It’s been a solid month since the last Director’s Cut, mainly because I’ve been traveling almost every week but partly because once you’ve been run over by the Cam Newton train, it’s hard to get back up. But the latest twist in his saga has inspired a return given the bizarre nature of everything that’s going on. The Cam Newton situation is a mess. A complete and utter disaster. (more…)
Like the retirements of Michael Jordan and Floyd Mayweather Jr mine won’t last very long…OK it’s a lot more like James Harrison’s. But I’ll be taking the next week off to pursue my dreams of living on an all-liquid diet for the Kentucky game and in preparations for the Florida game. The chances of columns and podcasts are extremely low but the tweets are definitely still in play. Here’s the gameplan. (more…)
Well, that was fun! Georgia finally proves me wrong in a good way, displaying a semblance of offensive prowess and a defense that looked like they knew how to tackle. It’s really amazing what blocking and tackling can do in practice for a team accused of being timid by it’s head coach. But just as Georgia seems to take a step forward and get in the win column, Caleb King shoots them in the foot and gets arrested, bringing Georgia’s tally to eleven (thus far) and the frustration level of Coach Richt to an all-time high. Never before have I seen Richt end a press conference early following a series of one or two word answers about discipline problems. But somehow, I think these two issues are related. Arrests haven’t been a part of Richt’s entire tenure. They’ve been a recent development taking place over the last few years. We didn’t hear about that during the Pollack and Greene era and for whatever reason it became more of a story/issue during the Stafford/Moreno era. Which is the exact same time Georgia stopped hitting as much in practice. (more…)
Sitting at 1-4, with bad losses to Mississippi State and Colorado, it’s easy to provide reasons for why Coach Richt should be fired. The new defense that Richt chose to go with hasn’t been any improvement over last years, the offense has been unimaginative (aside from one small play by AJ Green) and even last years strength, special teams, appears to have taken a step back.
A lot of times, with coaches as successful as Coach Richt, people will stick to what’s taken them to the top. Richt has won two SEC titles, 3 SEC East titles and owns a 7-2 bowl record: why change now? But Richt isn’t taking his job forgranted and isn’t taking his criticism lightly. I mentioned the defense before, and while it hasn’t had the desired affect Bulldog nation has hoped, switching schemes takes at least a year to get going. Nick Saban seems to be the poster child for doing everything right in the coaching world but people seem to forget that installing the same scheme Richt is attempting to pull off led him to a 7-5 season in year one. How can we honestly expect more from Richt when defense is top priority in the SEC? Richt has also switched up his recruiting tactics. Initiating a “Dream Team” strategy, Richt is going back to locking down the state of Georgia and focusing on keeping the talent in state, rather than watch Saban and Urban Meyer pick pocket the region. Finally, Richt let on that this weeks practice indicated a(nother) change in philosophy. Richt has put his players in pads and hitting each other three times this week. Not only has Richt never had pads on a Monday, he’s never had players hitting each other 3 times in a week. In his press conference on Tuesday, Richt talked about this change, saying the team needed to get better at blocking and tackling and the best way to do that was blocking and tackling. Richt got away from this train of thought when he began the season in 2007 with around 30 injured players. But no more will Richt’s boys be pushovers. Better to be hard and hurt and soft and healthy (See our offensive line).
So yes, there is some merit to hiring a new coach. But I would rather have a coach who’s won in the SEC, humble enough to admit when he’s wrong and make changes for himself. In speaking with current and former players, I know they all have his back. So maybe it’s time we do also.
After a horrendous week last week, my record is down to 10-9-1, though still above .500 unlike the Dawgs. This weeks lines are much more favorable and I’m feeling confident about rebounding (red flag!). (more…)
Now that I’ve gotten a taste for all the SEC teams, it’s time for a Power Ranking special. (more…)
Last weekend I ventured up to Auburn to visit my BFF. A lot of people leave Athens on away games and in my terrified state I really didn’t want to be watching the Georgia game with a couple of my fellow alcoholics. Plus, I needed to see what the Auburn atmosphere was like to see if they are the best team in the West. I like to think that teams who are really good inspire that confidence in their fan base, an arrogance if you will. I know Alabama had it last year. I know they still have it this year. Of course, I’m all too familiar with that feeling. Georgia had it in 2008 and gave it to Alabama in the blackout game. In talking with people from Auburn they don’t have it yet. But perhaps it’s the kind of thing that has to be passed along. You can’t just assume an arrogance, it’s how you get beat down. Luckily for them, they have two great factors going for them. (more…)
Got a quick version of the Cut this week for undisclosed reasons. Lets just say it was the birthday of Guinness last night. 2-2-1 last week bringing the total up to 6-4-1. Decent. Lets get after it. (more…)
Just got out of my TWO exams today which severely limited my ability to research this weeks lines (Note: it had no impact at all on my ability to research this weeks lines). But now, with a little help from Lupe Fiasco, I’m getting in the zone for the weekend and more importantly, getting serious about how I’m going to pay for a trip to Tallahassee in a few weeks. Last week was a good starting point, 4-2 ATS. I missed Vandy +10 against LSU which was silly on my part. I wrote the paragraph giving LSU the win then decided to grow a pair and totally blew it. I’d make the Miss St. bet 10 times out of 10. That’s why it’s gambling. This week, we’ve got another decent slate of games, so lets get to it. (more…)
Picks! Picks! Step right up and get your picks! Phew, it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to gamble…er write about gambling. For those returning starters who haven’t been suspended, you know the drill. For the replacement parts, dubbed Butch Davis’ squad, it’s fairly simple. Each week I go up and down the SEC picking each game against the spread, unless a team is playing a high school team (which is why there wasn’t a column last week — virtually every spread was 20 points plus). I usually toss in gambling tips here and there with rumblings that I hear from Vegas, friends and writers from around the SEC — and my own bias. Often times I’ll cheat and go with an over/under play to recoup my losses. Last years total ATS was…well I don’t remember. But I know I went 30-22 before the last week and that’s as far as the crack research team went back. (more…)
Normally, the selection of Tiger Woods to the US Ryder Cup team would go relatively unnoticed: the world number one would have previously been a given. In fact, he typically wouldn’t even be “selected”, as in years past he would have automatically qualified. But this year, as we all know, has been a very different year for Woods. (more…)
