Felton's SEC Road Record Falls to 5-30 with Loss in Columbia

Image: georgiadogs.com

Georgia lost 62-56 on a night that saw our starting guards shoot 4 of 22 from the floor, and our team overall went 4-27 from beyond the three point arc. If you take away the fine effort of Corey Butler (a walk-on), Felton's scholarship players -- all of whom he recruited -- shot 1-23 from three point land.

Why a team with only one legit three point shooter is hoisting 27 threes is positively beyond me.

Here are some stone cold facts to digest. Dennis Felton's SEC road record now sits at a staggering 5-30 after 4.5 seasons. His overall record in true road games (neutral sites excluded) is 8-38. Here are the wins:

2008 - (1) Hawaii
2007 - (3) Wake Forest, South Carolina and Arkansas
2006 - (3) Western Kentucky, Vandy and South Carolina
2005 - (0)
2004 - (1) Kentucky

In fairness to Felton, he did beat Clemson, Oregon State, Gonzaga and a few tomato cans in neutral sites games in Atlanta/Gwinnett/Virgin Islands. However, he also lost to Clemson, ETSU, Ole Dominion, Tulane and others in neutral site games. Regardless, in a scary strange place surrounded by people that don't like the Red and Black...it's not so good.

Those are indisputable facts. If there's a mistake, you let me know, and I'll correct it.

Now, here's an opinion. We lose because we go for 5, 7 and 9 minutes without scoring more than a single field goal. Often these long stretches of ineptitude are punctuated with no timeouts from Felton. But mostly, I feel like we lose because we appear to lack the same intensity / effort on the road as at home. Again, that's my opinion.

Now, we can sit here and try to pin blame on Jim Harrick, Tony Cole, Mike Mercer, Takais Brown, Damon Evans, Vince Dooley, Mike Adams or the soap dispensers in Stegeman Coliseum's men's rooms. And maybe some blame still falls there. You've got your opinion on that, I've got mine. I really don't care about causality at this point. I care about outcomes.

The fact is that South Carolina had a 9-10 record going into this game and a coach that is being put out to pasture following this season because he didn't produce results.

Furthermore, while we're counting stats...Dennis Felton is now 69-70 at Georgia. If you eliminate Div II and HBCU teams (only because they are typically some of the lowest rated teams in college basketball) he is about 15 games under .500 in 4.5 years.

I've been to at least 6-8 basketball games a year for 17 years...some years many, many more games than that. I've seen us play in Boulder, Chicago, Charlotte, Columbia, Lexington, Nashville and a few other venues. I'm a hardcore Georgia Hoops fan. The program matters to me.

This...this "progress" and "steady climb" as Felton calls it is getting old.

I'll see you in Athens on Saturday at 1:00 for the Kentucky game.

Go Dawgs.

PWD

PS3 Questions?

I'm probably going to buy a PS3 over the next few days. I've had a PS2 forever so I haven't looked into buying a new system. Here are my questions:

• What attachments / peripherals do I need?


• It's only $100 extra for the 80 gb version vs. the 40 gb version. Should I go ahead and spring for the bigger unit?
  
  
• The DVD player on my PS2 was a piece of crap (lousy sound). Is the Blu-Ray any good on PS3?
  
  
• Does it have a wireless internet card? My TV is no where close to my Internet hookup. Anything I else should know?

And no. I'm probably not changing to Xbox. I've invested too many hours playing NCAA football to learn a new controller now. I just don't like the feel of the Xbox controller. Plus, I want the Blu-Ray player. The house is going to get a major electronics upgrade pretty soon.

Thanks for the info / help.

PWD

(Note: My old man is going to call me tonight after reading this and say...."You big dummy, this is why you're single." lol)

2008 UGA Football Schedule: Are Your Bags Packed?

If you're ranking the greatest inventions of all-time, Google Maps would certainly not outshine the Copper Still, Yeast, DVR or the Brasserie, but it's not too shabby. For bloggers looking to do a travel article about the toughest rough schedule in school history it's an irreplaceable tool.

Next year's UGA Football Schedule looks like this:

vs Georgia Southern (Athens)
vs Central Michigan (Athens)
at South Carolina (Columbia)
at Arizona State (Tempe)
vs Alabama (Athens)
IDLE
vs Tennessee (Athens)
vs Vanderbilt (Athens)
at LSU (Baton Rouge)
at Florida (Jacksonville "Home Team")
at Kentucky (Lexington)
at Auburn (Auburn)
IDLE
vs Georgia Tech (home)

The interactive map below shows that the Bulldogs will travel 7,338 miles from Athens to those six road venues. That's right...

7,338 Miles
To quote my brother upon being confronted with these stats, "The earth only has a 24,901 mile circumference at the equator. When you factor in home games and a bowl game, I will travel 1/3 of the distance around the globe for football. That is hardcore. I'm fired up."

The mileage stats are obviously inflated by 3,827 mile swing to the desert that any right minded Georgia-based Dawg fan will be making via plane. The stats also don't include an SEC Championship Appearance (add 140 miles round trip from Athens) or a bowl trip to Miami (add 1,300 miles) or NOLA (add 900 miles). A trip to the SECC and National Title games would bring the total up to 8,806 miles.

The schedule's murderous section includes four consecutive SEC road games in Baton Rouge, Jacksonville, Lexington and Auburn. That's 3,164 miles in 23 days for the four game swing. Or 2,795 miles in 16 days for the LSU to UF to UK swing.

Any complaints about the four consecutive games away from Athens that the SEC stuck us with are appropriate. In a recent article, the AJC said that the ACC and SEC league offices work hard to "avoid putting a team on the road for two consecutive conference games." Apparently, four consecutive games is no biggie, but two is completely out of the question? Huh?

Those distances also don't include side trips a fan might make to places like New Orleans, St. Simons or The Grand Canyon. Mileage is strictly computed from 1 Selig Circle (the Butts-Mehre Building) to the opponent's stadium (which is visible in the maps below).

Check out this interactive map:


View Larger Map


If you play with the map, you can follow the complete travel route of the team. The map works better if you just go the big version here. If you want to adjust the map to change 1 Selig Circle to your home address, that's as simple as clicking on the "edit" buttons to the left of the larger map. But I digress.

If you're interested in shortening the time spent in the car, you could always pull the Dorsey Hill move. From Lewis Grizzard's column following the 1980 Cocktail Party:

God is a Bulldog
Jacksonville, Fla. - Dorsey Hill, the world's biggest Bulldog fan, left here Sunday afternoon, bound for Auburn, Ala., where Georgia's undefeated football team next appears.

"I don't think you can get from Jacksonville to Auburn," I had said to him.

"You can change buses in Waycross and Columbus," Dorsey answered.

"You aren't going home first?"

"Home?" He screamed back. "I haven't worked since Texas A&M, and I haven't slept since Clemson. You expect me to go back home when we play Auburn in only six more days?"

Ol' Dorsey would definitely leave Baton Rouge headed straight for Jacksonville. That's a great way to shave 300 miles off your journey!

Over the coming weeks and months, we'll try and offer some travel suggestions for the Arizona State game. In the meantime, I'll say this...if you're planning on using frequent flyer miles to get out there then:

A. I hope you're not with Delta or don't mind a layover.
B. Are flying from or through a city other than Atlanta.

I only say those things because the great frequent flyer deals (best time slots and direct flights) on Delta have been filling up very quickly.


There will probably be some grumbling about the travel distance and expense from Dawg fans this season...particularly the ASU trip. My response to that: We haven't left the Southeast since we beat Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1965. The Athletic Department gave us a few years to save up. lol. (Image: Sun Devil Stadium)

In all seriousness, most every hardcore Dawg fan that I know is planning on going to this game. I can't imagine what the demand for tickets will be, but it wouldn't shock me to see us take at least 10,000 to Tempe. I personally know more people who are at least tentatively planning on going to Tempe than Jacksonville.

I'm looking forward to this season with more anticipation than any I can remember. Although, I'm not looking forward to dozens and dozens of articles mentioning the 1965-2008 streak without leaving the South. But you gotta take the good with the bad.

After an '08 trip to Tempe, '09 trip to Stillwater, '10 trip to Boulder and '11 trip to Louisville, we should never have to listen to that again.

See Also:
-- Who Travels and Who Doesn't - The Wizard of Odds
-- MapGameday.com
-- Future and Historical UGA Schedules - Sicemdawgs.com

PWD


NOTE: If you're a Phoenix or Tempe based travel agent with expertise in Tempe/Grand Canyon type programs. Give me a shout. I'll interview you and give you a plug. I'd like to recommend sites and destinations for Dawgs coming in early.

Chase Vasser Commits for 2009

The Dawgs landed their third commitment of the day for 2009 on Monday when Chase Vasser (6'3" 200 pounds) snatched up his offer. That gives the Dawgs two linebacker commitments for the 2009 class with Dexter Moody (who could also play safety) of ECI being the other. Rivals profile page lists Vasser as having 13 sacks a junior for Chestatee High School in Gainesville.

Jonathan Davis of Tucker High School looks to be the other linebacker on UGA's list. If memory serves, Scott Kennedy and Dean Legge of Scout.com list Davis as one of the top two players in state for 2009 along side current UGA commit Washaun Ealey (RB).

Davis ran a blistering 4.37 at this weekend's Kennedy/CES Combine, and his shuttle scores were also off the map. Much like Rennie Curran, he's extremely unusually sized at 5'7" and just under 190 lbs. However, he is described as having the ability to tackle anything that moves. For those of you thinking, "Five foot seven is just too damn small," I'd like you to look at this photo:


Click on it to enlarge it. That's Rennie Curran standing next to Marcus Washington. Washington is listed by UGA at 6'0" even. Now, you tell me that 5'8" dudes can't ball. Rennie ain't 5'11" anymore than I am. Trust me. I'm not. (Photo: Iron Chef Turducken)

Anyway...the 2009 class looks to be really small in quantity. In fact, Georgia might sign a few as 17 kids. The program's momentum combined with the tight scholarship situation makes me believe that the class may be half full by G-Day.

See Also:
-- UGASports.com Top 30 in State for 2009

PWD

Big East Coaches Conference Call Gets Hacked

The Big East basketball coaches conference call was hacked into, and miscreants had their way with the coaches. The Big Lead has the audio from the call and the details. It's a riot. If you're at work, listen to this with the headphones on. My favorite part is the flustered PR hack trying to manage the implosion.

PWD

Dawgs get 2009 Monster Recruits

The Georgia Bulldogs landed alpha male running back Washaun Ealey (Image: Scout.com) and his highly recruited high school teammate Dexter Moody (LB) for the 2009 recruiting class per Scout.com and Rivals.com. Per DawgPost.com

Ealey was named the Atlanta Journal Constitution player of the year for the state after romping 58 touchdowns his junior season. His play led the Bulldogs to the Single A State. He ended the season with 2,982 rushing yards – third best in Georgia high school history.

You have to stare and re-read those stats to believe them. They are jaw dropping for anyone...much less a high school junior. And Moody is a baller himself. Big start for next year's recruiting. The AJC's Player of the Year Video is below.



And here's a video from Scout.com's MySpace Page.




In other recruiting news, Omar Hunter, DeAngelo Tyson and A.J. Harmon all made Parade All-American from the state of Georgia. Congrats to the three young men.

PWD

Three interesting reads

1. The inspiring story of Deangelo Tyson. Our incoming DT has grown up in a Statesboro boys home (nice word for orphanage). He talks about his past and his likely redshirt at UGA.

2. Which teams have the most returning starters in the nation.

3. Gamecocks are just a few players away.

PWD

Vols Pummel Georgia in Basketball

It was about like I expected. I still say the game meant little. We took the #122 RPI team on the road to play the #1 RPI team, and the resulting outcome was about like what you would expect. UT 85 - UGA 69.

The next 3 games will let us know where we're going.

Here's my issue with the game...no the program as a whole. My source of frustration if you will. I'm no hoops guru, but I know three things to pretty much be unshakable, unwavering hoops truths:

1. If you don't hustle defensively on the road, you don't win.

2. If you don't pass well or move without the ball effectively, you're easy to defend. I think it was Bobby Knight who said, "The easiest man to defend is the man standing still."

3. Moving and passing intelligently do NOT depend on talent.

I believe those are pretty much bedrock hoops principles. It's easier to win if you have superior talent obviously. However, if you do the above things, you'll give yourself a better chance to win independent of your talent level.

In my opinion, we struggle with all 3 issues, and we have for the vast majority of Dennis Felton's entire 4.5 year tenure. I personally see no reason why upgrading our talent will make us better hustlers, more intelligent passers or move without the ball with competence. If we're not doing it now, when will we?

But I digress.

Like I said earlier. This one game shouldn't change anyone's opinion one way or the other about the current or future direction of this program. The game was meaningless, and it played out as any logical observer would have expected.

We should take nothing away from the Tennessee program. They are one helluva basketball team. They obliterated us defensively, and wavered between toying with us and pummeling us offensively. They are exceptional.

Tidbits from the Game:

• Per Dennis Felton, "We came out soft with everything. Soft with the ball, soft with our passes, soft with the dribble, soft with our post game. We were just soft."
  
  
• Dave Bliss had the half of his life scoring 15 points in the second. The rest of our forwards/centers (Price, AJax and Barnes) combined to 3-9. That stat is inflated by two garbage buckets by Barnes late. In the first half, they were as useless as tits on a bull.
  
  
• Georgia had 21 turnovers and 11 assists. When you don't pass or move well, it's not uncommon to have 2-1 turnovers to assists. We only had 26 field goals. The team committed 15 turnovers before it sank its fifth basket. (per Bradley)
  
  
• The team's RPI jumped 22 spots in the loss due to the overwhelmingly strong nature of the Vols RPI.
  
  
  
• UGA scored 1 field goal from 18:55 until 11:41 left in the first. A span of around 7 minutes. After a quick couple of buckets, Georgia then went about 9 more minutes with only 1 made field goal in the first half. While we struggled so savagely offensively, Felton did not bother to call a single timeout. Not one. The only stops in play came from television. We've got 15 turnovers and 5 field goals, but he didn't think some chalkboard time would help? So keep on trucking, I guess. Felton didn't call a timeout until 9 minutes left in the second half as the Vols hit 3 consecutive barely contested dunks.(Chart: ESPN)
  

They are a good team, but you have to be able to manufacture SOMETHING offensively.

On to Columbia. I'm pretty sure that the Gamecocks have lost their last two games to us in the Carolina Center. It's a winnable game against an SC team that is playing hard, but has virtually nothing to show for it.

See Also:
-- Hard Truth - AJC
-- Not as close as it should be - Bradley

PWD

Two must see videos

The Bulldawg Blawg has their first Sugar Bowl highlight video up. It's sort of a homage to Colt Brennan's rib cage.

The second is a quick highlight video from Rivals.com regarding Mr. Richard Samuel. The video on this early enrollee at Georgia isn't overwhelmingly impressive....until...well....you get to the 1:44 mark. Then it's sorta...well...the awesomests.

PWD

UGA vs. Vols in Hoops Tonight

At 7:00 pm the Georgia Bulldogs (11-5/2-1) will take on the #3 ranked Tennessee Volunteers in hoops on FSN in game that's unlikely to tell us much of anything about the state of this year's Dawgs.

Dennis Felton is roughly 5-28 in SEC road games at Georgia, and he's going to play a team with more talent and depth at every position. The Vols should be pissed off following their road loss to the Wildcats and will likely give us a focused effort. Shocking the SEC and winning isn't out of the question, but the odds are long.

That said. It doesn't matter. This is hoops where a single loss doesn't ruin a season. It's not tonight that could define this season. It's the next three games that will give us incredibly clarity into which direction this team and program are heading:

Wed. Jan 30 - South Carolina (Columbia)
Sat. Feb. 2 - Kentucky (Athens) on CBS
Wed. Feb. 6 - Vandy (Athens)

Those are three must win games regardless of what happens tonight. If UGA can exit the Vanderbilt game at 5-2 in SEC play and 14-6 overall, the season gets interesting.

Our RPI is currently 122nd according to RealTimeRPI.com. Even a loss on the road against the #1 RPI Vols will still probably bring up our score. Our RPI could jump 40 spots in the next two weeks if we play with intelligence and intensity.

After the Vandy game, the schedule takes a turn for the brutal with only three of our following eight games at home.

My point: If we lose by 10 or more tonight, don't read much into it. It's not "jump off a cliff time"...yet. Tennessee is just really damn good. Although, I would love to see a heap better effort than I saw in person last time we went up there.

See Also:
-- Humphrey Leads Dawgs - DawgPost.com
-- Georgia faces tough challenge in Knoxville - AJC
-- Controlling tempo key for Dawgs - ABH
-- Price is Right - UGASports.com

PWD

Will the last talented Tech player please turn off the lights?

Promising young Georgia Tech player and former blue chip recruit D.J. Donley has apparently left the Georgia Tech program. Donley is rumored to be considering a transfer to South Carolina. Donley joins Colin Peek (GT tight end) who recently left, and virtually every major blue chip recruit that was part of the 2008 signing class in rejecting the Paul Johnson regime.

Well...not everyone is leaving Tech. They got three commitments recently for the 2008 class.

• Tevin Washington (QB/ATH) chose GT over offers from Alabama A&M, Troy, Texas Southern, Georgia Southern, Memphis and Arizona State.
  
  
• Phil Smith (OT) - No known offers. Although, he was getting letters from LSU and UF. You know, I once got a letter as a high school senior from the Nashville Auto Diesel College. I wonder if they were going to offer a scholarship to me?
  
  
• Lee Butler (DB/WR) - Butler was a former Duke commit, but gave up all that glamor for life on the flats. His other offers were Air Force, Duke and Furman. Seriously. I'm not making this up.

Georgia Tech is building a program that the entire Sun Belt Conference will soon admire with awe.

PWD

Brian Van Gorder Ditches Spurrier. Returns to Falcons

Breaking News: Brian Van Gorder is on the cusp of becoming the new defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons according to the Atlanta Journal, The State, CSTV and GamecockCentral.com. Apparently, he always wanted to be a [____insert type of coaching job here______].

Van Gorder is the former defensive coordinator of the South Carolina Gamecocks, former linebackers coach of the Atlanta Falcons, former head coach of Georgia Southern, former linebackers coach of the Jackonsville Jags, former defensive coordinator for UGA, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

This will be Van Gorder's sixth job in the past five seasons. Pardon me while I laugh at the Gamecocks for a minute. Chuckle. Chuckle. Chuckle. Van Gorder was set to meet with four star Palmetto State blue chipper defensive end Robert Quinn today. I'm sure that visit will go swimmingly well for the chickens.

Prediction: The Gamecocks will hire someone else -- probably John Tenuta or John Hoke -- and the Gamecock Nation will loudly proclaim that this new genius locks up their 42nd consecutive Pre-season National Championship Trophy.

Update: Van Gorder has now resigned as Falcons defensive coordinator to become the head coach of the Wayne State Titans. He always wanted to be a college head coach.

Update: Van Gorder has resigned as head coach of Wayne State to become the cheerleading coach of the Ft. Lauderdale Fighting Tigers. He announced that he always wanted to coach cheerleaders.

See Also:
-- All Georgia Sports Blog Stories about Brian Van Gorder

(Ht - Kit Kitchens)

PWD

Recruiting Appears Done

Five-star recruit Richard Samuel

With the commitments of Zebrie Sanders to Florida State and Omar Hunter to the Gators, UGA won't need to scrounge up another scholarship this year. It looks like recruiting is done. The rumors were that the coaching staff would try to find another scholarship for one of those two recruits, but it appears they didn't find one. I wish Zebrie Sanders luck. I wish Omar Hunter serious disaster every year on the football field, but this is not personal. I wish every Gator disaster on the field, floor, air, sea, in space, and underground.

For the second year in a row, we head into signing day without a serious storyline. Last year, we got the last minute surprise switcharoo by Chris Little and Antwan Greenlee, but it looks like the only noise we'll hear on signing day will be the hum of fax machines. Richt & Co. continue to wrap their classes up early and use January as an evaluation period for juniors. So far, we can't complain about the results. The Dawgs will reel in another top 10 class.

The only remaining questions are the continued flirtations of Dwayne Allen, the blue-chip tight end from North Carolina. Allen committed to UGA early, but has continued to visit other schools. There is a large school of thought that believes Allen's pledge was firm before Coach Johnson's departure and nothing has changed with the hiring of Coach Lilly. Allen was reportedly pleased with the hire. I think Allen has known he is going to UGA for a while, but is enjoying as much attention and coed company as possible before Signing Day.

It would have been nice to have Sanders or Hunter, but it should give you confidence that we are now turning away great prospects because we are full.

Quinton

Video: DawgPost interview with AJ Green

Dean Legge of DawgPost.com has an interview with A.J. Green on Youtube.

As for as the production quality, give Dean a break. He's obviously still figuring out that side of the deal. The video is free after all.

PWD

Quick Hoops Update: Derrick Favors

Derrick Favors (6'9" 220 lbs) is one of the top three 2009 basketball recruits in the nation according to Scout.com and Rivals.com (Scout has him #1). He's a dominating power forward/center prospect that is likely a "one and done" type player at the college level.

According to Scout.com, Favors' South Atlanta squad went out to Los Angeles recently to take on one of the better teams in that area. Per the article:

The South Atlanta standout traveled to Los Angeles for the Pangos Dream Classic and took on Jrue Holiday and his Campbell Hall squad. In what turned out to be one of the best games of the year, S.A. picked up a 78-77 double overtime win.

Favors, a 6-foot-9 junior, scored 32 points, grabbed 29 rebounds and blocked 8 shots, while Holiday, Scout.com’s 3rd ranked prospect, scored 35 points, snatched 17 rebounds and tossed out 7 assists.

Scout.com also lists him as narrowing his college choices to UGA, Clemson, GT and FSU. They list him as having "no interest" currently in UF or UNC. So we've got that going for us.

Signing Favors would be even bigger than signing Howard Thompkins for the 2008 class.

PWD

New TE Coach

It's not official yet, but both UGASports.com and DawgPost.com are saying that Mark Richt has hired John Lilly as his new TE coach. Kyle King's take on it is here. Dean Legge with DawgPost expects it to be confirmed around Friday.

I think it's an exceptional hire. Richt and Eason have worked with Lilly in the past, and he has managed exceptional recruiting classes for FSU.

There was a rumor that Lilly was the best man at Mark Richt's wedding. As lowiq pointed out on DawgPost.com's message board, that seems unlikely. Richt was married around 1987, and Lilly graduated from Guilford College in 1990. He didn't start working with Richt until 1995. So unless, he was the best man for Richt as a freshmen in college, that rumor pretty much looks bogus.

I think it's a very good hire. As others have said, this pretty much means that we are unlikely to lose any recruits from this class.

PWD

Dawgs Smoke Hawgs in Hoops

On Saturday Night in Athens, the Georgia Bulldogs put on arguably their most impressive and complete showing of the Felton Era. They played with a level of intensity and intelligence that we have rarely seen of late as they dismantled Arkansas 82-69 in front of a sparse, snow affected crowd.

Arkansas' top players are 6 seniors, and the team was predicted to win the SEC West this season. The program also had an RPI in the 30s at game time so it was a quality win. Regardless of how poorly the Razorbacks have played the past two games against UGA and South Carolina.

I would argue that Dave Bliss, Chris Barnes and Billy Humphrey all had their best games as Bulldogs while Terrence Woodbury had his best game of the season. We out rebounded, out hustled, out defended, and out shot Arkansas. The offense had movement inside and didn't rely exclusively on the three.

Basically, it was the team many of us have been hoping to see for years. Will it be a flash in the pan like the Gonzaga win last year in Gwinnett? Or is it an indicator of things to come?

The team gets Wednesday night off before heading up to Knoxville. Can their confidence survive a likely thrashing to a much more talented Vol team? Hopefully.

Regardless, If the Dawgs would consistently play with the intensity and intelligence that they showed Saturday night, they would fill Stegeman consistently. That's the type of watchable basketball on both ends of the court that we need to be seeing from this program in Year 5. It's the type of program that silences critics, wins basketball games, makes tourneys and gets coaches pay raises.

It's the type of basketball we also need to start seeing on the road.

PWD

Dawgs on TV Tonight

Hoops: The men's basketball team will host Arkansas at 7:00 pm tonight on FSN South. According to WSB-TV, UGA has absolutely no plans to cancel the game tonight due to weather. The Hawgs are already in town, and the roads should be in decent shape until after the game when the precipitation freezes. Update: UGAA Confirms Game On.

The Athens Banner Herald has an article about freshman Zac Swansey, and the AJC has an article about Woodbury. The Dawgs currently have an RPI of 155 while the Razorbacks have an RPI of 38. A win over the Hogs would bring the Bulldogs into NIT selection range. Given that Arkansas lost to a horrible South Carolina squad on Wednesday, we have a legit shot of picking up a W tonight. Arkansas should be highly motivated after UGA broke their hearts in Bud Walton last year with Steve Newman draining a 25 footer at the buzzer after the Razorbacks had taken a 10 point lead with 2 minutes left.

Football: The East West Shrine Bowl will be played tonight in Houston. Thomas Brown and Fernando Velasco are both on the roster. The game will be televised on ESPN2 at 7:00 pm. Velasco will likely get around 50% of the snaps at Center while Brown will split carries with about 3 other backs. Best of luck to both guys.


PWD

Unique Video: 2007 Season in Still Images

OnlineAthens.com took a really cool approach in putting this video together. Very cool.

PWD

Confirmed: TE coach Johnson to WVU

West Virginia University Head Football Coach Bill Stewart has announced the hiring of the fourth former Mountaineer standout player and coach, David Johnson, today, as the offensive line coach.

From Scout.com

Mike Adams vs. the Big 10

From today's PTI on ESPN


For more absurd Big 10 logic, check out the comments on this article which has been picked up by DeadSpin and SI.com.

Update: Adams calls out Big [Little] Ten [Eleven] and Pac Ten as playoff impediments.

PWD

Video: Herschel and Knowshon

This aired before the Sugar Bowl.



PWD

Video: DawgPost.com's Dream On

Good stuff from DawgPost



PWD

Rumor: Georgia TE Coach to WVU as OL Coach

The West Virginia Scout.com site is reporting that UGA TE Coach Dave Johnson will be returning to his alma mater to coach the WVU offensive line.

Coach Johnson was rumored to have pursued the UGA OL coaching position last year, but Richt turned to Stacey Searels to fill that role. In the football pecking order, OL coaches rank higher than TE coaches in terms of prestige, future promotional opportunities and compensation. It was also rumored that Johnson pursued and/or interviewed for the WVU OL position last year after Rick Trickett went left the Mountaineers for FSU.

The opportunity to return to OL coaching at his alma mater is a great one for Johnson. He was a good recruiter, and our TE play was very good under his watch. Our guys blocked well and ran good routes. It's true that Martrez had hands of stone at times, and Tripp's first couple games this year were brutal to watch. But overall he coached Randy McMiracle, Ben Watson, Leonard Pope and a rapidly improving Tripp Chandler.

If the rumor is true, best of luck to him and his family.

One replacement name that always pops up in these situations is John Lilly at FSU. Who knows.

PWD

ht - dawgrun

All sorts of internet issues this week

Posting will be spotty. Apologies, but the web is a fickle mistress.

A Reason to Hit the Local Bookstore Tonight

The Oxford American, a superb magazine about good writing and Southern culture, has issued its first ever sports issue. The OA has been around since I was attending Georgia (think Goff/Donnan era) and has often given short shrift to sports. This always concerned me because it is difficult to be such a good Southern magazine without paying some attention to ball games. Most Southerners, after all, spend a lot of time thinking about, watching, or discussing them. The OA has started to make up that ground with their latest issue.

Be forewarned, the OA is a literary magazine, not Sports Illustrated. The articles are all centered around sports, but not necessarily about specific teams, players, or events. The writing is the show. Clay Travis compiled an employment exam for your college's next head football coach.

"True or False: It is better to have won the SEC with a running back who can't read than to never have won the SEC at all."

Wright Thompson has a sizzling piece on those barbecue nachos they serve at Ole Miss games.

"All I see is the cardboard tray on my lap, a saturated-fat All-Star team: pulled pork, dry rub, sweet barbecue sauce, tortilla chips, jalapeño peppers, and a blanket of molten cheese that may or may not be a dairy but sure as hell is an awesome. If I were tobacco-lawyer rich, I'd hire someone to paint a replica of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel on the ceiling of my Gulfstream, except I'd want God reaching down His Almighty Finger into this very plate. It's almost too beautiful to eat."

And there is more. Taylor Bruce writes about the death of Dernell Stenson, a Georgian who was playing for the Reds when he was killed. Farrell Evans writes a profile of eccentric distance runner Brian Pope. The list goes on: Frank Broyles, John L. Sullivan, dogshows, and cockfights. It's got something for everyone.

It's a great collection of sports stories that are worth your time and your five bucks. Pick one up.

Quinton