College Football Wrap-Up: Week 13

Georgia easily defeated Kentucky on Saturday night by a final score of 59-17, but it was tough to witness Aaron Murray's college career cut short when he suffered a torn ACL in the 2nd quarter. After completing 18 of 23 passes for 183 yards and 4 TDs, Murray had to be helped off the field shortly before halftime. Murray has meant so much to this program the last 4 years and his legacy in the DawgNation is secure.  If you missed the Open Letter to Aaron Murray last week then I promise you it is well worth your time.

Photo Credit: Jason Vorhees/The Macon Telegraph

College Football Wrap-Up: Week 12

Heartbroken
Nearly 24 hours later and I'm still in shock!  I've never seen any play like Auburn's Hail Mary to win the game.  It was another classic game in the Deep South's oldest rivalry. Unfortunately for the Dawgs, they ended up on the losing side. I don't have a lot to offer in regards to the game, but here are my thoughts:

• Auburn won the 1st half and the Georgia won the 2nd half. The difference in the game: stupid luck
• For those fans in the DawgNation that complain about Mike Bobo, chew on this for a moment: Georgia has faced 5 teams in the current Top 18 of this week's Associated Press poll (Clemson, South Carolina, LSU, Missouri, and Auburn). In those 5 games the offense has averaged 512 yards of offense and 36.8 points per game. That's remarkable, especially when you consider all the injuries on offense this season.
• On the Hail Mary itself, I've heard a lot of criticism from fans and even former players that say the Georgia defensive backs should have just knocked the ball away.  I understand the argument but I'm not going to criticize the players.  In my opinion, Matthews was going for the ball (not knowing if the WR would be battling for it) and JHC came in to knock it away when they collided with one another.
• Now I do believe Georgia's defensive coordinator, Todd Grantham, deserves to be blamed.  Yes, the defense did play much better in the 4th quarter, but how do you expect to give up 566 yards of offense and win the game? You cannot rely on your offense to score 40+ points in these big ballgames every single time. There is simply too much talent on this defense to play so poorly on a consistent basis.
• You can't blame this loss on poor officiating, but when you know the name of the referee prior to the game, and you're already dreading the fact that he's officiating your game, it's not a good sign. I honestly don't know if the play should have been ruled a turnover, but I do know that the mild-mannered Mark Richt has never been penalized before yesterday. Let's face it, Penn Wagers will never get over the celebration in Jacksonville in 2007 and the SEC office is not going to hold their officials accountable.  
• This right here sums up the Hail Mary pass and our season in general.
• Ramik Wilson deserves to the SEC's Defensive Player of the week.  He had 18 tackles, 2 TFL, and 1 sack.
• If you're looking for a good recap from a professional writer then be sure to check out Seth Emerson's write-up from the Macon Telegraph.
• Aaron Murray is the greatest QB in UGA history.  He won't leave with an SEC Championship, but he holds every single significant SEC passing record, he is one of the toughest QBs I've ever seen play, and he leaves everything he has on the field every single time.  There is absolutely no way we have a chance to win that game yesterday without Aaron Murray. I don't know about you, but I plan on being in my seat early on Saturday night so that I can give him a standing ovation when they announce his name on Senior Day.

SEC Eastern Division

It's now down to Missouri and South Carolina and it's pretty straightforward to determine who will play the Alabama/Auburn winner for the SEC title the first weekend in December.  If Missouri wins their remaining two conference games (Ole Miss and Texas A&M) then they will win the division.  If they lose either one of those games then South Carolina will win the division. I believe Missouri will beat Ole Miss on Saturday and on the final regular season weekend, Carolina fans will be busy watching Texas A&M/Missouri, along with hoping that they can make it 5 straight versus Clemson.

Bowl Projections

Both ESPN experts are predicting a Georgia/Minnesota matchup in the Gator Bowl.  Earlier today came word of this:

According to a #GatorBowl ambassador I spoke to this weekend, #UGA and #Michigan are at the top of their "Big Board." #SEC #B1G
— Logan Booker (@LoganBooker_BI) November 17, 2013

CBS Sports projects us to play in the Music City Bowl versus Syracuse, while SB Nation projects a Georgia/Boston College matchup in the Music City Bowl, which would be a rematch of a bowl game played in Mark Richt's first season (2001) in Athens.

Odds & Ends

• Well, as bad as that fluke play hurt on Saturday night, at least I'm not a Gator or Yellow Jacket fan.  Florida lost to South Carolina, which virtually assures them of no bowl this season, and Clemson took Tech to the woodshed on Thursday night in front of a national television audience.
• Duke is now in sole possession of first place in the ACC Coastal division, with two games remaining and ranked #25 in the nation. It may be in David Cutcliffe's best interest to somehow finish 2nd in the division and not have to face FSU in the ACC title game.
• The Baylor/Oklahoma State game next weekend in Stillwater will be a de facto Big 12 conference championship game.  I really hope Baylor can finish the season undefeated, if for no other reason than I want them to finish ahead of Ohio State in the polls.  In spite of the Buckeye's 25 point road win, they dropped from 3rd to 4th in this week's AP Poll.  Baylor is currently #3.
• With Stanford's loss to USC, Oregon is now the favorite to head to the Rose Bowl since they will host the Pac 12 championship game.  This would likely match up the Ducks and the Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl the week before the national championship game is played in Pasadena.

Notable Games Next Weekend

The game of the week is Baylor at Oklahoma State (as noted above).  Here are a few other notable games on the schedule next Saturday:

• Texas A&M at LSU: The Tigers are a 4 point favorite, but I'm curious to know the Over/Under on this game.
• Vanderbilt at Tennessee: The Commodores are bowl-eligible while the Vols need the win in order to have a shot to become bowl-eligible this season.  Can the Dores' make it two straight versus Tennessee for the first time since 1926?
• Missouri at Ole Miss: A loss for the Tigers will put South Carolina in the SEC Championship game for the 2nd time in four years.  A win for Ole Miss would help them move up in the bowl pecking order.

College Football Wrap-Up: Week 11

After a very sluggish start in the first half, the Dawgs pulled away from Appalachian State and won 45-6 on Saturday. There's really not a lot of takeaways when you defeat a 2-8 team, but here's what I observed:

Photo Credit: Athens-Banner Herald

• Aaron Murray now owns the SEC Career Passing TDs record, previously held by Florida's Danny Wuerrfel. Murray has 115 passing TDs, which puts him into the Top 10 all-time NCAA record book.  He is within striking distance of the 5th all-time leader touchdown passer, Landry Jones of Oklahoma, who finished his career with 123 TDs. Murray has had a remarkable career at Georgia and will leave with the SEC Career records for Passing Yards, Touchdown Passes, and Total Offense.  Let that sink in for just a moment.
• It was nice to see Hutson Mason finally get a chance to play this season.  He went 11-14 for 160 yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception.  He is going to have so many weapons around him next season.  Hopefully, his 5th season will look more like the one DJ Shockley enjoyed instead of the one Joe Cox had in 2009.
• The only thing worse than running a fake punt versus App State is running one unsuccessfully.  What was that all about?
• Jonathan Rumph made a nice debut on Saturday.  I know he actually played a few snaps last week against Florida, but it was nice to see him make catches on Saturday. He actually finished the game 2nd in receiving yards.  If not for a hamstring injury that he suffered in the preseason, he really could have made a big impact on this team with all the injuries at WR.
• Along those same lines, think about our WR corp next season: Malcolm Mitchell, Michael Bennett, Chris Conley, Reggie Davis, Justin Scott-Wesley, and Jonathan Rumph, along with promising young scholarship players like Tramel Terry, Blake Tibbs, and Uriah Lemay.  The first six I listed could be starters or major contributors at any school in the country.
• Ray Drew has developed into a very fine defensive lineman.  He leads the team with 6 sacks on the season. In case you're wondering, that's four more than Mr. Clowney.

College Football Wrap-Up: Week 10

WLOCP: Dawgs Win 3rd Straight Versus Gators

The Bulldogs raced to a big lead on Saturday and survived a second-half rally to defeat the Gators 23-20.  The victory on Saturday keeps the Dawgs in the race for the SEC Eastern division. More importantly, in my opinion, it finally turns the tide in this series. Prior to 2011, it was well documented that the Dawgs had gone only 3-18 versus Florida since Spurrier took over as their head coach in 1990. With the win on Saturday, Georgia has now won 3 straight and 5 out of the last 10.  Georgia now leads the all-time series 50-40-2.  Now onto the game itself:

photo credit Jason Getz/AJC

• Gurley proved once again that when he's healthy he is the best running back in college football.  In spite of not being completely healthy, he still rushed for 100 yards on 17 carries, had 3 receptions for 87 yards, and scored 2 touchdowns. And by the way, Cody Riggs wanted nothing to do with tackling Gurley on his long TD reception.
• Michael Bennett's return was overshadowed by Gurley, but you cannot underestimate the impact he has on this offense. Oftentimes, when Murray has to have a completion, he looks to Bennett.  In spite of all the other injuries, we're probably sitting at 7-1 instead of 5-3 if Gurley and Bennett had remained healthy.
• How about Aaron Murray?  The Tampa, FL native finishes his career at 3-1 versus the Gators.  He's now just the third QB in Bulldog history to beat Florida in three straight games.  He finished the game 258 yards passing, 1 TD, and zero interceptions.  I thought his pass to Wooten in the end zone should have been called a touchdown.  It's a shame they ruled it incomplete because that would have tied Danny Wuerffel's SEC Career Passing TDs record.  I would expect Murray to break the record this Saturday.
• You have to give credit to Georgia's offensive line.  The offense racked up 414 yards of total offense, and with the Dawgs clinging to a 3 point lead in the 4th quarter, they ran out the clock with a 8:17 drive.  It was reminiscent of the drive Georgia had to finish the South Carolina game earlier this season.  It must have been a miserable feeling for Muschamp & co. knowing that you have to get a stop and your defense just can't get it done with time running off the clock.
• Play of the game?  If it wasn't Rhett McGowan's key third down catch on that last drive it would have to be Corey Moore's sack that ended the Florida drive prior to UGA's last drive.  It was 3rd and 12 and Moore came through untouched to sack Tyler Murphy for a 14 yard loss.
• Player of the game?  It would be easy to make a case for Gurley or Murray, but I would have to go with DL Garrison Smith.  He finished the game with 9 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Not to mention he was the emotional leader of that defense.  It was nice to see the senior have such a fine game in last GA/FL clash.
• The defense deserves credit for playing well on Saturday. They limited Tyler Murphy to 174 yards passing, with no TDs, and he only completed 45% of his passes.  Meanwhile, their top rusher, Kelvin Taylor, only had 76 yards on 20 carries with no TDs.  As a matter of fact, Florida only had to drive a total of 64 yards for both of their touchdowns.
• Last season, after Georgia gave Florida their only loss of the regular season, many pundits argued that the Gators gave the game away with 6 turnovers.  They totally ignored that Georgia's defense created some of those turnovers, as well as the fact that Georgia had 3 turnovers of their own in that game.  Well, this year that can't be a crutch given that Florida won the turnover battle (1-0).  Here's something else to consider: In 2012 and 2013, the Dawgs have led each game from beginning to end.
• Yes, Florida is only 4-4, and yes it was an ugly second half for the Dawgs, but this is still a sweet victory in my opinion. We've defeated the Gators 3 consecutive times now...I will enjoy this victory all the way up until the next Cocktail Party kicks off in 2014!

Muschamp on the Hot Seat

Zook was fired for going 23-14 in 3 yrs at UF. Will Muschamp is now 22-12 with South Carolina, Ga. Southern & FSU left to play. Do the math.
— Chris Huston (@HeismanPundit) November 2, 2013

Florida has games remaining versus Vanderbilt, South Carolina (away), Georgia Southern, and Florida State.  In the best case scenario, they will finish 6-6.  In Muschamp's defense, he inherited a mess from Urban Meyer and the Gators have been riddled with injuries this season. Muschamp went 11-1 during the regular season in 2011.  However, he's gone 4-5 since then and his record versus the Dawgs is now 0-3.  The Gator Nation is growing restless and, with FSU on the rise, many wonder if Muschamp will be coaching the Gators in 2014.

SEC East Race
It's down to just a three team race to win the Eastern Division. Missouri still controls their own destiny, after defeating Tennessee 31-3 on Saturday. South Carolina and Georgia are still in contention, while all the others teams have been eliminated.  The division winner may not be decided until Thanksgiving weekend.  Barring a Kentucky upset of Missouri this coming Saturday, nothing more will be decided in this race until November 16th, when Florida faces South Carolina and Georgia travels to Auburn.