2012 Dawg Sports Football Season Review: The Cocktail Party. (Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the defense.)
This is the eighth entry in the Dawg Sports 2012 football season review. Our crew has taken you through the Georgia Bulldogs' first 7 games, in which we compiled a 6-1 record that was only punctuated by one truly impressive win, and since it was against Vanderbilt, no one was going to give us credit for it. (And still, no one gives us credit for pummelling, 48-3, a SEC team that finished the season 9-4, ranked in the top 25, and won their bowl game against an ACC team. Hell, LSU didn't do all 3 of those things. But, as usual, I digress.)
Mostly due to the fact that we began the season so high in the polls, the Dawgs rolled into Jacksonville ranked #10, ready to face a Florida Gators team that had reeled off seven straight victories and was ranked #2 in the country.
We never need motivation in Jacksonville. It's Jacksonville. It's Georgia-Florida. It's the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, where about 200,000 Georgia and Florida fans will converge on an 85,000-seat stadium, determined to party harder than they ever will again all year. One of our other rivalries is called "Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate." Well, Georgia-Florida is Old-Fashioned, and it's chock full of hate, but this ain't clean, and it ain't good. Much like the town in which the game is contested, this game is a nasty, smelly mess, full of people on both sides of the fight desperate to destroy each other at any cost. It's an epic battle, fought (mostly) on neutral territory, that has been ongoing for the last 108 years. We even have our own dedicated Hate Week for it here at Dawg Sports.
All the same, though, our defense was prodded prior to this game with a sharp pointy stick provided by one of our own players, and a senior leader, no less: Shawn Williams. After the Kentucky game, the senior safety spoke out to the media, saying, "We've been playing too soft as a defense... That goes for the D-line, linebackers, corners, safeties, everybody." Then, he went on to criticize the lack of playing time Alec Ogletree and Amarlo Hererra had been getting. And, really, you could hardly blame him for being so frustrated. After being touted as a shut-down unit that we would be relying upon to win games, they had given up 20 or more points in 6 of our first 7 games of the year.
Even though his outburst was defensible, however, the key when a senior leader publicly calls out his teammates and coaches is how they react in response. And going into the Florida game in Jacksonville, no one knew for sure if Williams' comment had caused his teammates to be extra motivated or extra divided into camps supporting and opposing him. Oh, sure, everyone was saying the right things... but what was really happening in that locker room? And how would it translate onto the field?
Well, we know how it turned out. I probably don't even need to give you a detailed recap of the actual game, so I won't. Georgia scored first, never trailed the Sunshine State Saurians, and rode a massive wave of crushing defense to a 17-9 win. Our defense absolutely dominated the day. We made the Gators turn the ball over 6 times, which was more turnovers than they'd had in their first 7 games combined, and Kyle Weblog was suitably exuberant. No team would score more than 20 points on our defense again during the regular season. Our defense finally found their groove.
Some Orange-and-Blue partisans (and windbag ESPN personalities who share a last name with the fifth month of the year) would like you to believe that someone on the swampy side of the field gave the game away with all of those turnovers. Well, let me tell you something, you cold-blooded, scaly, reptile lovers... just watch the following 3:00+ highlight reel and tell me which of the 9 combined turnovers were not explicitly caused by the defense. (Hint: There's only one, and it was an Aaron Murray non-hurried pass to a wide open Gator defensive back.)
So, at the end of the day, a Georgia defense held a Florida offense without a touchdown for the first time since 1988, which was Vince Dooley's last year patrolling the sidelines. And the good guys left Jacksonville with a winning streak in the series for the first time since 1989. It was a good day.
The full video of the game is here, if you'd like to watch the whole thing:
I don't care who you are, and I don't care how much you hate Florida in relation to Auburn, Tech, Cocky, or even Clemson. This game felt good when it was over, and established an excellent precedent. We won a close game against the Gators for the second year in a row, when we previously always seemed to let the close ones slip between our fingers. Our head coach is now 3-3 in the last 6 games in Jacksonville, while Florida's head coach is 0-6 all-time at the Cocktail Party (0-4 as a player and 0-2 as a head coach).
There's no question of whether or not this thing is turning around for the Dawgs in Jacksonville. The coin has turned. It's now the Gators' coach who has to make bold proclamations in the offseason about winning in Jacksonville. It's now the Gators who had an SEC Eastern Division title and national championship opportunity taken from them by the banks of the St. John's River. It's now the Gators who have found ways to p*** the game away in the closing moments two years in a row.
Jacksonville may not be within the state boundaries of Georgia, but for at least the next 5 months, it's Bulldog Country. And the way things are looking, we may just want to re-think that whole "bitching about playing in Florida" thing.
Go Dawgs!2012 Dawg Sports Football Season Review: The Cocktail Party. (Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the defense.)
This is the eighth entry in the Dawg Sports 2012 football season review. Our crew has taken you through the Georgia Bulldogs' first 7 games, in which we compiled a 6-1 record that was only punctuated by one truly impressive win, and since it was against Vanderbilt, no one was going to give us credit for it. (And still, no one gives us credit for pummelling, 48-3, a SEC team that finished the season 9-4, ranked in the top 25, and won their bowl game against an ACC team. Hell, LSU didn't do all 3 of those things. But, as usual, I digress.)
Mostly due to the fact that we began the season so high in the polls, the Dawgs rolled into Jacksonville ranked #10, ready to face a Florida Gators team that had reeled off seven straight victories and was ranked #2 in the country.
We never need motivation in Jacksonville. It's Jacksonville. It's Georgia-Florida. It's the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, where about 200,000 Georgia and Florida fans will converge on an 85,000-seat stadium, determined to party harder than they ever will again all year. One of our other rivalries is called "Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate." Well, Georgia-Florida is Old-Fashioned, and it's chock full of hate, but this ain't clean, and it ain't good. Much like the town in which the game is contested, this game is a nasty, smelly mess, full of people on both sides of the fight desperate to destroy each other at any cost. It's an epic battle, fought (mostly) on neutral territory, that has been ongoing for the last 108 years. We even have our own dedicated Hate Week for it here at Dawg Sports.
All the same, though, our defense was prodded prior to this game with a sharp pointy stick provided by one of our own players, and a senior leader, no less: Shawn Williams. After the Kentucky game, the senior safety spoke out to the media, saying, "We've been playing too soft as a defense... That goes for the D-line, linebackers, corners, safeties, everybody." Then, he went on to criticize the lack of playing time Alec Ogletree and Amarlo Hererra had been getting. And, really, you could hardly blame him for being so frustrated. After being touted as a shut-down unit that we would be relying upon to win games, they had given up 20 or more points in 6 of our first 7 games of the year.
Even though his outburst was defensible, however, the key when a senior leader publicly calls out his teammates and coaches is how they react in response. And going into the Florida game in Jacksonville, no one knew for sure if Williams' comment had caused his teammates to be extra motivated or extra divided into camps supporting and opposing him. Oh, sure, everyone was saying the right things... but what was really happening in that locker room? And how would it translate onto the field?
Well, we know how it turned out. I probably don't even need to give you a detailed recap of the actual game, so I won't. Georgia scored first, never trailed the Sunshine State Saurians, and rode a massive wave of crushing defense to a 17-9 win. Our defense absolutely dominated the day. We made the Gators turn the ball over 6 times, which was more turnovers than they'd had in their first 7 games combined, and Kyle Weblog was suitably exuberant. No team would score more than 20 points on our defense again during the regular season. Our defense finally found their groove.
Some Orange-and-Blue partisans (and windbag ESPN personalities who share a last name with the fifth month of the year) would like you to believe that someone on the swampy side of the field gave the game away with all of those turnovers. Well, let me tell you something, you cold-blooded, scaly, reptile lovers... just watch the following 3:00+ highlight reel and tell me which of the 9 combined turnovers were not explicitly caused by the defense. (Hint: There's only one, and it was an Aaron Murray non-hurried pass to a wide open Gator defensive back.)
The full video of the game is here, if you'd like to watch the whole thing:
I don't care who you are, and I don't care how much you hate Florida in relation to Auburn, Tech, Cocky, or even Clemson. This game felt good when it was over, and established an excellent precedent. We won a close game against the Gators for the second year in a row, when we previously always seemed to let the close ones slip between our fingers. Our head coach is now 3-3 in the last 6 games in Jacksonville, while Florida's head coach is 0-6 all-time at the Cocktail Party (0-4 as a player and 0-2 as a head coach).
There's no question of whether or not this thing is turning around for the Dawgs in Jacksonville. The coin has turned. It's now the Gators' coach who has to make bold proclamations in the offseason about winning in Jacksonville. It's now the Gators who had an SEC Eastern Division title and national championship opportunity taken from them by the banks of the St. John's River. It's now the Gators who have found ways to p*** the game away in the closing moments two years in a row.
Jacksonville may not be within the state boundaries of Georgia, but for at least the next 5 months, it's Bulldog Country. And the way things are looking, we may just want to re-think that whole "bitching about playing in Florida" thing.
Go Dawgs!It’s slow, but it’s news
But there's still this and that to tend to. There is still tidbits of actual news and then some that is just invented for our own flights of fancy. Unless you're going to checkout available NFL odds and betting lines
Muschamp’s kids, Jordan Reed and other "Florida guys"
Of course, I'm not going to embed the video here. I mean, this is a Georgia blog. It's bad enough I'm going to give you the link here in a second. I'm worried that featuring Muschamp in a video here will allow SEC receivers to run around all over the place.
Like back in the early 1990's at Sanford Stadium.
So here you go. Use your mouse device (or index finger for you tablet/mobile phone holders) to click the link here and watch the video if you haven't already. Then be sure to come back and continue reading as I break this clip down.
For the rest of you, while you wait, here's some footage from Muschamp's sixth consecutive loss in Jacksonville.
To take the words from Will's mouth,
Georgia’s 10 most important players of 2013: A freshman’s turn
This youngster was the talk of Georgia's spring practice. Whether he can carry it into the season is vital to the Bulldogs' success.
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Reserve TE Ty Flournoy-Smith to transfer from Georgia, but could return
Flournoy-Smith, a product of Colquitt County High School, was third on the depth chart last season, and was set to be third again this season. He appeared in eight games…
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2012 Dawg Sports Football Season In Review: Kentucky
The Dawg Sports staff is looking back at the 2012 season. Today we'll look at game 7 against Kentucky. You can find the previous installments here (Buffalo), here (Mizzou), here (FAU), here (Vandy), here (Tennessee) and here (REDACTED).
I've said many times on the podcast that this 2012 UGA team reminded me so much of the 2007 UGA team which I have said is the best all-around Bulldog team I've ever personally witnessed. What was so key for that 2007 team was a late fumble against Vanderbilt that gave the Bulldogs the ball and the opportunity to kick a game-winning field goal. That fumble woke UGA up, and was the turning point of a disastrous season into a successful one.
Truthfully, Georgia should've lost that game in 2007 against Vandy, just like they should've lost against Kentucky. The main difference between that Vanderbilt game and this Kentucky game was that it wasn't until that next Monday after Kentucky that UGA had their moment to turn things around. Shawn Williams stepped out in front of the press that Monday afternoon and called UGA's defense "soft." Not only soft, but he named names. He hurt feelings. He basically said what only the fans had been grumbling about all season long.
Williams didn't say what he said because UGA had a bad practice. He said what he said because UGA could have, and probably should have, lost to Kentucky. Not a bowl-eligible Rich Brooks Kentucky team (not that it's much better), but a Joker Philips, 2-10, 0-8 in the SEC Kentucky team. This team was terrible.
There were a lot of positives in this game from an offensive standpoint. Granted, our running game was less than stellar, to say the least, garnering only 77 yards on 32 carries. However, Murray made up for the lack of production by throwing four touchdown passes for over 400 yards of offense. Tavarres King also had his best game as a Bulldog, with over 188 yards of receiving and two touchdowns. That's really where the good news stops, though.
Marshall Morgan still had problems hitting extra points. He missed a big one in the first half that put UGA behind the 8-ball before redeeming himself with a field goal to give the Bulldogs the lead 16-14 at halftime. Kentucky hit a field goal in the third quarter that gave them a 17-16 lead, but Murray hit Chris Conley for a score to put the Dawgs ahead at 22-17 (the two point conversion failed), and the Dawgs didn't relinquish the lead again.
The big problem with this game was the underwhelming feeling that played out those 60 minutes. Any Dawg fan in the stadium or watching from home (as I was) had to have been sitting there with this "I shaved my legs for this?" feeling. You never really thought that UGA would lose, but as the game went along, the possibility became more real, and you were so embarrassed that you knew that even a win would hurt you on the national stage, especially after the whipping you took at REDACTED the week before. Look, I don't care who you are, but if you give up 206 rushing yards to Kentucky in 2012, you deserve to be embarrassed. It's even worse when those yards came right up the gut.
While this game isn't the one of which we do not speak, and it certainly wasn't the offensive display that was the Tennessee game, it was instrumental to the Bulldogs' success in 2012. Sure, that turnaround didn't happen on the field, but at least Kentucky played a role in it. If you don't believe me, just ask Shawn Williams.
Until next time kids.
Be safe.
Can Morgan match Walsh’s sophomore season?
Georgia’s 10 most important players of 2013: Coming in at No. 8 …
... A player who became well acquainted with the goalposts during the 2012 season.
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More on the coaching search
Humpday Hilarity – school’s out!
Auburn Football: What Game Has the Best Chance to Be an Instant Classic in 2013?
2012 Season Review: The Game Of Which We Do Not Speak.
The Georgia Bulldogs rolled into Columbia, South Carolina on the evening of October 6, 2012 sporting a 5-0 record and ranked #5 in the nation. They rolled out after a bitter 35-7 loss to the 6th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks, a loss in which the Classic City Canines' weaknesses were laid bare. About the best that can be said of the game is that it was the low point in an otherwise excellent season, the one performance which essentially all fans and players would agree they'd like to have back. This wasn't a moral victory. It wasn't a good effort spoiled by bad breaks. It was a bad performance dropped at a bad time against the wrong opponent. The 'Dawgs laid an egg, unruly "fans" followed suit, and a bad night was had by all.
Frankly, all the signs were there. The 'Dawgs came out on fire the prior week against a struggling Tennessee squad before a series of crippling turnovers, special teams gaffes, and defensive letdowns led to an absolute dogfight to the end. It was an ugly win, the kind which you can expect even the best teams to have at least one of. But in this case it wasn't so much an outlier as a harbinger of things to come.
The Gamecock faithful were amped for this one, and to their credit, the student athletes from Columbia didn't disappoint them. The 'Cocks came out clawing, and this one was over almost before it began. The vaunted Georgia offense, led by legendary strategic genius Mike "The Chessmaster" Bobo, had averaged 48.2 points and 536 yards per game in its first 5 contests. On this night, when South Carolina fans showed up early and raucous, the offense never looked in sequence. The 'Dawgs totaled only 224 yards of offense, their lowest total since 2006. Even more demoralizing, they were held scoreless until Ken Malcome plunged over the goal line with 1:55 left in the 4th quarter.
The Gamecocks on the other hand put 21 on the board in the first 10 minutes of game time en route to the largest margin of defeat ever dolled out by the Palmetto State Poultry over the good guys. The Bulldogs came in knowing that they needed to slow down All-American tailback Marcus Lattimore. Ironically, Lattimore was among the least of Todd Grantham's worries, gaining a pedestrian 109 yards on 24 carries.
It was everybody else in garnet and black who was the problem. QB Connor Shaw hit Damiere Byrd and Bruce Ellington on early touchdown passes against a Georgia defense that, in hindsight, was ripe for the picking. With several key contributors coming back from suspension the red and black defenders looked confused, lost, and ultimately just a little defeated. In fact it wasn't until senior Shawn Williams called them out prior to the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party that things really seem to have fully turned around.
But that fine day was still weeks away as Mark Richt and crew left South Carolina's capital. At the time it seemed that their national championship hopes had been dashed. Ultimately that wasn't the case. But a small segment of the Bulldog fanbase did not know that, and reacted . . .very poorly. Oh, and it turns out that Murray's uneven performance followed his finding out that his father was about to undergo cancer treatment. It was, in a lot of ways, about as bad as things could get. Redemption was around the corner, but no one knew that at the time.
All we knew was that on this night Mark Richt's Bulldogs had managed to lose a third game in a row to the South Carolina Gamecocks for the first time in series history, and that it seemed that our shot at playing for a national title had passed once again. But it turns out that it is in fact a long season, and there were a lot of triumphs and just a little more heartbreak yet to be had. But those are other stories for other days. For now let it only be said that October 6, 2012 was perhaps the most disappointing evening in recent Dawg Sports memory.
And I shall thank you to never, ever mention it again. Until later . . .
Go 'Dawgs!!!
Ron Polk ain’t walking through that door again
Additionally, the HOPE Scholarship program allows the coach to utilize his roster more efficiently and work around the limitations of the 11.5 cap. A smart kid with talent can still get a full ride at Georgia without the coaches having to award a full point towards his glove. That's a huge advantage against Georgia's competitors.
All of them really, except for one. Danny Hall arrived at Georgia Tech just as the HOPE Scholarship was building walls around the state of Georgia keeping its top tier graduates in. Hall has flourished on North Avenue during his 20 years, mainly because he's a good coach and a great recruiter. Perno was doing a good job of keeping up and even pulling ahead before things turned in a different direction. He was an aggressive recruiter. When it was working, the results easily followed. When it wasn't, the wheels came off.
All of that to say that despite the absolute nightmare that was this past season, this baseball team can be a quick fix. A large part of the squad that absolutely embarrassed their in state rival is back. They're also the team that didn't back down from Vanderbilt last month, a team that had one of the best seasons ever in SEC baseball. Georgia will get Nagle (P), Stephens (C) and Welton (OF) back next season after losing them to injuries for the duration of 2013's schedule. Key components are in place to turn things around quickly. What's not in place is a coach.
Enter Greg McGarity. The still fairly new athletic director at Georgia who has not had to make a big hire as yet. He's replaced a coach in three women's sports thus far: volleyball, golf and gymnastics. Unlike those coaching searches, this one will define him in the eyes of many alumni and fans. As Tyler points out, this is the guy that will likely lead the search to find Mark Richt's eventual successor. There's also a decent chance he'll be looking for a new hoops coach as well. We're going to learn something about how he conducts these searches and how well he sells the University of Georgia.
Will he enter those future searches on the firm ground of having jump started his baseball program back on the road to success? Despite the last few years and despite the need for better facilities for the program, the head coaching job for Georgia baseball is still one of the elite spots in the nation. Will McGarity treat it as such?
The Devil is in the graphics
h/t AHDGeorgia’s 10 most important players of 2013: No. 9 is …
This player may be the best playmaker on Georgia's offense. He also plays the team's deepest position.
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Georgia’s 10 most important players of 2013: No. 9 is …
This player may be the best playmaker on Georgia's offense. He also plays the team's deepest position.
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Dawgs on Top, Dawg Down Under
Even when they don't have the best of internetting connections.
-P.S. Trying to upload photos on Australian wi-fi is comparable the age of AOL Dial-Up, I'll do my best to upload some on facebook and twitter asap.
Pride & prejudice: SEC football rules the south– and everywhere else
Perno out as Georgia’s baseball coach
Georgia baseball head coach David Perno resigned Monday following a disappointing season in which the Bulldogs failed to reach the SEC tournament.
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Georgia Football: 5 Most Unheralded Players on the Roster
College Football Programs Who's Rivals Are Dominating 2014 Recruiting Trail
#FREEKOLTONHOUSTON petition is nearing 5000!
If you already added your name, it wouldn't hurt to share the direct link or this post via the twitters or the bookfacers once again. We all have friends that are lazy, don't we?
And if you haven't signed it yet, how's it feel having Mark Emmert's arm as a spine?
CLICK HERE TO SIGN
#FREEKOLTONHOUSTON
Georgia Fires Baseball Coach Dave Perno
Dave Perno is out at UGA. (Curtis Compton-AJC)
Dave Perno has been fired as head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs baseball team, multiple sources have reported. An official announcement from UGA is expected sometime today.
Georgia finished the 2013 season 21-32 overall and 7-20 in the SEC. They finished last in the SEC East and had the worst conference record overall. Moreover, they didn’t even qualify for the SEC Baseball Tournament.
Last season, the Diamond Dawgs finished with a winning record overall (31-26), but were 14-15 in the conference and didn’t make the NCAA regionals.
UGA Director of Athletics Greg McGarity delivered the news to Perno at a meeting Sunday evening.
“His mind was made up,” said Perno. “Unfortunately, I left an opening. I gave him an excuse. I thought we had a chance to make a move, but it just didn’t work out. I felt like we were on the cusp. But I know next year’s going to be special and those guys are going to do a good job and I’m going to look forward to watching them.”
In his 11 seasons at Georgia, Perno had an overall record of 399-334 and 160-189-1 in SEC play. He led the Dawgs to five NCAA Tournaments and three College World Series (2004, 2006, 2008).
In 2008, Georgia finished as the runner-up to champion Fresno State. Dave Perno was named the SEC Coach of the Year that season.
As far as potential replacements for Perno, it’s a little early for any front-runners to be named. For now, you can peruse UGASports.com’s coaching Hot Board, which lists some candidates.
Update (3 p.m. ET)
UGA has officially announced that Perno has “resigned” his position.
“I have accepted David’s resignation and would like to express our appreciation to him for his numerous contributions to our baseball program over the last two decades as a player, assistant and head coach,” said UGA Director of Athletics Greg McGarity. “David was a part of our baseball program when it won a national title and helped Georgia advance to the College World Series five times during his playing and coaching career. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors. He has been a great representative for UGA. We have begun the process of finding the next head coach to lead our program and will do so as quickly as possible.”
“It’s been a privilege to wear the Bulldog uniform and represent the University of Georgia as a player, assistant and head coach,” said Perno. “I love the University and, I’m very appreciative of the many players, coaches, and support staff with whom I’ve had the opportunity to work with in Athens. I would like to thank Coach Vince Dooley for providing me with the opportunity of a lifetime because it was a dream come true to lead the Georgia program. I’d like to thank Dr. Michael Adams for his support during his tenure. And I’d like to tell all my former and current players that I love them and appreciate all that they have done for this program. Finally, I want to thank the wonderful fans who shared in our success at Foley Field.”
category: 2013, Baseball, bulldogs, Coaching Changes, Dave Perno, dawgs, fired, georgia, head coach, UGA
2012 Dawg Sports Football Season In Review: Tennessee
The Dawg Sports staff is looking back at the 2012 season. Today we'll look at game 5 against Tennessee. You can find the previous installments here (Buffalo), here (Mizzou), here (FAU), and here (Vandy).
When Tennessee kicked off to Malcolm Mitchell at 3:30 on a sunny Saturday afternoon between the Hedges, I'm not sure anyone would have predicted what followed. Over the next three hours, the Dawgs and the Vols would roll up 1,038 total offensive yards and forty-six first downs while trading seven turnovers. Both teams would miss PATs, and Tennessee would block another. And when the dust settled, the Dawgs would wind up on the right side of a 51-44 shoot-out despite failing to score in the fourth period.
The 2012 Tennessee game really had it all, and I don't just mean in terms of drama and offensive fireworks. In hindsight, during this one game we saw everything that made the 2012 Bulldogs so great and so frustrating. On offense, Gurshall continued to run all over the competition, combining for 294 yards and 5 TDs on just 34 touches. Aaron Murray overcame an early, freakish pick-6 (and an ugly fumble) to finish 19-of-25 for 278 and 2 TDs of his own. Coach Bobo drew up the game plan that yielded those garish stats, but he also made Aaron Murray run an ugly option play (what???) and completely abandoned the pistol formation that shredded the Commies the week before (why???).
On defense, we held Tyler Bray below his season average in terms of both yards per game and yards per attempt. We also picked him off thrice. In what would become a troubling theme for the year, however, we gave up 197 yards on the ground... to a team that averaged just 160 rushing yards per game and finished in the bottom half of the FBS. But we never stopped clawing or fighting, and Sanders Commings came through in the clutch to seal our victory with a pick in the final minute.
On special teams, well, the less we talk about that the better.
After the game, chuckdawg had this to say:
UGA won ugly. The Bulldogs had a lot of horrible stuff, but hey, UGA had a lot of good stuff as well. And this is the first game I remember, thinking on SECCGs, Bowl Games, and big games that a Mark Richt team was on the verge of folding up, and fought back to tie in the first half with a FG, and kept in the game and won in the second half. We would have lost today almost any other time. It's ok to win ugly, as long as you win.That really says it all. The 2012 Bulldogs were many things: They were fun to watch at times and absolutely depressing to watch at others. They could look like world-beaters one minute but then be dominated by inferior competition next. But no matter what, they never stopped fighting. They may not have won any championships, but, damn, they were fun to watch.
As a final note, this was Michael Bennett's last game before he tore his ACL. He caught 5 passes for 70 yards and 2 TDs. If you weren't already excited about our offense's potential for next season, just remember that we played our last 9 games without one of our best weapons.
Go Dawgs!
SEC baseball tournament
The schedule for this week's SEC baseball tournament…
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Who will replace Coach Perno?
Aaron Fitt at Baseball America has a pretty comprehensive list of coaches that may or may not be on McGarity's radar. The real question on Georgia baseball fans' minds is how aggressive we'll be in pursuing a proven coach. And that's why I like Fitt's list. He has a number of hot head coaches' names as well as some assistants that may be ready for a big step up.
The Card's Dan McDonnell is 258-128 in Louisville.If Georgia wants to make a major financial commitment, it might start by approaching some of college baseball’s most successful established head coaches, like Louisville’s Dan McDonnell, Virginia’s Brian O’Connor, TCU’s Jim Schlossnagle or Kent State’s Scott Stricklin. None of those coaches would be an easy hire, but Georgia has the resources to shoot for the moon. Mid-major head coaches like South Alabama’s Mark Calvi, UCF’s Terry Rooney, Samford’s Casey Dunn, Mercer’s Craig Gibson, Illinois State’s Mark Kingston or College of Charleston’s Monte Lee could also make intriguing targets.Or the Bulldogs could try to land the next O’Connor, Tim Corbin or Kevin O’Sullivan—all of whom were can’t-miss prospects as assistant coaches who have been hugely successful in their first head coaching stints at major-conference schools. If Georgia decides to take that route, it figures to look at North Carolina’s Scott Forbes, Virginia’s Kevin McMullan, Arkansas’ Todd Butler, Mississippi State’s Butch Thompson or Mississippi’s Cliff Godwin.Inserting the obvious pun here, I'd love to see our AD swing for the fences. As Fitt mentions, there's no shame in getting a top assistant that has proven his value to college baseball both on the playing field and in the recruiting fields. Fitt mentions Brian O'Connor for a reason. He spent years as an assistant proving his worth before getting the job in Charlottesville. And that move has paid off in spades for the Cavaliers. O'Connor has been named ACC coach of the year three times and national coach of the year twice.For me, it's just easier for McGarity to go after a proven head guy. All he has to do is open the check book. Georgia is fertile ground in recruiting with excellent talent coming from both the Atlanta area and south Georgia. Plus, the head coach at Georgia enjoys the added bonus of being able to utilize the HOPE Scholarship to manage the roster. That's like printing money in terms of being able to fill out a roster with talent without strapping your program's scholarship counts.
Will McGarity make the big move and try to lure one of these proven coaches to Athens? Or will he settle in on a safe name and save some money? Either way, we're about to learn something about our baseball program and our athletic director.
Georgia’s 10 most important players of 2013: Let’s kick this off
ATHENS - As Georgia entered last season, one of the ways we found to preview things, and yes kill some time during a dead time, was to rank the team's…
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UGA parts ways with Perno
David Perno, who guided Georgia to three appearances in the College World Series, finishes with a record of 390-335 at Georgia.
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