As if anybody needs another reason to hate the Vols.

Its not like most people, epescially me needs another reason to hate the Vols, but now their coaches have taken to taking cheap shots at guys on the side lines. A video review of the UGA vs UT game clearly shows that Roderick Moore, UT’s associate strength and conditioning coach delivered a nice shoulder charge to Tre Battle at the end of a play. The Knoxville News Sentinel even has a video clip of the play. Of course all the offical responses in Knoxville claim the hit was accidental as if Coach Moore suddenly forgot he was at a football game and didn't notice the guy in the bright red jersey and helmet running down the sideline. UGA's offical response is of no complaint that stuff like that happens, but really what else do you expect from Richt its not like he can do anything about it if the SEC and UT won't.

Coach Moore shows another unsuspecting DB who's the man.

It's not really like anyone has ever accussed Tennessee of running a classy program with young men who are great examples to the youth in the community. In fact the off field antics of the UT program are legendary, but when it comes to the coaches you don't generally expect the thugish behavior to be shown on the sideline. Woody Hayes was fired for hitting a player and there are plenty of people who like to talk about how hickish and trashy Ohio State is, but at least they followed through and fired the greatest coach in their school's history. At UT its apparently perfectly acceptable to strike an opposing player as long as you don't acknowledge him and just claim you never saw the player running down the sideline.

Living Up to the Stereotype

All I can say is LOL. A friend of mine routinely makes the comment that social and racial stereotypes exist for a reason. That reason is that somewhere down the line the associated behavior has proven to be true more times than not, and while it may not be fair to classify a whole group by the action of a few it's hard not to sometimes. That would be the case of the brawl Saturday night between the "U" and FIU. As if its not bad enough that the fight is a huge embarrassment to both football programs and universities the comments made by former Miami player Lamar Thomas are the icing on the cake. The only thing Miami players could've done to reinforce the already well established stereotype of a thug school would've been to flash a few gang signs during the brawl and mug a few of the fans in the stands or stop the team bus on the way back to the dorms to knock off a liquor store before hitting the showers. The only funny thing is that when my Dad saw the fight during highlights while watching the Florida Auburn game he said that anywhere else that would be a disgrace, but at Miami the fans are probably proud. Little did we know that as the fight was going on Thomas was cheering on his boyz from Thug U as they brawled with FIU even insinuating that the fight was not only a positive thing, but just what you should expect when playing football vs Miami.

I've always been a bit of a Larry Coker fan, but if you need any more evidence that he has lost control of his team, then look no further than what happened Saturday night. At most schools that would've been the nail in the coffin for a coach already on one of the hottest seats in the country. Of course we are talking about the U here, and with great Alumnus like Michael "coke head" Irvin and Thomas a fight like that could be just the thing to get Coker one more year.

Dawg's Put In Place, Again!

That's what the AJC should have on the front page of the AJC again this Sunday. For the second week in a row the UGA team got embarrassed at home, this time by a Vanderbilt team that failed to even beat Ole Miss. All that Georgia can do now is play for pride and try to be a spoiler in 2 weeks in Gainesville. Once again our soft zone had us getting lit up on defense. While the team did play somewhat better, when it came down to it they couldn't make a play to end the game. Granted some of that blame falls on the kicker who missed the go ahead field goal, but that's always been the story for Bailey. Good Kid, good leg, decent accuracy, but chokes under pressure. Then that could be the slogan for this year's UGA team.

Purdue begs for Bulldog Vote

While my political views are far from unbiased especially, when it comes to the Govenor race in Georgia. You need only have wittnessed my "No Way" response to the 2 or 3 dozen volunteers handing out Bulldog's for Sonny stickers before the Colorado game to know where my loyalty lies. And the fact that Perdue takes every opportunity to remind everyone that he in fact once played for the Bulldogs is nothing new. Even though as big a deal as he tries to make it you'd think he was an All-American not the walk on he actually was. Despite all this I was still a little surprised to see the article on the front page of the AJC.com today about Perdue's apparent letter of protest against AJC for their Sunday headline belittling the Bulldogs. Personally I didn't read the Sunday paper. To fresh was the memory of what happened Saturday night that in my state of denial I attempted to block out the memory of the night before and the nightmare of what happened to my Bulldogs. However, the fact that the AJC chose to run a not so nice headline about the total and complete collapse of the UGA football team in the second half really shouldn't surprise anyone, since that's what happened. Our good Governor however saw the headline as such a crime against not just the University of Georgia, but the entire state of Georgia that it warranted a written reprimand. I personally wonder if the letter of protest came escorted by a group of Ben Franklin's in protest, and for the face time it provided the good Govenor. Anyone who can't see Govenor Perdue's letter of protest as anything more than blatant pandering for votes is not doubt of the same crowd that believes that Mark Taylor is in fact doomed to Hell, because he is not a Republican. To such people all I can say is I worked for Gov. Perdue for over 3 years and in that time I received an unpleasant kick to the balls for all my hard work on an annual basis even when the economy improved. So forgive me if I'm not willing to give the good Govenor 4 more years to kick his employees in the balls.

Come on its just a kick in the balls. How bad could it really hurt?

Oh the Horror!

There is perhaps no evil greater than that of the Big Organge Empire to the north. While in recent years the dogs have seemed to have an uncanny ability to upset and all together fluster the the Great Pumpkin and his legions of Orange clad followers. And through the first two quarters of Saturday nights game much to my surprise it seemed that the forces of evil were again going to be foiled. For an entire half of football the Big Orange Nation was in shock as the Dawgs pounded them in every way imaginable. Its hard to believe that anything could've gone more in our favor during that first half, with the exception of stopping that final drive that allowed UT to cut our lead to 17. However with a 17 point lead and the way our D had been playing lights out for the first part of the season victory was almost assurred, but for one wicked prophecy from the Great Orange evil who must not be named. Going into his locker room to regroup and replinsh his powers with a fresh bucket of KFC the Great Pumpkin made a comment not of despair, but of fortold evil to come by proclaiming that it was not a matter of stopping UGA, but rather would the forces of good ever be ever to slow down the offense of the Great Orange Juggernaut. Of course we all laughed. It was like the threat of condemned man shouting curses to the multitudes gathered to watch his execution, and then to our horror it came true.

I'm not entirely sure where the blame or the praise for what happens belongs. Was it a complete inability of the Georgia team to do anything right on O or D, or was it purely superior execution by the other team. My biased opinion is that our own mistakes and inability to react to what was being thrown at us was our undoing, but that is probably due to not being able to acknowledge a job well done by anyone wearing the Orange and White. The truth is probably somewhere in between. A little bit of exploitation of our bend and never firm up defense versus our supposed experienced QB making mistakes you expect from one of the more talented Freshmen. At least the freshmen have the talent to awe you, where as the less gifted Senior if he is not consistent and safe gives you nothing to work with. Our heretofore, stellar Defense was as pourous as swiss cheese. Our soft cover 2 defense designed to keep everything in front of the safeties was a virtual playground for the UT QB and receivers who ran freely anywhere they wanted until they found space to make catches for no great amount, but just enough to move the chains. So in theory our defensive scheme was a success. UT had no big plays like they've used to score versus other teams instead they were content to widdle away the yardage, and let our defenders make tackles after a pitch and catch of 8-12 yards.

The most gut wrenching part of the entire things is not that we lost (I for one expected that), but rather that we allowed hope to rise to euphoric levels only to have it all crushed just as quickly as it came to be. Our own mistakes and inablility to make the required adjustments were our undoing, and unfortunately it is not a problem that is new to anyone who has followed UGA football. Willie Martinez may be a very capable defensive coordinator, but he is far from a superb DC. He is able to create a defensive scheme that can stop less talented teams and hold them in check, but against an offensive play caller with equal or greater talent Martinez is out matched. His bland play calling and conservative to the point of ineffective formations will continue to be our undoing. I for one have long been a critic of Mr. Martinez, and have felt that our drop in defensive production is directly proportional to loss of coaching talent that occurred, with the loss of Brian Van Gorder. I do not believe that Richt would ever make a coaching change unless he forced into it, and think Martinez will always do enough to keep his job, but that loyalty may also be the very thing that will always hold UGA back from being a truly top tier program.