Well, the Dawgs pulled out another victory, this time against the wretched Volunteers of Tennessee in Neyland Stadium, no less. There is no place more fun to win and conversely, there is no worse place to lose than Neyland Stadium. When you are victorious, you get to watch 104,000 orange clad heathens leave in silence as you celebrate with 3,000 of your closest friends in the most upper of upper decks. In fact, Laura and I sat so high up in 2003 that I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around...it was God. He said, "hey dude, did Pollack hurt himself on that 3rd and long?" We won that day, 41-14. It was glorious. When you lose, it's pure hell. The 104,000 are now screaming at you, Rocky Top blaring for the 3,987th time, fireworks go off, second cousins lock their chastity belts, chaos ensues and you just want to disappear. Luckily, we and every second cousin were spared this year. 20-12 was the final, but quite honestly, it never felt as though they threatened us.
Our offense was anemic at times, but I was proud of Crowell and Mitchell stepping up and playing above their experience. Malcolm Mitchell can flat out fly, there is no two ways about it. Tennessee is not what they used to be, but I'm telling you, Neyland is tough no matter what. Aaron Murray continues his slight sophomore slump, he missed some wide open throws but he did not turn it over, so that's a plus. Walsh actually made a field goal. The line held up well other than the 3rd and 56 debacle where we were called for four straight holding penalties and a personal foul. I have never seen a longer third down in my life. In typical Georgia fashion, we did not try anything other than a handoff to remedy the situation. Saying Mike Bobo is going to call a draw play on third and long is like saying there is going to be traffic on I-285 at 5:30 today. It's a no brainer.
The defense continued to impress. Da'Rick Rogers was a non factor. He is also a non factor in life as well. He is now 0-2 against the team he spurned on Signing Day, his boy Nash Nance hasn't sniffed the field yet and they look to have yet another losing season in the SEC. Good call! Bray did complete some passes but he never really damaged us. We damaged him though. In fact, the last three opponents have finished the game with a different quarterback because we killed their first string QB. Glad to see Christian Robinson back. Mike Gilliard is absolutely lighting people up, as is Shawn Williams. They had two intentional grounding penalties because of our blitz packages, which is bigger than a sack if you ask me. They had -28 rushing yards, continuing another streak of dominance by our D-Line and linebackers, who are breaking RB's down like syllables these days. It was a good win, our 4th in a row, and I hope we blow Vandy out of the water so we can rest up for Florida.
Speaking of Florida, I've never seen a UF team look as bad as they did on Saturday. They were like Ned Beatty in Deliverance, standing in their whitey-tighties, jorts in a pile on the ground, while LSU tells them to squeal like a pig. Unfortunately, Burt Reynolds didn't show up to help them. First of all, Burt went to FSU so he would let it happen and laugh. Secondly, the only man who could save them (Urban Meyer) is hiding at ESPN because he fears Saban. Will Muschamp looked like somebody shot his dog. Will is a UGA alum and I'll always hold him in high regard, but he is going to have a stroke. They interviewed him post-game and it went something like this....
Reporter: "Coach, today was a tough one. The home crowd was extremely hostile today, and it just didn't seem that your offense could get its feet under them. How are you going to handle the remainder of the season with Brantley's situation being so tenuous?
Muschamp: "Argeikneeienmjeio! Agiinaojrnmrp0!" (spins away to the locker room Tasmanian Devil-style and destroys Mike the Tiger's cage.)
Charlie Weis gained 20 pounds during the game, I think. I swear, if he laid on the beach, Greenpeace would show up and try to roll him back into the ocean. I saw that Yahoo article about a whale being found about 800 yards from shore in England. I thought, "that Charlie Weis cleaned out a Ryan's buffet and he was in a food coma out there." Poor Chris Rainey will be lucky to survive the season, he is a spread receiver playing running back in a pro set offense. When you are 5'8 and 170 lbs, you are not going to go up the middle and SEC defenses are too fast to try the corners. Alabama strung him out, as did LSU, and Rainey's speed was neutralized. The SEC West is unreal this year. I don't know what East team will be in the Dome come December, but it looks like it will be lambs to the slaughter at this point.
Other notable events from this weekend:
1) The Big Three in Florida all lost and none of them are ranked in the top 25. I'm looking to the sky for Halley's Comet with Bigfoot riding it all the way to the ground.
2) Georgia Tech is #12 in the AP poll. If they crack the top ten, I will eat steel wool and drink antifreeze.
3) The NLCS is Milwaukee vs. St. Louis and the ALCS is Detroit vs. Texas. To quote Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own..."Let's go girls, dozens of people are ready to watch the game!" No Yankees and No Red Sox make Bradley a dull boy (+1 for The Shining reference). Pulling for Texas though, since they drafted Jonathan Taylor and Zach Cone.
4) LSU is the first team I've seen to get penalized for an "egregious celebration" and have a TD called back. This penalty makes me want to vomit. They can't get paid, they can't have jobs, and they can't have a good time. Pathetic, NCAA.
5) It appears Missouri will be the next member of the SEC. It makes sense, really. I mean, Missouri is southeast of.....Wyoming...right?
Have a great week. Dawgs vs. Dores in Nash-vegas on Saturday. Vandy is always fun, when you win, their fans are like, "I bet you can't even spell quantum physics, you rednecks!" Au contraire, my neighbors to the north, au contraire....I can spell just fine.
We may be from Georgia, but we ain't all Peach's. Dawgs 34 Dores 10. Book it.
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