Archive for September, 2009

The winning photo.

The sundress rules on game day in Athens.

As if we didn’t know that already.

The voters have spoken again and we have the second winner of our Junkyard Blawg Fan of the Week contest.

The winner of our “Bulldogs colors” contest is a fan calling herself “Jen” who submitted a photo of six young ladies all decked out in sundresses for a UGA football game. It took 62 percent of the vote from Blawg readers.

Congratulations to Jen, who wins two tickets to this weekend’s game with LSU.

Check back this weekend for details of the next contest theme.

Continue reading Second Fan of the Week contest winner! »

Rennie Curran found UGA fans happy after last year's LSU game. (AJC staff)

Georgia has a 3-1 record after four games against BCS opponents, two of them on the road, and yet the bulk of the discussion among sports columnists and fans alike is what’s wrong with the Dogs. Three turnovers per game. Not much of a running attack. Inconsistent defense. Spotty special teams play. Too many penalties.

Heck, some folks even get outraged that the Dogs like to dance during TV timeouts!

But Mark Richt isn’t alone in hearing fan flak amid success. Les Miles can relate.

Despite an undefeated record and lofty national ranking, LSU fans aren’t happy about the narrow victory over Mississippi State and the fact that the Tigers have underperformed in a number of areas, including having the 105th ranked offense in the country.

The Shreveport Times’ Bayou Bengals Blog summed up LSU’s situation like this: “Their fan base may be the most displeased in the history of the game as far as a No. 4-ranked, …

Continue reading LSU fans grumble amid success, too »

The Hat hasn't beaten Georgia. (Associated Press)

I heard yesterday from my old friend Owen, who I’ve known since we were in Mrs. Booth’s kindergarten class in Athens. These days, he’s a clinical psychologist living in Baton Rouge but still a Bulldog to the core.

Owen provided a summary of talking points about the LSU-UGA match-up down on the Bayou:

The revenge factor. The LSU players are talking about payback for the whipping Georgia laid on the Tigers in Death Valley last year (which Owen had “the pleasure” of attending).

The frustration factor. Les Miles has never beaten UGA.

The respect factor. Or the lack thereof. Although ranked No. 4 in the country, LSU is essentially unproven. The feeling in Baton Rouge is that the national media thinks LSU is overrated and is not of the same caliber as Alabama and Florida (which particularly rankles the Tiger faithful).

Owen’s conclusion: “All of this says to me that LSU feels like it has a lot to prove and an ideal chance to prove …

Continue reading Word from a Dawg in Bayou Bengal country »

Our panel of judges has selected the four finalists in the second week of the Junkyard Blawg Fan of the Week contest, with the theme “Bulldogs colors” (game day attire). They run the gamut from superhero costume to sundresses, with the obligatory face paint and fright wigs, too.

Now it’s up to you. Take a look at these photos, pick your favorite and then vote in the poll. The winner, to be announced Wednesday, will receive two tickets to the LSU game on Saturday in Athens.

And stay tuned this weekend for your next opportunity to enter the contest!

Fan No. 1

Fan No. 2

Fan No. 3 (the group)

Fan No. 4 (the group)

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Continue reading Time to vote for Fan of the Week! »

Turnovers have been a recurring problem for Joe Cox. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)

This turnovers madness has to stop.

Without the fumble and two interceptions against Arizona State, that wouldn’t have been a close game. Georgia was by far the more talented team.

And that’s really been the case in all four of the Dogs’ games so far. Mark Richt’s troops are squandering a tremendous talent advantage with their unfocused, sloppy play. Opponents have scored 54 points off the 12 turnovers by the Dogs, who rank 115th out of 120 teams in the country in that category.

On the other side, takeaways continue to elude the Georgia defense, and even when they get one, as with Bacarri Rambo’s interception Saturday, they’re not getting points out of them, with just six points off three recovered turnovers this season.

This is a week that trend needs to turn around, as LSU leads the SEC and is tied for fifth in the nation in turnover margin.

As the level of opposition rises, the chances of the Dogs …

Continue reading Is a stay on bench answer to Dogs’ turnovers? »

Caleb King has been maddeningly inconsistent. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)

It’s the nature of this year’s Georgia team that for every performance or trend that gets fans excited there’s something disturbing to fret over. Here are the more notable ones from this week. …

The offensive line so far is only average. They did a pretty good job of protecting Joe Cox Saturday night, keeping ASU sackmeister Dexter Davis at bay, but Cox was hurried several times, including on the first of his interceptions when a blocker failed to pick up a stunt by one of the Sun Devil defenders. The run blocking was also poor, expecially in short yardage situations. Every time the Dogs needed just a yard, it seemed the line got no push at all. Yes, there’s been some reshuffling by coach Stacy Searels in the wake of the loss of Trinton Sturdivant in the opening game, but considering the collective experience and versatility of this bunch, you’d have expected the OL to be further along at this point. And the …

Continue reading Still more reasons for UGA fans to feel good … or bad »

Some observations and questions arising from Saturday’s win over Arizona State. …

A.J. Green proves he's the country's best receiver. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)

Georgia comes out of a tough September run of two road games and two home games, all against BCS schools, with a 3-1 record, which is about what the most optimistic of us had predicted before the season. And yet we still don’t really have a feel for what kind of team this is, except for the fact that A.J. Green is the best receiver in the country, even if the ESPN folks still can’t see past Julio Jones.

The defense has looked good in the two games where the offense didn’t look so good. The offense played great in the two games where the defense was terrible. Will they ever get on the same page? Is the offense as good as it looked against South Carolina and Arkansas? What happened to the defense in those two games?

The one consistent characteristic of this team so far has been turning the ball over. Each of the …

Continue reading Dogs remain a mystery team »

On a night when Georgia continued its penchant for turnovers, Joe Cox looked thoroughly ordinary and a well-coached Arizona State defense made the Dogs’ running game largely ineffective, the amazing A.J. Green again torched ASU for big play after big play and put his team in a position to win.

He even blocked a field goal attempt!

And still the game came down to the foot of Blair Walsh, who was mobbed by his teammates after kicking the winning field goal as time expired.

An otherwise mediocre night on offense by Georgia was countered by a gutsy effort on the part of the Dogs’ defense, which battled the odds when the Sun Devils were given a short field by the turnovers. Willie Martinez’s players came up big when it mattered on ASU’s last drive.

It was a night that raised a lot of questions, which probably won’t be answered until next week against LSU. Was this just an off-night for Cox and the Georgia offense, or is this what the Dogs look like when faced with a good …

Continue reading Thank goodness for A.J.! »

Advice to Joe Cox: Keep it up. (Jeremy Scott / Special)

It would be tougher to play a better game than Joe Cox did last week, joining the elite group of Georgia quarterbacks who have thrown five touchdowns in a game.

So I asked another member of that club, former Dogs great, David Greene, what advice he’d have for Cox to avoid a letdown after his big game against Arkansas.

“I’d tell him to just ice his shoulder and do what he did last week,” Greene said with a grin. “Joe is playing some really good football right now.”

Especially, Greene, said, when you consider the situation Cox was put in after backing up Matthew Stafford for three years. “It’s hard to fill the shoes of the most talented quarterback to ever set foot on this campus. But Joe has clearly answered the challenge. He’s doing an outstanding job.”

Greene, one of the most beloved UGA QBs and now retired from the NFL and working on the Georgia football pregame and postgame radio broadcasts, was …

Continue reading Greene: Cox has met the challenge »

A.J. Green scores against Arizona State last year. (AJC staff)

Arizona State comes into Saturday’s return match with Georgia leading the country in several categories.

The Sun Devils rank No. 1 in total defense, having allowed 17 points in eight quarters. ASU also is first in the nation in turnover margin, having forced eight (six interceptions and two fumbles) and committed none. (Georgia’s near the other end of the rankings in that category, of course.) And Dennis Erickson’s team leads the nation in kickoff returns.

The caveat about those rankings is that the Sun Devils have only played two games so far and both were against weak competition — Idaho State and Louisiana-Monroe.

Still, the Sun Devils’ defense is expected to be improved from what Georgia faced last year, when A.J. Green had his national coming out party with a career high eight catches for 159 yards. The most notable playmakers on defense are pass rusher Dexter Davis (25.5 sacks in the past two seasons, …

Continue reading Keys to a UGA win over Sun Devils »