Thanks for a great season!
Wow! It seems like a lifetime ago that Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount threw the right cross to Boise State’s Byron Hout. That’s how our 2009 college football season got started. Here we are, three months later. So where are we now?
**–Oregon is going to the Rose Bowl for the first time since Rich Brooks was head coach (1994). Blount, who was first kicked off the Oregon team for the season, has been reinstated and will be a force in the game against Ohio State.
**–Georgia Tech has won the ACC championship, its first since 1990, and is headed to the Orange Bowl for the first time since Jan. 1, 1967. It was Bobby Dodd’s last game as head coach.
**–After a 7-5 season, Georgia has fired three assistant coaches. After being ranked No. 1 prior to the 2008 season, Georgia is headed to Shreveport. The Bulldog Nation is a little nervous about the future.
**–Alabama has won its 23rd SEC championship and on Jan. 7 will play for (by its count) the 13th national championship in its storied football history.
**–Saturday night in New York sophomore running back Mark Ingram may become the first Alabama player ever to win the Heisman Trophy.
**–After being left out of the BCS championship game last season because it lost to Texas Tech with one second remaining, Texas vowed to be “One Second Better” this season. Boy did that turn out to be true! Texas needed a second to (correctly) be put back on the clock to beat Nebraska and advance to the BCS championship game.
**–Both LSU and Tennessee enter the Holiday season under investigation by the NCAA. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive cannot be a happy camper about that. A coach at LSU has already resigned, so that sounds serious. I’m getting the feeling that the Tennessee investigation won’t turn out to be serious. But I could be wrong.
**–Kentucky has been playing college football since 1888 but no coach in its history—not even Bear Bryant—has ever won four straight bowl games. If Kentucky beats Clemson in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 27, Rich Brooks will win his fourth straight game as the Wildcats’ head coach.
**–Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, who looked like he would coach forever, was forced to retire after a 6-6 season, his 44th as a head coach. Bowden will coach his last game on Jan. 1 against West Virginia in the Gator Bowl. Here’s hoping the Seminoles will send him, and defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews, out with a win.
**–I’ve been fortunate enough to cover some of the very best college football players who ever lived. But there has never been anyone quite like Florida’s Tim Tebow. Tebow was denied a chance at his third national championship by a great performance by Alabama in the SEC championship game. He will play his final college game in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 against Cincinnati. Here’s hoping Tebow goes out a winner.
**–Notre Dame finished 6-6 and decided not to go to a bowl. The school fired Charlie Weis, who heads back to the NFL with a boatload of cash. Now Brian Kelly, who took Cincinnati to a pair of BCS bowls, will try to return the Fighting Irish to their former glory. It’s a tall order unless he gets some help on the academic side of the university.
**–There was a time when teams from the five coalition (non-BCS) conferences (Conference USA, MAC, WAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt) could not get into a BCS game. Now two schools from those leagues (TCU, Boise State) are among the 10 teams playing in the five big games.
I’m sure I’ve left out a 100 more storylines that are near and dear to your heart. The point is a lot of stuff happened this season. It always does. That’s why, with all due respect to my friends who love the NFL, college football is the best game in the world. And it’s not even close.
At this point your humble correspondent will take a break for Christmas. It has been a long season but a good one. It is time for me to get reacquainted with my family.
I again want thank you for your support of this daily effort. As I have told you in the past, the followers of Mr. CFB are the smartest, most knowledgeable college football fans in the country. We don’t always agree but that’s okay. It’s no fun if we don’t disagree. You bring your passion to the table and you bring it every day. And I appreciate it.
I’ll be back on Monday, Dec. 28 as we start getting ready for the home stretch of the bowl season and the BCS championship game. If something wild happens, and it usually does this time of year, I’ll jump back on and we’ll talk about it.
Until then, I hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas.
TB
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517 comments Add your comment
Vince Burchfield
December 11th, 2009
1:09 pm
I’ll take another National title punk
Lex
December 11th, 2009
1:18 pm
dawg-in-lex:
I hate you, you b*st*rd !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DawginLex
December 11th, 2009
1:19 pm
You know the sad part, you are a lot less likely to get mugged in Shreveport or Miami as compared to around Tech’s campus.
Sad.
DawginLex
December 11th, 2009
1:20 pm
Lex(yellow fuzz),
Welcome back. 30-24 glad it hurts so bad that you won’t even blog under your regular screen name.
Ramblinwreck83
December 11th, 2009
1:29 pm
blazerdawg
Not all GT fans are that way. Believe me, GT fans have be taking on the chin alot more years than UGA has. I won’t deny that I might have had a few comments about winning last year but, being a Tech fan has always allowed me to keep a true perspective on things. Having said that, I believe both teams will have a bright future. UGA just got caught with their pants down this year being in transition with key position players. I kind of expected UGA to finish where they finished in the SEC partly b/c of the other teams. UGA will have good recruits and will play better as will GT. Good rivalry for years to come. Go Jackets, Beat Iowa and The Mutts beat those Aggies and keep the State of GA undefeated in the Bowls. Have a Good Christmas everyone (UGA fans included).
Staring Willie Martinez as he beats Tech and looks good doing it
December 11th, 2009
1:31 pm
hello techies
i willie beat you at grump field
30-24 and i got fired
they say that wasn’t good enough
oh well im comming over to coach your secondary we will beat uga in 10 yrs
Sautee Dawg
December 11th, 2009
1:35 pm
Enter your comments here
this game meant everything to tech
December 11th, 2009
1:39 pm
after this year , maybe a little nervous about winning a National championship in the near future…but ya know for 351 days its 30 to 24…and we are never nervous about getting to play the fireflys from Grant Stadium! We are down right thankful that Tech is a constant on our Schedule..because of that we know we won’t go winless!!! 30 to 24 buggos..see you tomorrow…tell flagboy to behave at the coronet club tonight…lmfao
Mark PRicht
December 11th, 2009
1:40 pm
my most memorable thing this season has been watching the UGA fans on these blogs. One week they want to fire everybody and start over. They get on and throw hate bombs when the lose to Tenn, then they beat somebody like Tenn Tech and they are again ready for the NC, then lose to KY here we go again, then beat Tech and NC here we are again. Get over it, you beat tech but you stll suck. You have not broken the top 25 since Jesus was a baby and your reward from all who know that you suck is Shreveport. We know you won the game and have no problem saying we failed that day…admit you fail every day but that one…Your own fans have hated them more this year than us GT fans.
hubba hubba
December 11th, 2009
1:41 pm
I appreciated the humility of Danny Wuerfell and Charlie Ward much more than that of Tim Tebow. He is the biggest hotdog in college football today.
Former Army and Ga. southwestern coach
December 11th, 2009
1:42 pm
and giving Head coach at Georgia Tech..the master of the frankensein/otis from andy Griffith hair and head combo…Paul’s Johnson…what has georgia done since 1980?” great locker room material for 2010 Coach flagboy…
we beat tech?
December 11th, 2009
1:43 pm
really, what was the score young flagboy…lmfao for 351 more days..later fireflys…!!!!!
Mark PRicht
December 11th, 2009
1:46 pm
Wow, how you guys seen our schedule next year? Our SOS will be pitiful…Louisiana…Idaho state….Miss St (thats we tell tech fans sux so bad) I just hope without Tebow I can beat FL since that is the only team I need to beat to win my division…not that we will be good enough to beat them, maybe they will just be bad enough to lose to some other good teams
DawginLex
December 11th, 2009
1:48 pm
Not broken the top 25 since Jesus was a baby?
Did you really type that?
2002 SEC Champs #3
2003 SEc runner up #10
2004 #8
2005 SEC champs #10
2006 #20
2007 #2
2008 #12
When was Jesus born? Oh, you must be talking about your illegitimate son “heysoos”. I get it now.
bamaguy
December 11th, 2009
1:49 pm
Ramblinwrech83: All schools have thier “rabid and taunting” fans. Hopefully, most of us do not fall into that category. I have always thought it to be the main difference between a “fan” and an “alumnus”
Happy Holidays to all and RTR.
Mark PRicht
December 11th, 2009
1:55 pm
DawginLex
Hey DA lets just talk about 2009 since that is the year we are living in. Yep that was a figure of speech, but how many weeks has it been since you were in the top 25? But its good to see that out of all I said about your fans, you sucky team and your pitiful bowl the only argument we have is when Jesus was born
hubba hubba
December 11th, 2009
1:56 pm
I just heard from my step door neighbor in law who lives in Shreveport that all the Waffle Houses there are giving away these cool paper moose hats for Christmas that you can also use for your New Year’s party.bash. How cool is that? It keeps getting better. I’m looking for a ride-anyone?
Atlanta Gator
December 11th, 2009
1:56 pm
Wow. So much venting of anger, jealousy and venom on Tony’s blog today. Lots of juvenile insults regarding Dawgs, blogs, bugs, gnats, Gators, Jackets, Tebow, Tebowmania, etc. Relax, everybody. It’s okay to behave like adults, even when you’re posting anonymous comments on an AJC sports blog.
I’m not going to think any more or any less of your alma mater, favorite college football team, or any of its coaches or players because of the inane insults bandied about on here. And very few others will be influenced by such comments, etc., either.
My favorite college football team beat twelve other teams this season, but I really don’t feel the need to mock the alumni and fans of the twelve schools represented by those teams. Nor do I feel any ill will toward the University of Alabama, its football team, its alumni or its fans. When the chips were down and when it mattered most, the Crimson Tide played a better game than my Gators. Sure, I was disappointed my favorite team lost, but the Gators can’t win them all. It happens. It’s not a tragedy, and it’s certainly not cause to insult Tide fans over the loss or make myself feel marginally better by insulting the fans of the teams the Gators did defeat this season.
So, why don’t we all try to be relatively pleasant and wish each other a Merry Christmas (or Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or whatever seasonal holiday your particular tribe celebrates). Let the artificially inflated fax hatred go, especially over something as inconsequential in the grand scheme of things as college football. We’re all Americans. Our country is at war, and young men (and women) are dying for our safety. Why don’t we honor them? Many of our fellow citizens are financially hurting, right here in Atlanta. Why don’t we acknowledge and help them?
In the spirit of the season, shouldn’t grown men being doing something other than trading insults over a game played by 17 to 23-year-old boys? I mean, come on, people. Let it go.
how2fish
December 11th, 2009
1:57 pm
Vince Burchfield to make 4 right? Or are you another bamaite that can’t count? Oh and Vince you can call anyone names in your dark moblie home with a keyboard..I’d keep the comments to myself out in the world tough guy.
Atlanta Gator
December 11th, 2009
1:58 pm
That should read “. . . artificially inflated fan hatred . . .” Typos happen.
how2fish
December 11th, 2009
2:00 pm
Atlanta Gator ..good points and good post.Merry X-mas.
bcs29
December 11th, 2009
2:02 pm
Hey Auburn fans, Are any of you even old enough to remember Auburn wining or wait even playing for a national championship. They havent won it all since 1957 and havent played for one since. Thats just sad and pitiful. I know Auburn went undefeated in 2004 but the fact is they didn’t win or play for the title.
Sautee Dawg
December 11th, 2009
2:11 pm
Tony Barnhardt
Have to agree with you choosing NCAA over NFL. No comparison in the spirit of the game and it’s fans.
Hope you and your family have a Happy Holiday Season.
Comparing GT to UGA
Is no comparision. UGA with 60 wins is the largest winning record over an opponent in the history of CFB. No other team in the country, let me say that again, NO OTHER TEAM IN THE COUNTRY has beaten another team as many times as UGA has beaten Ga. Tech!!!
You say the future looks brighter at Tech than at UGA???
Does giving up 349 yards rushing to UGA seem bright to you???
Does giving up 301 yards in one game to C. J. Spiller seem bright?
Does throwing 4 passes against UGA to end your game with UGA seem bright to you???
Does losing to a bunch of DAWGS that lost to a bunch of CATS seem all that bright of a future???
If The UGA loss wasn’t that big a loss for you, why keep bringing it up???
GatorG
egeagle is right. Tebow scored 30 tmes in his career from the 1 yardline. 11 times from the 2 yardline. If you do the math thats 44 carries for 52 yards rushing..
Why don’t you check out C. J. Spiller’s stat’s? 18 touchdowns from 55 or more yards in his career???
CBS and ESPN made Tebow what he is, Fine young man but, byfar the greatest of our time like the media portray him.
most of those touchdowns were against the Fla. Atlantic and Citadel variety.
Bama Fan
Here’s one Dawg fan hopes Ingram wins Bama’s first Heisman, Mccoy plays in a very overrated conference and seeing his performance against Nebraska Bama’s defense will probably expose him.
Wouldn’t suprise me though if Mccoy takes home the prize.
Tony
One thing that suprises me is Tech’s Coach Paul Johnson, and his downplaying the loss to UGA as it wasn’t that important. Boy has he got some learning to do.
Bet the Tech Faithful didn’t like that line very much.
He’ll have to learn that Tech fans don’t love Tech as much as they hate UGA.
Stinger
December 11th, 2009
2:29 pm
JB, you are clueless. We only have 6 seniors on schorlarship. They don’t all start. Yeah we have a ton of Super Stars that could go pro, but no one knows this yet. We may not lose anyone. Of course you may have everyone coming back, but a bunch of sorry players coming back is useless.
Blue Fox
December 11th, 2009
2:34 pm
Keep up the great work, TB, and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
DirkDawggler
December 11th, 2009
2:39 pm
Tony,
Your silence is deafening regarding Georgia’s coaching search. You gave it a cursory mention earlier in the wekk, but I figure you must know something. I’m not asking you to spill the beans because I know you wouldn’t do it out of respect for the program…but I can’t help but wonder. You know something, don’t cha? Huh? Huh?
Fleischman in Chi Towns Bed
December 11th, 2009
2:42 pm
Does Greyhound stop in Shrevegas? I need 3 tickets…. GIT R DONE
Ramblinwreck83
December 11th, 2009
2:43 pm
Sautee Dawg
You seem very stressed out. So much anger seems built up with you. Go drink some Egg Nog and go lie down. This year is almost over. Next year is a new year and every team starts undefeated. By the way, the last comment is absolutely false and you know it. If it were true then the same could be said about UGA hating UF more than they like their own team. Until next year, Merry Christmas. Go Jackets!
Staring Willie Martinez as he beats Tech and looks good doing it
December 11th, 2009
2:44 pm
the only people attending the Orange Bowl will be:
crickets that are churping
drunks looking for a place to sleep for the night
and rats looking for a place to hide
TECH CAN’T FILL THEIR OWN STADIUM
THEY WIN THE MYTHICAL ACC CHAMPIONSHIP AND 345 FANS SHOW UP TO THAT GAME
I SUSPECT 23 OR 24 TECH FANS MIGHT BE AT THIS GAME SINCE THEY ARE GIVING THEIR FANS 25 YRS OF SEASON TICKETS IF THEY SHOW UP TO THE ORANGE BOWL
HO HO HO HO HO HO
Ole Dawg
December 11th, 2009
2:48 pm
I don’t think the bulldawg nation is nervous about next year. I’m looking forward to next year. I hope CMR now understands that he is the CEO of this team. That means he must have competent people reporting to him that can develop players and coaches so we don’t have to start over every year when someone leaves. We need a strong bench of both players and coaches, not just players!
Go Gold
December 11th, 2009
2:55 pm
Alabama is playing in the National Championship. Florida to Sugar and Tech to Orange. Oops, I almost forgot, UGA to Shreveport. Top 5 recruiting gets you to Shreveport?
Go Gold
December 11th, 2009
2:58 pm
Bama to NC, Gators to Sugar and Tech to Orange. UGA still hoping for 2nd NC playing where?
Mark PRicht
December 11th, 2009
3:00 pm
Sautee Dawg
Once again you are an idiot….you talk all this crap about how much better you were this year than GT but you know for a fact one minute before the game started you didnt believe you could win and one minute after your were in shock they did. I have many friends that are UGA fans and they are still in shock and they know if #9 played 4qtrs it was a gimme, so crawl back in your lame azz hole you were in after the other 5 games you lost…Get ready to twist a leg on A&M or you will lose that one to….if UGA fans thought they were gonna win they would have showed up at BD stadium the way they did years before…
Sam Houston
December 11th, 2009
3:00 pm
Not very hard for a coach to take his team to a bowl game these days. The team does’t even have to have a winning record, 6-6 will qualify. With so many so-called bowls out there about 66-70 teams are playing somewhere. But, like Tony says, we sure don’t want a play off system to mess with the bowl games.
Prophecy
December 11th, 2009
3:09 pm
Willie Martinez = scapegoat. Whose next?
Thanks for what?
December 11th, 2009
3:10 pm
Tony one thing we can’t thank you for this football season and that’s professional journalism because you never offered any!
Staring Willie Martinez as he beats Tech and looks good doing it
December 11th, 2009
3:10 pm
Go Gold
Lots to be thankful for this holiday season
Thank goodness Tech plays in the worst conference in the nation because if UGA played in the ACC the line up would be
UGA in the orange FL in the sugar, Bama in th NC and Tech would be bowlless
GatorG
December 11th, 2009
3:10 pm
Sautee Dawg,
How many passing yards / TD’s did Spiller have? And what conference did he play in?
And since it’s apparently so easy for a QB to get these “junk” 1 and 2 yard touchdowns, how many does your QB have?
But I don’t think TB was referring just to his stats in the first place. Personally, I think Tebow’s leadership has been more valuable to the team than his abilities. And then there’s his character and service off the field.
I can’t speak for Tony, but my assumption is that he was saying that there’s never been anyone with that total package before. You’re welcomed to submit your counter-argument, but I don’t think Spiller fills the bill.
Mark PRicht
December 11th, 2009
3:11 pm
Dont forget I had already used Cox and Ealey before him
Mark PRicht
December 11th, 2009
3:13 pm
Staring Willie Martinez as he beats Tech and looks good doing it
But reality is you are 7 and 5 Shreveport…bound…right where a team that sux should be
Staring Willie Martinez as he beats Tech and looks good doing it
December 11th, 2009
3:14 pm
Mark PRicht
#9 couldn’t play in the SEC because he would be injured every game which was evident on the field
by the way UGA fans did show up dork
so crawl back in your hole and watch the orange bowl game on tv with the other 347 people
Staring Willie Martinez as he beats Tech and looks good doing it
December 11th, 2009
3:18 pm
Mark PRicht
You hit right on the nail
The team that sux 7-5 heading to shreveport, with a defensive coordinator who was fired
THAT team that beat you and your great middle school option veer
blah ho ho ho ahaa haaa what a joke
DORK
Mark PRicht
December 11th, 2009
3:19 pm
Staring Willie Martinez as he beats Tech and looks good doing it
you are one stupid individual…Cox couldnt start for my local high school (Gainesville) which plays for state championship tomorrow..the 2 toughest QB’s and leaders are the 2 you hate most #9 and #15….you obviously were not at the game….and is your bowl even on TV? maybe PBS
@Mark PRict
December 11th, 2009
3:27 pm
but the difference is that Joe Cox may not start for the high school state championship, but he’s not running the offensive scheme of a high school team
Mark PRicht
December 11th, 2009
3:30 pm
no HS would keep him with that many INT’s
Wow
December 11th, 2009
3:36 pm
who died and gave the title of MR college football…Your are a hack from Greensboro..you are hard to watch on TV and to read here….
Staring Willie Martinez as he beats Tech and looks good doing it
December 11th, 2009
3:40 pm
Mark PRicht
Your bowl has been canceled due to lack of support and tv ratings at the ACC chumpionship
@Mark PRict
December 11th, 2009
3:42 pm
too bad he won two state titles for his hs
Maureen
December 11th, 2009
3:45 pm
Joke for the day: Shreveport
Joke for tomorrow: UGA
There is an unconfirmed rumor that no UGA players have been arrested this week. Hard to believe!
Ford
December 11th, 2009
3:53 pm
Shreveport, oh lord, UGAy is going to Shreveport. We’ll leave the light on for y’all.
Hey, I saw Parole Officer Richt do another carpet commercial this morning. Wow, sooooo much class with this guy.