one of these days and get back to turning out multiple posts a day.

But a promise is a promise, and God kept promises last Monday night in Indy, so I'm out.

Go Dawgs and see you around. 

There is a running narrative about the SEC East: It is trash. Honestly, the crossover record versus the SEC West is embarrassing. In the past nine seasons, the SEC West has a 103-44 record vs the SEC East and won all but one SEC Championship Game. The 2017 Bowl Season didn't do anything to change the perception either. Narrative dictates that an SEC East team lost to an SEC West team, so that is reason [FILL IN THE BLANK] why the East Is Trash.

There are plenty of reasons for the long term narrative. Tennessee's rotating cast of Coaches with Great Slogans. Florida's inability to find a coach that can find talent on more than one side of the ball. Missouri deciding they miss the Big Twelve's defensive style. Steve Spurrier retiring a full season before he bothered to tell anyone. James Franklin leaving Vandy. Georgia's offensive coordinator hiring practices. Kentucky.

Frankly, The Narrative is in the periphery of why a coaching change was made at Georgia in 2015. It was not hard to see that the SEC East landscape had changed, that Georgia had not taken advantage of their two biggest rivals for the top tier of the SEC East being in various states of dumpster firedom, and in failing to do so, shrugged at the open door leading to the top of the SEC East. The chicken and egg part of that argument is the SEC East was considered down because Georgia did not walk through that door (See 2013 and 2014 SEC East Division Champion Missouri Tigers for a deeper treatment).

Now, we are facing a crazy start to 2018. Mississippi State has already gone 0-2 vs the SEC East. In Bill Connelly’s S&P+ and ESPN’s FPI, the SEC has ten teams ranked in the top 30, evenly split between the SEC’s two divisions. Also, Kentucky getting significantly better on defense while having a star playing is paying off for the division.

What does all this mean? In the next two weeks, we will have a much bigger sample size, as LSU faces Florida and Georgia, Texas A&M faces Kentucky and South Carolina, and Missouri faces Alabama. The SEC East can flip The Narrative on it’s head, probably.

The bigger picture is how much fun it is to see Kentucky doing well and the corollary pop the SEC East is getting due to that improvement. Missouri and Kentucky are both solid teams, albeit for different reasons. Florida looks better than predicted. South Carolina still has the pieces to be a bowl team.

Then there is Georgia. Getting back to the 2017 season, the same game that works against the SEC East also has saddled Georgia with being the mantle bearer of the SEC East. A slip up against LSU on CBS as a second ranked team, we get a new lease on the SEC East is trash story. That is how narratives work.

Narrative is what drives this conversation in the first place. There are at least one and a half cable networks, with dozens of hours of time to fill each, devoted to the SEC Football Machine. You cannot do that without stuff to talk about. For that matter, you cannot very well do a podcast twice a week without it either.

Whew. Although how do you not pick that as your national game considering the rankings?

📺 times and networks announced for games on October 13: https://t.co/bBTbvF5Dqs pic.twitter.com/GyfJ2v5OP8

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) October 1, 2018

The good news is that it is 11am local time.  The bad news is that some of you will barely be up.

• Georgia at Missouri, 12 pm ET/11 am CT on ESPN
• Kent State at Ole Miss, 12 pm ET/11 am CT on SEC Network
• Texas A&M at Alabama, 3:30 pm ET/2:30 pm CT on CBS
• South Carolina at Vanderbilt, 4 pm ET/3 pm CT on SEC Network
• Mississippi State at Kentucky, 7 pm ET/6 pm CT on ESPN or ESPN2 or ESPNU*
• Louisiana Tech at LSU, 7 pm ET/6 pm CT on ESPN2 or ESPNU*
• Arkansas at Auburn, 7 pm ET/6 pm CT on ESPN or ESPN2 OR 7:30 pm/6:30 pm CT on SEC Network#
• Florida at Tennessee, 7 pm ET/6 pm CT on ESPN or ESPN2 OR 7:30 pm/6:30 pm CT on SEC Network#

Scott also released his pre-season hype video:

This is my best guess for kickoff times this season. 

Times and networks in bold are confirmed.

Date	Opponent	Time	TV
9/1/17	Austin Peay	3:30 pm	ESPN	Tickets
9/8/17	at South Carolina	3:30 pm	CBS	Tickets
9/15/17	MTSU	7:15pm	ESPN2	Tickets
9/22/17	at Missouri	7:00 pm	ESPN	Tickets
9/29/17	Tennessee	7:00 pm	ESPN	Tickets
10/6/17	Vandy	Noon	ESPN	Tickets
10/13/17	at LSU	3:30 pm	CBS	Tickets
10/27/17	Florida	3:30 pm	CBS	Tickets
11/3/17	at Kentucky	Noon	ESPN	Tickets
11/10/17	Auburn	3:30 pm	CBS	Tickets
11/17/17	UMass	3:30 pm	SECN	Tickets
11/24/17	Tech	7:30	SECN	Tickets

Well, at least you like UGA football.  Westerdawg used to (obsessively) post about Hartman Points, and for good reason: it matters.

This year is a banner year: 23,900 points was the base points for season tickets.  Man, those LSU tickets are going to be nuts, right?

Nothing like success.
TW

Forgot to post this. We got together and had a couple of drinks to talk about softball, baseball, and other stuff (note, this was recorded before those sports' seasons concluded; just play along, ok).




Links you might like:
Twitter: twitter.com/wslspodcast

Website: wslspodcast.com

The first time I emailed with Michael Brochstien, I was in awe as a baby blogger. His approach to fandom and the filter through which he viewed Georgia athletics was unique to the blogosphere. It remains so nearly ten years later. His thoughtful analysis and ability to distill complicated conclusions to one or two sentences is impressive.

I've had the occasion to chat with him occasionally, though never on the podcast. When I broached doing so with him earlier in the Spring, he was enthusiastic. As usual, his ability to cut to the heart of a matter and deliver a quick and insightful conclusion was evident here.

We talk Twitter, the joy of the 2017 football season, the NCAA, and why we blog.  I hope you enjoy.



Follow Senator Blutarsky and read his posts here:
twitter.com/mummepoll
blutarsky.wordpress.com

Looks like Kirby is on to something:

Georgia appears to be trying out that route once again. Russellville, Kentucky native Landon Stratton announced via his personal Facebook page on Sunday that he intends on joining the Bulldogs' team.
“After a long past few months, I’ve never been more excited to announce that I will be continuing my football and academic career at the University of Georgia,” Stratton said.
"Thank you to everyone who stuck with me during this process, and a bigger thank you to those that left. I'm so thankful for all the love from my family, friends, and coaches during this time. I'm excited for the opportunity and can't wait to get to work!"
Starting the past three seasons for Murray State, Stratton has averaged 41.2 yards per punt, earning third-team Ohio Valley Conference honors last season. Nizialek averaged 45 yards per punt last season for Georgia, ninth best among FBS punters. Stratton has 212 career punts, none of which were blocked,  41 of which traveled 50 yards or more, 18 of which went for touchbacks, and 51 of which were fair caught. 

First, if you are getting depth for no ding on your scholarship numbers, great. The competition, especially from someone who has punted 212 times in live game action, is good. If he pays off as an improvement over the punters currently on the roster, that is a bonus.

Second, fostering a model where very good, but unheralded, special teams players can come to Georgia as graduate transfers and get a year playing on the high visibility stage that UGA football promises is brilliant. There are currently over 300 non-FBS football programs, many that aren't in markets that the NFL scouts. Being in a position to encourage top special teams players with proven game tape to spend a year in Athens, with the payoff of having the kind of media attention that comes with it, is a win-win.

TW

That Seth and Cy are just about the only thing the AJC have going for it. It comes as no surprise that Bradley both praises Tech and takes a swipe at Kirby.

Provocative is as provocative does and all that.
T

When I saw Blutarski had something on this, my first thought was 'how cute.' Then I read the story.

If you think about it, hasn't Les Miles really been acting this whole time? Or has he?

I know I'm in for Tom Crean for many reasons, but one of them is his vision for what Georgia Basketball should and can be.

Go listen to his interview this morning on 960 The Ref.  No hedging. No qualifiers. No excuses. The way it should be. It is a whole different world in terms of tone, vision, and approach.

Working to create a less hectic GDay environment, you'll get a pass for a section, and you'll like it.

Honestly, this isn't terrible, unless I end up with a Tech deck section.

This is meme gold for a Georgia blogger. I told Westerdawg that we are getting a coach that is expressive as Kirby, with the on court temperament of Tom Izzo.

Running to Athens

Suffice it to say, we, at the Georgia Sports Blog are pretty fired up about this hire.