As the one member of the OTR staff who desired to come out to Orlando (a fact that I am still needlessly bitter about), my initial impression: This year's class of students at Georgia is extraordinarily weak-spirited. While I will never cease to be amused by the same scalpers who gouged the price of such high-demand tickets as Georgia Southern to be over $100 now frantically attempting to sell off their $80 bowl ticket for $15 "OBO," I grew somewhat disenchanted with the formerly ravenous fan-base suddenly turning apathetic. However, on the car-shuttle/plane ride down here, I met a number of alumni, many of which were only subway alumni, who were not only excited about the game but were unable to understand why anybody would not be. So credit to all of you out there who made the trip to Orlando, or at least would have if you had the opportunity.
The most pressing matter for the Georgia football team right now (aside from such trivial matters as getting the victory) is going to be the status of the NFL Draft. Sadly, as the bowl game nears, I see an increasing number of articles focused not on the team game plan and anecdotal stories about Vince Vance in Disneyworld, but instead geared towards the depressing matter of draft talk.
Matthew Stafford's stock seemingly took a dip with Sam Bradford's Heisman Ceremony, but as time passes the margin between the two quarterbacks is fluctuating back to it's normal degree. The only question for him is whether or not it is worth abandoning his reverence and the obscene amount of college tail for an abundance of "Welcome to the NFL" moments courtesy of the offensive lines of either Detroit or Kansas City. Oddly enough, I think Stafford would prefer to play for the "worse" of the those two teams, as playing for Detroit would enable him to play with two offensively gifted players in Calvin Johnson and Kevin Smith, whereas a trip to the midwest would force the rookie quarterback to be in a locker room with the perpetually embittered Larry Johnson and the increasingly-creaky, increasingly-cranky veteran Tony Gonzalez.
Aside from Seattle, Kansas City may be one of the worst situations for Stafford, which may be enough for him to stay, now that the rookie salary cap is no longer a factor. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, Quarterback is the one position I never worry about for the team. Despite four unspectacular games from Joe Tereshinski III two years ago, Mark Richt is the man who developed college football players like Ward, Weinke, Greene, and Shockley, all of whom had little difficulty with the NCAA game despite not having the raw talent for the NFL. With a plethora of options to choose from (incumbent backup Joe Cox, punt returner Logan Gray, or the Richt-preferred method of rookie quarterback in Aaron Murray or Zach Mettenberger), Georgia should worry about quarterback being a detriment to the team next year, Stafford or no.
Moreno's draft stock is somewhat less clear. Whereas Stafford is a consensus top-3 pick right now, the explosive running back has been projected to go anywhere from the Browns at #7 to the Patriots (Please God No) at #24. Personally, I forsee him going to the Broncos at #21, now that Mike Shanahan is no longer there to run his crazy running-back schemes.
Moreno is more likely to leave given the shelf life of running backs, which spells bad news for the Dawgs. While Georgia certainly has the talent to replace him with highly-touted freshmen Caleb King and Richard Samuel, neither of the two proved that they were capable of shouldering the full load this season, with Samuel showing explosiveness but fumble-happiness, and King appearing apathetic to his blocking assignment leading to a share of hard hits for Stafford.
I do believe both players when they say that they haven't given too much thought to declaring early, though not because I think the decision to stay in school is pressing to them. Rather, I think each of them knows that if the other declares without them, their stock will likely take a fall next year. If one or both of them has a strong enough game to boost their stock significantly, both are gone. Likewise, if one of them performs poorly enough that their stock takes a hit, both will return. While the shame of never winning any sort of championship has probably been on both players minds, it is certainly not going to be the deciding factor when millions of dollars are on the table.
Neither of their decisions are truly the most pressing matter for Georgia, however. Both players were at their finest for the last few games of the season, and Georgia looked increasingly beatable. This will also likely weigh heavily on their decision for next year, as both players performing near their peak was not enough for Georgia to beat Tech this year, so why would next year be any different? It's going to take a very strong showing from Willie Martinez's defensive unit against the very talented Javon Ringer to convince anybody that this team is worth giving anything up for.
For now, however, the draft is almost five months away. To all of you out there, I implore you to have a good time tonight, and be safe. Tomorrows a fresh new year for everyone, whether it be you or me or Willie Martinez, and there's no better way to start off a new year the a decisive victory by Georgia. I'm going to refrain from predicting a score here, as my Big-10 bias is going to sway the spread significantly, but I'm fairly confident that Georgia will at least cover the spread, for what seems to be the first time this season. It will certainly be the first time of the year.
Until next time...
6 comments:
Posts on three consecutive days? I just had an orgasm.
I think Willie saved his job, and I see Moreno leaving and Stafford staying. As good as Stafford's second half was, that's how bad the 1st half was. Any1 who isn't an agent, should recommend to the jr, to stay. Stafford is a top 3 pick next year for the same reason he's a top 3 pick this year. It's just if he stays, he should be the number 1 pick, where if he goes hell probably land at 3. But being number 3 (but 1st overall qb taken) worked out pretty well for Matty Ice.
One quick thing before I get into the heart of what I have to say, what the f letter word was mimbs doing when he just dropped the ball? In my 22 yrs of life and 17 of watching football religiously I have only seen that happen once, and I was watching myself do it. I did it because if I didnt drop it, it was going to be blocked, Mimbs did not appear to be in that situation. And for the record, I immediately scooped the ball up got he 1st down and then fumbled like AJ Green, but one of my teammates recovered. Why do I remember this? Because we were playing Renfro Middle School, and later in that game I was running with the ball, and had their nose tackle land on top of me. This kid was honest to god around 300 pounds at the time, no exaggeration, and i had the ball in my gut when he landed on me. This caused the wind to immediately get knocked out of me, I threw up on the field, which could be heard in the stands, and had to go to the hospital for internal bleeding in the kidney. Part of the reason I quit the next season.
Time for a semi-tangent. What the hell is the matter with our fans? And I'm not just talking about the ones who didnt show. When MSU had the football, the stadium was silent, SILENT! It was a 3-3 for most of the 1st half, and even going into half time it only 6-3. Yes it should have been more, but the D was playing their hearts out and all we wanted to do was sit there and stay silent. We never initiated those lovely "cheer wars" that happen at neutral sites, the MSU always started off with "Go White Go Green" before we'd respond with "Georgia Bulldawgs". When the D did make a big play i could hear the groans of the state section louder than i could hear out cheering. I was sitting in the alumni section with some very knowledgeable fans who actually enjoyed my style of watching a game and finally midway through the second quarter got into with me (I was unable to cuss as much as usual due to the presence of the scariest lady in the world, my mother). I'm not asking everyone to be a psychopath during the game like me, but does it take too much effort to clap your hands or even make that 'OOOOO' noise when the D is out there? If it does, please, just sell me your tickets so I can GIVE them to real Dawgs fans who care about the game and the team.
Pesci I want you to create a blog with more humorous experiences from your football playing days.
Hehe, internal bleeding is funny.
To answer one and only one of your numerous hypotheticals, the TV commentators said that Georgia punter Brian Mimbs dropped the ball on that bizarre play because he was trying to drop the ball lower, presumably to keep it from getting caught up in the wind when he gave it the full treatment.
Obviously didn't work, and he stopped that little strategy right away.
Pesci, did you ever try such a strategy during your illustrious punter/kicker/linebacker days?
no i never used that kind of a strategy, if i needed to pooch id drop the ball with the nose hitting my foot, and for long punts id drop normal. And Lav, you forgot fullback, I was a mean lead blocker, and when we needed those tough yards you bet your ass I got em. I know I would have made your boy Chapas proud.
I know if I had an angry Pesci running towards me, dreams of illustrious hot dog stands running rampant through his mind, I'd be more than happy to let him have the yards in lieu of bites out of my arm.
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