About Tony Barnhart

Tony,
I noticed you appear on 104 The Zone on Wednesdays. What is your weekly radio schedule (day, time and station) so avid college football fans can tune in over the internet. Thanks.

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To be fair, you should have went with “picks per team” evaluation in which the Big East had the most

Conference – Picks – Teams – Picks/Team
BE – 27 – 8 – 3.38
P10 – 32 – 10 – 3.20
SEC – 37 – 12 – 3.08
ACC – 33 – 12 – 2.75
B10 – 28 – 11 – 2.55
B12 – 28 – 12 – 2.33

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There was a great story on this years draft that no one at the AJC picked up. Two brothers are going to the NFL this year – one drafted and one as a free agent. Everyone knows that Jared Cook was drafted but his brother – Jason Cook – also signed a free agent contract with Baltimore. Both of the Cooks went to North Gwinnett High School.

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Any news about the Georgia Florida game contract?

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In your opinion do you think the game will stay in Jacksonville or go home and home?

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Tony – Great article about Erk. Who do we need to get in touch with or start bothering to get the Divisional Honors Review Committees to evaluate and make an exception for Erk being inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame?

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Having been subjected to many butt whuppings in Jax since 1963 I can sympathize with the beat down dawg fans. But, I can assure you the location of the game has had very little if any impact on the outcome of the game. Appleby/Washington and “run Lindsey run” had no clue where the game was being played in their collective monments of greatness. I would be willing to bet my tickets to any of the games if it were played in the Georgia Dome aka Swamp Dome the outcome over the last 19 years would have been no different. BTW UF is 6-1 in SEC Champ.games in the dome. As pointed out by Mr.Barnhart with the exception of the 2002 & 2005 games the Gators have clearly had the better team and the better coaching. If it’s ever moved I hope it would go to the campuses.I enjoyed to my trip to Athens in 1995 and it seems like I have been going to Atlanta almost every December.

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It’s funny how the previous generation of UGA alumni think that location has nothing to do with the current epidemic of Georgia losses in Jax. Conversely, as a more recent UGA alum, I don’t know a single Dawg fan my age (age 29) or younger who thinks that the Gators DON’T have an advantage. They do. College football was different a generation ago as were the two respective states. Georgia now travels to a state year-in and year-out that is double its size in population. For those of us not resorting/playing golf with our country club frat brothers in St. Simon’s Island, we travel to and spend the night in a city that is absolutely painted UF Orange from the floor to the ceiling. We take a healthy dose of their taunting every year for the whole weekend. Last point, Mr. Barnhart: there is no way in the world I’m going to accept your opinion over Mark Richt’s on whether or not the Jax location is a competitive advantage for the Gators. I think I’ll trust his resume more than any writer’s or any old school Georgia fan who is stuck in the past.

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Tony,

Great article on the SEC 5-1-2 format from earlier this month. Currently the format is scheduled up to 2011. I don’t expect (and I hope is does not happen) to see the SEC break up the Ala/Tenn or Aub/UGA rivaliries anytime soon.
However, do you see the SEC switching around MSU/UK, UM/Vandy and/or Ark/SC, and possibly LSU/Fla, starting in 2012?

Thanks,
David
North Atlanta, GA

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Tony, how many of Dooley’s victories over Florida were when the
Gators played Georgia the week after they had to play the Auburn Tigers. Those were Auburn teams that could amazingly could take 220 lb guys and make them 280lb in just one year. (Ben Temberello?).

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[...] to the write up with Harve Perlman, but this time it is with Atlanta Journal Constitution writer Tony Barnhart.  Now before we get into Barnhart’s credentials — which will be exposed — lets [...]

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Mr. Barnhart,
1st off thank you for your excellent work covering the great game of college football, you are truely the best in the business. I’m writing you as a lifelong Georgia Southern fan and have recently read your coverage of this years HOF selection. The question is how do we get Erk into the hall of fame. Is there any grass roots campaign involved, if so where do I sign, if not will you help me start one. This would mean a lot to the game.

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Congrats on your recent accomplishment! We are proud of you.

So, you from Union Point. Do you prefer Fried Chicken, biscuits and taters from the “Old Corner Pantry or Golden Pantry?” I’m not going to mention Neal’s bbq, burger ranch, etc.

Keep up the good work.
“Not Disappointed!”
Go Jackets!

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After watching Media Days you guys obviously have a bad case of Tebowitis. He doesn’t walk on water…… or a swamp for that matter. Florida will lose to at least one SEC west team this year. Why? The SEC west is as good as it’s ever been. You know that, and your colleagues do, too.

Back to the SEC west. You’ve got it backwards for the most part…. Miss State will be in the basement. Since the teams are close to being evenly matached, I’ll go with the following groups:

1.+ 2. ….. LSU and Arkansas (possibly decided in the Battle for the Boot).

3.+ 4. ….. Ole Miss and Alabama (each team overrated)

5.+ 6. ….. Auburn and Miss State (Auburn might pull off an upset)

Mike the SEC west fan

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[...] every day by featured columnists such as Mark Bradley (who follows us on Twitter), Jeff Schultz, Tony Barnhardt, and David O’Brien. O’Brien is the Atlanta Braves’ beat writer and he writes a daily blog [...]

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Tony – how about a review on the UGA quarterback situation. Specifically, who is the #2 guy and how are our two highly recruited Freshmen doing?

Love your work. DAWG

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Tony Barnhart, please check the GT roster. We don’t have a Jerrard Talent on the team. His name is Tarrant.

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Tony, please help me…(I’m an old GCHS Tiger, too). What is the Dawg’s identity on offense. I,ve watched both games but I have no clue. Does Bobo stray from the game plan too early like Coach Donnan or is it lack of execution? And what about the lack of a pass rush? Is it the scheme or lack of talent that requires the linebackers to make every tackle? Proud of you, man!

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Tony – on the Tony Barnhart show you mentioned that there were 3 undefeated SEC teams. Florida, LSU, and Alabama. Aren’t you forgetting someone? Jesh

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Enter your comments here
I like the fact as a pundit, you will try to predict a trend or a situation bu the problem I have with you is that sometimes you let ancient history color your judgment and then you get stuck in some really bad statements that have little basis in fact. Case in point. Auburn’s hiring of Gene Chizik. It would have been okay to say that Aiburn really steped out on a limb hiring a head coach with a very poor record as a head coach but they must have seen something they liked when he was at Auburn. But to say that it was a wrong headed hire and a VERY BAD FIT just did not resonate with me and you said it in several articles. I would stay away from absolutes if I were you.

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Tony:
I’d like to see you comment on a larger story than an FSU meltdown that has been going on for most of the past decade. In particular, the slow but inevitable death of scheduling marquee out of conference games seems pertinent this season–you could title it “Tough Out of Conference Games–Where’s the Love?”
Exhibit 1: Current media darling teams like Auburn (see Mark Schlabach’s articles this week on ESPN) and Iowa (see any national media story extolling the genius of Kirk Ferentz) look great on the surface, but their schedules tell a less compelling story. Both teams are 5-0 with a win over a decent out of conference opponents (W.Va. and Ariz.)–but Auburn (ranked #17/19) picks up Furman later in the season after it looked lackluster in wins over La. Tech (almost tied at the half) and winless Ball State (trailing in first half), while Iowa (ranked #12/14) counts wins over hapless Iowa State, squeakers over Arkansas State and Northern Iowa and a “marquee” win over Penn State that vaulted the Hawkeyes into the top 13. That Penn State team (ranked #14/12) saddles up against an always tough Eastern Illinois school, after facing perennial juggernauts like Temple, Akron, Syracuse. Prior to the debacle against Iowa, Penn State was actually in the top 5. Most other programs would be ashamed of a schedule like that, but not Joe Pa. His reward? Rankings, rankings, rankings, just like Iowa and Auburn. Padding four early season wins is a good start towards a New Year’s Day ticket.
Exhibit 2: Kansas, with blowout wins against Northern Colorado, UTEP and Duke, sits just outside the Top 15. Do you think Mark Mangino wished he had BYU or Miami early on the schedule? Me neither. Again, cranking in a few easy wins while avoiding overusing or injuring starters looks pretty smart, especially if you ask Mangino’s former boss over in Norman, OK.
All of which brings me to the other side of the coin, so for Exhibits 3-5 consider some of the teams that bought into the tough inter-regional contest hoopla. USC, after facing a pretty good Ohio State team in the Horseshoe in an uber-hyped primetime matchup, dropped a letdown stinker in its next game against Washington (who gets worse every week) and now sits in the outside track to the BCS title game. Likewise, Ohio State, who eliminated annual tilts against Youngstown State and Ohio, dumped its marquee matchup against USC and likewise sits with several quality teams between it and a BCS title game. Neither team is out of the hunt, but it is nigh impossible to imagine them being out of the top 5 (or even behind Boise State) if their “marquee” matchup had instead been a yawner against a directional school.
Exhibit 3: Oklahoma, who boldly scheduled both BYU and Miami, lost all shot at a national title and possibly even a BCS bowl by losing its Heisman QB in the first game of the year. I suspect a warm-up against Oklahoma Polytech or might have been a better move.
Exhibit 4: UGA, who went all in with games against Okla. State and Arizona State instead of marshmellow games against Ga. Southern or one of the Louisiana schools not named LSU, sits at 3-2 and unranked. While UGA is certainly not a Top 10 team, it is hard to imagine them outside the Top 25 if they had faced and won their opener against a Div. I-A team and sat at 4-1 with a loss to #4 LSU (which coincidentally has La-Lafayette, Tulane and La. Tech games conveniently sprinkled across its schedule). Heck, even the Mighty Gators got reps against Charleston Southern and Troy before facing a serious foe in UT—and they have a FIU team looming later in the year to get well the week before FSU.
For a rebuttal consider Exhibit 5: Only Va. Tech this season seems to be able buck the trend—its early season loss to Bama may actually help it later on. But we’ll see. If the Hokies lose an ACC game, don’t think the bowls will readily take a 2 or 3 loss Va. Tech team when they can take someone (Boise? TCU?) with a better record. And who knows what the BCS computer nerds will say? I suspect Beamer will look back ruefully at his school’s decision to pursue TV revenue and score media points.
The moral of the story? Major conference teams should avoid those scintillating matchups that benefit TV but may trash your school’s season. There’s no real voter reward for “good showings” against ranked non-conference teams and “big “ wins pose a real risk of subsequent letdowns against lesser teams. Moreover, the chance of losing a Sam Bradford, Trinton Sturdivant or other superstar is arguably greater when you prepare for and face top-flight teams early on in the season than when you are able to pull starters, get reps and build depth in preparation for the long haul. In the era of conference championships, there’s plenty of opportunity to face good teams—and if you don’t have a conference championship game, there’s plenty of opportunity to sneak a couple of teams into top tier games while other leagues undergo intra-conference cannibalism.

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Hello Mr. Barnhart, I too have enjoyed Mr. Bisher’s columns over the year along with yours. Do you have a link to Mr. Bisher’s column abou the passing of his mother that you referred to?

thanks,

Dave Holmes

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Tony, I just wanted to add one thing about Iowa. Iowa has won 3 bowl games againstan SEC foe this decade. Iowa has beaten South Carolina, Florida, and LSU from the mighty SEC.

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Tony,

I caught your interview with Timmy B and his views on the BCS. Timmy is a great guy and a wonderful representative of my home town, Shreveport. However, he is dead wrong on this. The BCS draws more attention to college football than any single element, including Tim Tebow. We all love to argue about who should be where, which conference is the best, etc. It has brought in millions and whoever heard of Utah, Boise St and Cincinnati before the BCS? This is not baseball or basketball, it is college football and bowls are part of it. After the season, every bowl winner is happy. A playoff system will destroy the bowls, the anticipated bowl trip for loyal fans and in the end there will be one happy team. Another issue is how to tell the number 5 team or number 9 team that they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs. Right now teams 3 – 10 are pretty happy with the BSC system, well except maybe number 3. I don’t remember a Hawaii getting to play in a big time bowl game before the BSC came along. There is a reason that the presidents keep voting this down. It makes money for everyone and it provides a conduit for keeping fans engaged in the product all season long. A playoff, changes the uniqueness of college football. Hey Timmy, “leave them kids alone. All in all …………”

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Tony you are a southern redneck fu— racist cracker from Georgia who hates the Gators have some objectivity and not always inviting your gator hater redneck racists like you on your show. Shame on you

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Tony, I have always had respect for you, until now. Did I hear you right? Did your guest James just say that its OK to try to put out the eyes of a player, and this is just part part of the game?
With this one incident there are now thousands of high school players hoe think it is OK, (esp if you don’t get caught). You have just helped to erase the the local efforts at trying to teach good sportsmanship! You say football is a way of life? You have sold out!

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Tony,

Would you please ask the SEC if Urban Meyer will be punished severly for questioning officials a week after Slive came out saying that would not be tolerated anymore. I would appreciate it, I am sure he will just get a fine because he is Urban but it would be nice if the conference started having one set of rules for everyone and also grew a backbone! Thanks I enjoy your commentary.

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