Sports

ATHENS — Georgia has released their depth chart for the game against South Carolina.

There are no major changes following the Boise State game, although there are a couple of notes.

ILB Alec Ogletree will be out 4-6 weeks, and his replacement will be senior Jeremy Sulek or freshman Amarlo Herrera. Safety Bacarri Rambo is back on the depth chart after serving a one-game suspension for a violation of team rules. The depth chart lists Rambo or Sanders Commings as the starting safety.

Mark Richt has a problem with keeping assistant coaches around for a couple years too long. The 11th-year head coach did it with Willie Martinez a couple years ago, and now he’s doing the same with Mike Bobo.

Granted, I know I’m only a college student and my only football experience is limited to playing high school football and watching games on television. However, some of the stuff Bobo does, just doesn’t make any football sense at all.

The problem withe Bobo doesn’t deal with him as a quarterback coach, he has coached some great ones — David Greene and Matthew Stafford. The problem with Bobo isn’t his coaching ability, but rather his inabilty to call plays.

Obviously, you can call the right plays at the right times, but if one offensive linemen misses a block or if a receiver falls down, the play could turn into a disaster.

However, there are a couple of things from the Boise State game that just didn’t make any sense to me at all.

Brandon Boykin: 1st Carry: 80 yards, 2nd carry: ???

In the first quarter cornerback Brandon Boykin touched the ball for the first time in his career on offense on an end around that resulted in an 80 yard touchdown.

So, did Boykin touch the ball on offense again?

Read more at SportswithMike.com

The goal for this 2011 Georgia Bulldog football team is to win the SEC East Division and have a chance to play for the SEC Championship in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 3

Even with the loss to Boise State, the dream of accomplishing that goal remains intact. However, the poor performance by the Bulldogs shows that there is a lot of work that needs to be done before the 4:30 kickoff next Saturday against South Carolina.

Before the game, the players were pumped up, the fans were fired up, but when it the whistle blew to start the game, Georgia talked the talk, but clearly didn’t walk the walk.

The Bulldogs lost to a very, very good Boise State team that will go 12-0 and be in contention for a BCS Championship this year. Chris Peterson is one of the best coaches in the nation, and his Broncos team just came and executed a nearly perfect game.

Last season the problem with Georgia was they didn’t finish games. In the Boise State game, they never really got started, so they didn’t have the opportunity to finish.

What went wrong?

There are too many things that went wrong in this game, but I will focus on just a couple of key things that affected the outcome of the game.

The Georgia offense scored three touchdowns on plays of 80, 36 and 51 yards. The furthest the offense ever took a snap on the Boise State side of the field was the 26 yard line.

The Boise State offense scored one touchdown in their first six possessions, but then went on to score four touchdowns in their next five.

The Georgia defensive line was unable to put pressure on Moore, which allowed him to play an almost perfect game. The senior quarterback threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns on 28-for-34 passing.

On the offensive side of the ball, Murray did not play that well especially on deep throws down the sideline. Orson Charles caught six of Murray’s 16 completions, and Tavarres King dropped a couple of balls that he should have caught.

Isaiah Crowell did well with what he got, but Richard Samuel never got going. The 6-foot-2, 243 pound junior ran seven times for 12 yards with a long of five yards.

Don’t even get me started on the playcalling of Mike Bobo. Why he thinks it’s a good idea to run a screen or draw on third and long continues to make me question why Richt allows him to call plays.

Moving On

There is no doubt that the loss hurts, but as painful as this loss was, it will all be erased if the Bulldogs top the Gamecocks next weekend.

The Sept. 10 game has always been, and will continue to be the biggest game of the Georgia schedule this year. Even if the Bulldogs topped the Broncos, it would have all gone for nothing if they lost to South Carolina.

The loser of the South Carolina-Georgia game has never played in the SEC Championship game. And that trend will continue into the 2011 season.

South Carolina, Georgia and Florida have about the same level of talent on the field, but the Gators’ October schedule will play them out of the SEC East.

Florida will play Alabama, at LSU, at Auburn to start the October schedule before playing in Jacksonville against Georgia following a bye week.

LSU and Alabama are the two best teams in the SEC, and Georgia and South Carolina do not face them in the regular season.

With all that being said, CAN Georgia beat South Carolina?

Absolutely.

I know you might have doubts, I do as well.

South Carolina is a very good team, and they have the best running back-wide receiver duo in the nation in Marcus Lattimore and Alshon Jeffery. The question mark on the offensive side of the ball is Stephen Garcia, or whoever Steve Spurrier names the starting quarterback.

Like I said before, Georgia has a lot of work to do before the Bulldogs tee it up between the hedges.

The offensive line has to play better. The running game played well last week, but in third down situations, the offensive line did not give Murray the time he needed. Georgia was 2-for-13 on third down conversions and 1-for-4 on fourth down conversions.

South Carolina has one of the best defensive lines in the Southeastern Conference, so the Bulldogs’ offensive line will have their hands full next week.

One bright spot of the game, freshman wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell made a couple of great plays that showcased the athleticism the coaches and players have raved about throughout fall camp.

Tavarres King is going to have to step up. The junior wide receiver that was supposed to help fill the void of A.J. Green’s departure, but only caught one ball and dropped a couple of balls that were thrown right to him.

On the defensive side of the ball, the line will have to get pressure on Stephen Garcia if they want to win. Also, they will have to wrap up Marcus Lattimore.

In the game against Boise State, Georgia had a difficult time bringing down running backs Doug Martin and D.J. Harper. Another key is going to be wrapping up Lattimore. Because if they aren’t able to, Lattimore might have another outstanding performance like his game last year against the Bulldogs.

Mike Bobo needs to call a better game to allow Murray to develop a rhythm with the offense which lacked in the game against Boise State.

On the defensive side of the ball, Grantham will need the defense to play better and put pressure on Garcia.

Georgia can certainly win this game, but they can’t afford another poor performance .

The No. 19-ranked Georgia Bulldogs will face the No. 5-ranked Boise State Broncos in the Chick-fil-a Kickoff Classic at the Georgia Dome tonight.

WUOG Sports is live in the Georgia Dome and you can follow Mac Little and Mike Reiter on Twitter for live updates of tonight’s game.You can watch the game on ESPN and follow along on WUOG.org/sports for live analysis.

1st Quarter Analysis: Georgia 7, Boise State 7

It’s about 90 percent Georgia fans in the Georgia Dome, the Boise State faithful occupy a corner of the stadium in the lower two levels. The rest of the Stadium is decked out in the Red of the Bulldogs.

Georgia came out a little slow on offense, as did the Boise State Broncos. Both offenses went three-and-out during their first two possessions.

A 80-yard end around run by Brandon Boykin put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard during the second play of the Bulldogs’ third drive. FB Bruce Figgins made a great block a couple yards past the line of scrimmage that allowed that play to develop.

Isaiah Crowell carried the ball six times for 15 yards during his first quarter in the Georgia Bulldog uniform. Richard Samuel carried the ball first, and gained three yards on three carries.

A couple nice defensive plays of not. Jordan Love leveled a big hit on a Boise State wide receiver that resulted in an incomplete pass. Also, Derek Owens made a great open field tackle on a punt by Drew Butler.

Boise State was able to take advantage of some holes in the middle of the Bulldogs’ secondary, which resulted in them driving down the field, and scoring their first points of the game on a 13-yard touchdown pass by Kellen Moore to Matt Miller.

Stats of note:
Murray: 3-6, 15 yards
Crowell: 6 att, 15 yards
Samuel: 3 att, 3 yards
Marlon Brown: 2 rec, 12 yards
Tavarres King: 1 rec, 3 yards

Halftime: Georgia 7, Boise State 14
2nd Quarter Analysis

After the first quarter which lasted nearly an hour, the second quarter was a little bit faster and it’s finally halftime. When the Falcons play at this time Sept. 18 against the Eagles, the game will be well into the third quarter.

But back to thoughts about the actual game:

–QUESTIONABLE MARK RICHT PLAY CALL: Richt elected to go for it on 4th and 1 from the 26 WITH BLAIR WALSH at place kicker in a DOME.

–Boise State RB Doug Martin is a big, physical back and Georgia players are having a hard time getting him down to the ground.

–INJURIES, INJURIES: LG Kenarius Gates was carted off to the locker room with an apparent leg injury. OG Dallas Lee took over for him. LB Alec Ogletree is out for the rest of the game with a right foot injury. LB Christian Robinson went down near the end of the second half, no word yet of his status. It better not be serious with the injury to Ogletree.

–Kellen Moore and Aaron Murray threw back to back interceptions. Moore’s came when they were driving into Georgia territory. The one by Murray was on a 3rd and 3 from the 25 yard line, that was intended for freshman Malcolm Mitchell, but the ball sailed a little bit. However, it had similar results to an average punt and decent return.

–Murray has missed on a couple deep balls. He’s had plenty of time, although he has had to scramble a few times. If Murray can connect on those in the second half, the Bulldogs should win this game.

–The Bulldogs aren’t getting much pressure on Moore, and when they do bring pressure, the senior quarterback is finding seems in the middle of the Georgia secondary.

–Georgia has 147 yards of offense. Which doesn’t seem too bad, until you realize 80 of them were on an end-around by Brandon Boykin.

3rd Quarter Analysis: Georgia 14, Boise State 28

–OG Kenarious Gates will not return for Georgia. Dallas Lee will play at left guard.

–In the first possession of the second half, Boise State marches right down the field and makes it a 21-7 game. The no-huddle offense was very effective for the Broncos, and on one play in particular, LB Jarvis Jones wasn’t even close to being set. Georgia was forced to call a timeout, but the Broncos were still able to put seven more points on the board.

–Brandon Boykin, Coach Peterson called your bluff. Although he made a great play on an end around that resulted in Georgia’s first touchdown, he hasn’t made any plays on kickoff — yet.

–Good coaching beats good talent, every single time, and tonight is no exception.

–The game changed on two plays when 1) Georgia punted the ball on their own 41 on 4th-and-7, but Boise State was called for offsides, and then 2) Georgia converted a 4th-and-2 with a 36 yard touchdown pass from Aaron Murray to Orson Charles.

–

It’s finally here. This is the game that has been anticipated from the time it was announced last year. But after Georgia’s dismal 6-7 record last year, fans and players are even more pumped up for this game.

The last and only time the two played they kicked off the 2005 season in Athens and the Bulldogs beat the Broncos 48-13. But since then, the Broncos have risen to national prominence, while the Bulldogs have faded away.

However, all of that will change during a three and a half hour period tomorrow when the two team meet in the Georgia Dome.

It says neutral site game on the program, but this isn’t a neutral site game by any stretch of the imagination. The Dome will be bleeding red and black like it does when the Falcons play there on Sunday’s.

The Super Bowl was held in Atlanta back in 2000 when the Rams defeated the Titans is a great Super Bowl. I am not going to say that the atmosphere will be the same, but it might be very close to that. The largest crowd for a game in the Georgia Dome was for the 2008 SEC Championship when 75,892 people came and watched the Florida Gators defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Of the 75,000 or so that will be in attendance, all but about 7,500 will be screaming “Go Dawgs” and dressed up in the classic red and black. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank might get his dream of having an open-air stadium, because the Georgia fans might blow the roof off of the Dome.

Read more about the actual game at SportswithMike

It’s finally college football season and it’s time to pick the upcoming SEC games of the opening weekend.

Every Wednesday during the college football season, Josh Kirschner, Grace Olson and myself will pick every game on the SEC schedule. Following the picks, all three of us take an in-depth look at the Games of the Week, which feature the LSU-Oregon and Georgia-Boise State matchups this week.

Here are the week 1 picks:

Read here for an in-depth look at the LSU-Oregon and Georgia-Boise State games

ATHENS — Georgia will open the 2011 season this Saturday against the Boise State Broncos in the Chick-fil-a Kickoff Game in the Georgia Dome. Below is the depth chart for the Bulldogs.

In a time where college football is more popular and profitable than ever before and most Universities are facing budget shortfalls; school presidents, athletic directors, conference commissioners and the NCAA are missing out on a huge source of revenue and excitement.

It is a college football playoff. An eight-team, three week adventure that would capture the attention of tens of millions of college football fans and bring in millions of more dollars to college football programs.

Today begins a series, where the idea of a college football playoff will be discussed in great detail, and once finished, the myths used to defend the reasons why there isn’t one won’t make any sense and the need for a college football playoff will be more clear than ever before.

In the first couple parts of this series, the common myths of why there can’t and shouldn’t be a college football playoff will be debunked, brutalized and mocked.

The myths include:

1) There can’t be a playoff because it would take place during final exams
2) It would take away from the most exciting regular season in all of sports
3) Fan’s wouldn’t travel to the playoff games
4) It won’t create more revenue than the current bowl system
5) There would be too many games for the players

Following the myths of why there shouldn’t be a college football playoff, the idea of what playoff system should be used will also be discussed in great detail.

Myth #2: A college football playoff would take away from the most exciting regular seasons in all of sports

Another common myth used to explain the reason why there is not a college football playoff is the notion that it would take away from the most exciting regular seasons there is in sports today.

READ MORE on SportswithMike.com

ATHENS — The Georgia football team took the practice field Monday afternoon, here is a photo gallery of the Bulldogs in action

In a time where college football is more popular and profitable than ever before and most Universities are facing budget shortfalls; school presidents, athletic directors, conference commissioners and the NCAA are missing out on a huge source of revenue and excitement.

It is a college football playoff. An eight-team, three week adventure that would capture the attention of tens of millions of college football fans and bring in millions of more dollars to college football programs.

Today begins a series, where the idea of a college football playoff will be discussed in great detail, and once finished, the myths used to defend the reasons why there isn’t one won’t make any sense and the need for a college football playoff will be more clear than ever before.

In the first couple parts of this series, the common myths of why there can’t and shouldn’t be a college football playoff will be debunked, brutalized and mocked.

The myths include:

1) There can’t be a playoff because it would take place during final exams
2) It would take away from the most exciting regular season in all of sports
3) There would be too many games for the players
4) It won’t create more revenue than the current bowl system
5) Fan’s wouldn’t travel to the playoff games.

Following the myths of why there shouldn’t be a college football playoff, the idea of what playoff system should be used will also be discussed in great detail.

Quick reference notes:
FBS is short for Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), and it is the major college football division.
FCS is short for Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA), and it is the secondary college football division
Divisison II and III are the the next level of football divisions run by the NCAA.

Myth #1: Major college football can’t have a playoff because it would take place during final exams

The FBS season starts around the first weekend of September and ends the first weekend of December. After a couple of off weeks, the bowls start around Dec. 17-20.

Under the current schedule, it would appear that there are no college football games between the first weekend of December and mid-December — but that isn’t the case at all.

Other than the FBS, the NCAA also runs Division I-AA (FCS), Division II and Division III levels of football competition.

And guess what, all three of those divisions have a playoff to decide the champion. FCS uses a 20-team playoff (4 play-in games), Division II uses a 24-team playoff (8 play-in games), and Division III uses a 32-team playoff.

So there’s reason number one for a college football playoff: Every other football division has one, along with every other sport and level of competition that the NCAA runs.

But for some reason, Division I football does not have a playoff. Before I get started, here is a link to the playoff brackets from 2010: FCS (Division I-AA), Division II, Division III

The in-depth focus will be on the FCS, because that level of competition is the most similar to FBS football.

The final four rounds of the FCS tournament from 2010 (NCAA.com)

The FCS playoff format is a 20-team tournament with four play-in games. Every team plays 10 regular season games, with a maximum of 15 games (Note: This would assume that one of the four play-in game winers would reach the championship, other than that, the max for any team would be 14 games).

There are five rounds of the tournament including the championship game and the first four rounds are played at the home site of the higher seeded team.

So, when are these five rounds played. The first and second round take place during the last two weeks of the FBS season, so no difference there. The third and fourth rounds take place during the next two weeks in December. In 2010, those weeks included the Saturday’s of Dec. 11 and Dec. 18.

Eastern Washington, the team that eventually won the FCS Championship, held Final Exams from Dec. 6 to Dec. 9 according to their academic website.

Eastern Washington's Academic Schedule 2010 (EWU.edu)

In the case of Eastern Washington, final exams were taken by the players the week before Eastern Washington defeated Southeast Missouri State on Dec. 4, and after they defeated North Dakota State on Dec. 11.

Now, although the final exam schedule is different for everyone, most final exams at Universities around the country take place during the first couple weeks of December.

Also, EWU began Winter 2011 classes on Jan. 3, the Monday before they played Delaware in the FCS Championship on Jan. 7.

Cliff notes: The FCS, along with Division II and III, hold playoffs during the weeks of final exams

Okay, whatever, what does that mean?

Basically, the NCAA allows the FCS to play in playoff games during the final exam period, but it is not okay for major college football to hold a playoff during those same weeks.

Makes a lot of sense right?

The NCAA refers to college football players as “student-athletes” and their commercials always say, “most of our student-athletes will go pro in something other than sports”.

First, if that was the case, then why would the FCS schedule a playoff during final exams?

Side note: Wouldn’t it be reasonable to say that the education would matter more to an FCS player than an FBS player because the chances of an FCS player actually going pro in football are less than that of an FBS player.

Also, why is the idea that the FBS can’t hold a playoff because it would take place during final exams a reason for them to not to have a playoff when the FCS, Division II and Division III all hold playoff games during those weeks.

Can someone please tell me the answer?

Face it, there is no answer to that question.

So far, the only statements from school presidents, athletic directors and the NCAA have been that the FBS can’t have a playoff because of final exams, but that is where those comments stop. There is no follow up to that statement, no facts to back it up.

It is an absolute myth that major college football can’t hold a playoff because the games would take place during final exams. My reason, as stated before: The other divisions that have a college football playoff, have games during those weeks.

Another reason to debunk this myth, well, here it is

The final point, and this makes the whole argument above completely pointless, is that there can be a college football playoff WITHOUT games being played during final exams.

For the 2011 season, the bowl season starts Dec. 17 with the New Mexico Bowl, Humanitarian Bowl and New Orleans Bowl, and runs through Jan. 9 with the BCS National Championship Game.

That is 24 days, or a three and a half week period where bowl games are being played.

Guess what, it only takes 15 days to complete an eight-team college football playoff. (Note: Although a playoff take be three weekends, the first round would be played on day one, the second round could be played on day eight, and the championship round could be held on day 15)

Yet another reason and example that completely debunks this myth of not having a college football playoff.

In conclusion, I will give the NCAA and school presidents credit on one thing, they know how to create good P.R., because with the whole “you can’t play FBS playoff games during final exams” excuse, they make it appear like they care about the academic standing of their athletes.

However, the bottom line is that this reason is a complete lie, and although it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out, apparently the NCAA hasn’t.