DEVIN'S LANDING

Most of the games this weekend are suffering from a pronounced case of whatthefuckeveritus, so we figured we would just tell you that we are taking #3 Alabama (at home) over #9 LSU and leave it at that. Why? Because the devil inside Nick Saban is still fuming about last year's Florida/Utah failures and last week's survival against Tennessee, and he will have his team ready to play. Wildcards present: Recently erratic Alabama QB Greg McElroy and always erratic/insane LSU Coach Les Miles. Preparation aside, the fortunes of the game could easily turn on the performance of either.

We pictured Washaun Ealey above because, well, he is one of the only bright spots for Georgia Football right now. Also, he is not starting, which makes little sense yet somehow perfectly symbolizes the Bulldogs' season... WILLIE MARTINEZ SHUDNT BE STARTIN NEITHER RAWR RAWR RAWR! This last sentence is meant to emphasize how sick we are of this week's seemingly eternal commentary on the state of Georgia football. We can't even bring ourselves to write complete sentences we are so tired of it. So here are our fragmented thoughts:

AD Damon Evans = Good. Coach Mark Richt = Good. Georgia Talent = Good. Georgia Recruiting = Good.

DC Willie Martinez = Bad. QB Joe Cox = Bad (but really nice).

Half of the "Bad" will fix itself. The other half of "Bad" will probably be fixed too. Or it won't... but it probably will. That is all.




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This week's MMR is brought to you by Brandon Spikes, who has some friendly advice for our readers:

"When Victory is in thine grasp, hold onto it with both hands. Alternatively, you may also HOLE DAT MUDAFUCKA' DOWN WIT WUN HAN, AND POKE DAT BITCH WIT DE 'UTHA."

Nevertheless, this is not meant to distract from another resounding Florida victory over Georgia. The editorials are flying around already, with the AJC's Mark Bradley condemning the program in Athens as second rate and calling for Mark Richt to pull the redshirt off Aaron Murray. We hate to use Bradley as a guidepost because he does not speak for Bulldog nation, however since both of his points are common amongst Georgia fans they are a good place to start.

To his first point about the state of Georgia football, we think he is half-wrong. Yes, Florida has established itself as the better program for now, but we think the gap is closer than Bradley attests. Despite the nauseating decision-making and accuracy of Joe Cox, Georgia moved the ball against Florida and hung around into the second half before the mistakes got the best of them. High marks are to be given to the Offensive line, who despite a couple of sacks mostly provided ample time for Cox to make the worst possible decision while opening big holes for Washaun Ealey. Speaking of Ealey, he established himself as next year's starter and gave us hope for things to come.

Given all the talent in Athens we think the disparity between Richt's program and Florida really comes down to one position this year: Quarterback. Had Joe Cox been the level-headed, accurate, mature Senior leader we had hoped this year, Georgia probably would only have two losses right now and given the Gators more of a game. But that didn't happen and Florida has Tim Tebow, a once in 100 year leader who despite a "down year" statistically makes significantly fewer mistakes than his red-headed counterpart (when Tebow does make mistakes, a la Miss. St, they almost lose, too). So given a generally equal talent level between the teams, once you give the nod to Florida at QB and Defensive Coordinator (which is a given), you get a better sense of how close the programs remain.

All things remaining equal, we think it is fair to expect Georgia to win once out of every three years in Jacksonville. But swap out Willie Martinez and reset the Quarterback quality, which will happen next year by default, and who knows?

Which brings us to Bradley's suggestion to bring in Aaron Murray this year. In a word? Retarded. We understand the logic... Logan Gray has not looked fit as a long term solution, so: If Murray is going to start anyway why not let him experience the growing pains now, during a lost season, rather than next year when Georgia can still make a run?

The reason Bradley is wrong is that jeopardizing Murray's eligibility this late in the season doesn't make sense. Despite his stellar reputation, Murray doesn't project as a high NFL draft selection at this point due to his size. The redshirt can hurt a program with a player like Knowshon Moreno because he sat for a year, than played two before being eligible for the NFL. But with Murray, you have the flexibility to platoon him early next year with Logan Gray and still get two or three starting seasons beginning in 2011-12. If he is great next year AND the following there is always a chance he would go after two "live" seasons (like Moreno), but keep in mind that in addition to being small, he also plays a position that makes for a much more difficult professional transition. NFL scouts are going to want to see a lot out of Murray before he breaks the Top Ten.

Also worth noting is that Georgia's schedule next year, while difficult, does not present an opening challenge like on-the-road against Oklahoma State. We get Louisiana-Lafayette at home instead, which is a great place to get Murray's feet wet.

Keep your heads up, Georgia. We will wave goodbye to a great player in Tim Tebow, and hopefully to a not-so-great Defensive Coordinator in Willie Martinez. Think hard about that, and tell me that doesn't change things.

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Oh, Joy. More talk about "lack of respect" from one side leading up to this weekend's Cocktail Party in Jacksonville.

After Georgia's infamous dancing in 2007 we heard ad nauseum from Florida players, fans, and even Urban Meyer himself about how the Gators felt disrespected, and how they would use that as motivation for last year's game. Which they won handily, not because the Bulldogs danced a year before, but because the 2008 Florida squad was the Brock Lesnar of the SEC.

Now this: Georgia is pointing to Meyer's use of late timeouts last year as yet another sign of disrespect which they will, wait for it... use as motivation this year.

This is getting a little repetitive. We understand that the maturity level of college kids sometimes requires the use of emotional stimulus, but at some point these teams need to let sleeping Dogs and Gators lie. Otherwise 6 years from now one team will be looking to revenge a prior year's Cocktail Party loss by riding a wave of outrage that stems from the way the other tied their shoes before. "WE WILL NOT TOLERATE YOUR INSOLENCE IN SHOE ATTACHMENT!".




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Alabama's nail-biting, survival of a victory at home against Tennessee was about the most on-the-field excitement to be had in the College Football-sphere Saturday. Iowa survived against Michigan State, than huddled up with TCU and USC to call the play where all three teams jumped rightthefuckover Boise State and Cincinnati in the BCS rankings.

In other news Miami committed Hari Kari on its own ACC and BCS hopes by choking against a Clemson team that customarily does everything it can to beat itself, and ESPN's Brad Edwards has noticed that LSU controls their own BCS destiny. Interesting.

#2 Alabama over Tennessee. Lane Kiffin's tactics are working. Categorizing his brash, borderline retarded behavior as subterfuge driven by shrewd intelligence is inaccurate, though, because in reality his brash, borderline retarded behavior is actually just brash, borderline retarded behavior. It just happens to be working, dammit.

#6 Iowa over Michigan State. They beat Arizona, Penn State, and Wisconsin all by at least 10 points. They squeak by against Northern Iowa, Arkansas St, Michigan, and Mich St by no more than 3 each. Go figure, but survival is paramount and #17 Ohio State is their biggest remaining test.

#1 Florida over Mississippi State. Let's go on record in stating that it will be very difficult for the Gators to beat Georgia this weekend. Traditionally the Bulldogs only beat Florida in amidst otherwise disappointing seasons, so there it that. But more importantly, Urban Meyer's team looks very one-dimensional on offense and beat up on defense.


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Are the Iowa Hawkeyes really any better than undefeated Big Ten teams of years past, or are we just so sick of Ohio State sneaking into BCS consideration that we are happy to have anyone else besides the Buckeyes?

The answer is irrelevant, of course, because grading Kirk Ferentz's squad in a season where no team (save Alabama) looks dominant becomes elementary. In other words: It doesn't matter if they are as good as anyone thinks, because no one else is either. For Iowa the argument is certainly as strong as for anyone else. Ugly play aside they have already defeated currently ranked Arizona, Wisconsin, and Penn State, with Ohio State the only remaining Top 25 opponent (#19). If Texas loses and the Hawkeyes continue to win they are in.

#2 Alabama over Tennessee. We think Kiffin's Volunteers have some momentum and will make this a closer game than some people think, but not nearly close enough to pull out a victory in Tuscaloosa. Tide by a resounding 10, with the result never really in question.

#16 BYU over #8 TCU. Total guess, we know nothing about these teams but would love to see one of the Top Ten pretenders (Cincinnati, TCU, or Boise) lose. Go Cougars.

Mississippi State over #1 Florida. Why not? The Gators have underwhelmed and Dan Mullen knows their offense inside out... after all, he built the damn thing with Urban Meyer. Having this game at home gives the Bulldogs just enough of an edge to pull it out.

#9 LSU over Auburn. No way the Bayou Bengals lose two Saturday night games in Baton Rouge in a row.

Missouri over #3 Texas. Coming out party for the highly touted Blaine Gabbert. Texas, like Florida, is due for an upset with their lackluster play.

Did we pick too many upsets? YES. But we did so in order to falsely inject some excitement into a Saturday which sees exactly one game between ranked opponents, both from second tier conferences. So deal with it.




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File this post under reckless rumors if you please, which is probably the best policy for unreferenced blog content anyway.

Nevertheless the idea of current Alabama D-Coordinator Kirby Smart joining Mark Richt in Athens, where he played defensive back and has served two separate coaching terms (one under Richt), is not something that is going to go away any time soon.

Our new info is shaky in the sense that it is third or fourth hand, but solid in the sense that it comes from the top floor of the UGA power structure. Word is that Smart, who has loyally followed Nick Saban for several years (from LSU in '04 to the NFL in '06 and to Bama in '07), is finally over the Nicktator's manipulative shenanigans:

The latest supposed episode occured when Smart was given the opportunity to play a round at Augusta National and asked Saban for permission to take a day. Supposedly rather than replying with a flat "yes" or "no", Saban (who has gone on record regarding his policy of not playing golf during the season) instead dropped the grandaddy of passive aggressive guilt trips. Something to the effect of allowing the day off, but reminding Smart that any time off would mean more work for his defensive assistants to make up for Smart's absence.

Bravo, Satan. And his penchant for manipulation is well documented. Check out these quotes from former assistant coach Mike Mularkey and former player Marty Booker under the "Quick Slants" section of Jason Cole's article for Yahoo Sports.

In the end while Smart's connections at Georgia and potential frustration with Saban's mental torture do make a compelling point for the move to the Bulldogs staff, a strong argument can also be made that Smart has reached the pinnacle of the D-Coordinator role with his success in Tuscaloosa. As such a lateral move into the same role in Athens would be unusual when Head Coaching aspirations would certainly be valid for Smart.

I guess it all comes down to just how sick he is of Saban.




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Herschel Walker. Rodney Hampton. Garrison Hearst. Tim Worley, Robert Edwards, Thomas Brown, and Musa Smith. These are all legendary University of Georgia running backs we have watched in our time. Hell, we still get all nostalgic watching Knowshon cutting through defenses for the Denver Broncos. And we aren't even taking into account the guys we didn't get to appreciate: Charley Trippi was before our time and Terrell Davis didn't achieve greatness until he hit the NFL.

The current troop of Caleb King, Washaun Ealey, Richard Samuel, Carlton Thomas and Dontavius Jackson is hard to pin down. Running Back-by-committee is nothing new in Athens, where prior to Knowshon's arrival Mark Richt spent a couple of years juggling Kregg Lumpkin, Thomas Brown, and Danny Ware. This time around Coach Richt is still trying to determine exactly how all the pieces fit together. All five backs were highly touted recruits out of high school, and each brings something different to the table:

Caleb King, Soph; 5'11", 210. King was the the #1 rated RB recruit in the nation before breaking his leg his senior season of high school. King has plenty of size, speed to burn, respectable power, and a very subtle but effective manner in dodging defenders. He has always been a patient runner...with an ability to set up blocks well, but when he was at his best in high school he seemed to know exactly when to explode from behind blocks and blow through defenders. The physical ability and patience is still there, but at Georgia King has yet to find that intuitive decisiveness that tells him when to "just go". If he can shed the tentativeness he can rule the SEC, but to this point his potential has only shown up in flashes. He has, however, become a good blocker.

Richard Samuel, Soph; 6'2", 216. Samuel is another 5 star recruit, but at one time was labeled an "athlete" rather than pure Running Back due to his potential on the defensive side of the ball. Despite talk of using him at Linebacker Samuel began the season as the featured back for Georgia. He has tremendous power, acceleration, and breakaway speed, however he isn't much for cutting or making people miss. At the risk of sounding harsh his running style is unimaginative, and combined with his tendency to fumble it seems likely he has been passed over for permanent consideration as the Bulldogs' primary ball carrier.

Washaun Ealey, Fresh; 5'11", 205. The most promising of the list, Ealey broke just about every high school record available to running backs in the state of Georgia. In his first college action just a couple of weeks ago Ealey seemed to show a spark not seen in the UGA backfield this year, although the fire seemed to dim a bit against Vanderbilt. Nevertheless Ealey appears to have the best chance to fire up the team with his running. Although slightly smaller than both King and Samuel, Ealey is more versatile than either in his ability to run over defenders or make them miss as the situation dictates. He is the immediate future at the position and Georgia could benefit from allowing his confidence to build this year.

Carlton Thomas, Fresh; 5'7", 178. Thomas created buzz along with high expectations through his explosive play during Spring Practice. His attitude is Moreno-esque and he possesses the ability to make anyone miss and run away from them... just not over them. Thomas is small and as such will always be labeled as a "situational back", but nevertheless it doesn't seem he has been used effectively by the coaching staff in Athens thus far. Properly used to complement a larger, proven back Thomas can help this offense.

Dontavius Jackson, Fresh; 5'10", 200. Jackson is the enigma of the group. He has been plagued by injury since his arrival at Georgia, red-shirting last year. He finally got some usage against Vanderbilt and displayed some promise, but until he gets more playing time his overall potential is difficult to determine.

The capsules of each player are nice, but it doesn't really point to an obvious solution for Georgia at Running Back. What is most critical is what not to do, and that is wait any longer. Decisions must be made:

1. Move Richard Samuel. He is too valuable in terms of physical talent to let him linger on the fringe of the RB position when given his size, strength, and speed he may be able to contribute at Linebacker or safety. If he isn't going to carry the ball, start training him at other positions.
2. Make Ealey and King your primary duo and move on. Removing Samuel will clarify the position and this will leave the team with a solid tandem. King's development as a blocker makes this a legitimate solution, and both can benefit from consistent playing time.
   
3. Commit to using Jackson and Thomas as situational or third down backs. Both are undersized but talented and being scared to play them is, well, playing scared. Both are ideal for screens, draws, or other more exotic runs (and we don't mean reverses). You don't learn anything by giving them one carry per game and it inevitably results in a waste of potential.
   

Having five backs to feed is unmanageable; applying this strategy gets Georgia to down to four and they may gain a quality Linebacker or Safety for next year in the process. Most importantly though it gets the coaches off their heels in terms of personnel decisions and let's them determine how to move forward.

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