It really was "the perfect option."

Think about that for a minute.

I have a confession to make: This loss to tech doesn't bother me that much.

Oh, I mean, it bothers me. But I knew we didn't have the fortitude to break something like that drought record. That's too much mojo for now.

“I really don’t (expect coaching changes),” Richt said. “We’re going to get better, and we’re going to do a better job next year, I can promise you that.”

Good enough for me. I suggest you address the not tackling first, if I may be so bold.

What's that you say? “I’m not sure we tackled enough,” Richt said. Agreed.

Congratulations to Georgia tech. They deserved it and they beat us.


We interrupt this post for additional recovery through music.

I have heard some say that the crowd was unimpressive. I might say uninspired. At times, given the size of the crowd, the rain, and the noon kickoff, I thought there was good participation.

But perhaps we grew disinterested, too. To me, it felt like the expected simply coming true, despite a very well-played first half. We should be glad Florida wasn't there.

Somebody needs to kick that attitude in the face.

*****
Kid, once I was the very best.

Image: Athens Banner-Herald.

The Munson honoring went very well. There were so many cameras down there I couldn't believe they all could get a shot. Larry seemed much more than pleased. Did we force a tear out of that guy? That'd be something. I was surprised they tried to do a Dooley ceremony at halftime.

How awesome was that Knowshon-is-going-score-no-matter-what touchdown?

How crazy was that Matt-Stafford-is-a-pinball-and-then-he- just-missed-Massaquoi play?

How many tackles did Rennie Curran have? Elleven. He led the team, obviously.

Massaquoi had 11 catches for 180 yards and three touchdowns. Knowshon got 17 carries for 94 yards after an on-fire opening. He caught 4 balls for 74 yards. The team rushed for 81 yards total.


Tech attempted 0 passes in the second half.
Image: Jason Vorhees, The Telegraph.

For those wondering, we pick up Arkansas, at Arkansas, next year from the west. LSU comes to Athens. That opener at Okie State looks like a potential doozy.

There's a bye week before the Florida game and we play Tennessee Tech before the Auburn game, which is at home.

Home games in bold:

Sept. 5, at Oklahoma State
Sept. 12, South Carolina
Sept. 19, at Arkansas
Sept. 26, Arizona State
Oct. 3, LSU
Oct. 10, at Tennessee
Oct. 17, at Vanderbilt
Oct. 31, Florida (at Jacksonville)
Nov. 7, Tennessee Tech
Nov. 14, Auburn
Nov. 21, Kentucky
Nov. 28, at Georgia Tech

I saw on ESPN that Texas overtook Michigan (CORRECTION: I meant Notre Dame) on the all-time wins list on Thursday.

This was the top 10 before the 2008 season started, according to Wikipedia. Our media guide has us 11th on the list with 693 before this season started.

Blow to the head

Succinct Saturday night analysis from my friend Jean: "Bottom line, there was no line."

Agreed. They beat us on the line and they made the plays. The rest hardly matters. But that doesn't mean I won't write it.
----
One of my buddies: Will Florida win the National Title this year?
ME: Just one?
----
As we shivered in a corner and hoped Tim Tebow wouldn't come back for one more go at us Saturday night, my buddy Joe noted that I, and a lot of other people, expected to lose this game.

"Who didn't think that we were going to get a beating today, who was an adult?" he asked.

True. But at the end of the first half, with little going our way and having shot ourselves in the foot repeatedly, we were in it. We saw that we could play with these guys, that we had the athletes. And it was like we decided to start playing terrible.

And maybe it was more about the cumulative effect of things; the constant pressure eventually causing turnovers, their speed just taking over, etc. But what it really felt like in that second half was that we just decided to suck.
----
The illegal blow to the head call that nullified an interception. Kenneth Harris' drop. The "WHAT!?" onside kick. The interceptions. Knowshon's fumble. The ridiculous returns we allowed on turnovers. The missed field goals. Anything that happened in the red zone. The pass that went behind Chandler's back in the endzone. Percy Freaking Harvin.

Stafford keeper left in the Red Zone. Brilliant.
----
ME: Did Tebow score touchdowns in any games yesterday besides ours?
JOE: He blocked a kick in the Tennessee game.
----
Say what you will about last year's celebration. It was a desperate act by a desperate team. But when you look at the recent history of Gator football, with Steve Spurrier and now Urban Meyer at the helm, I think you can fairly say that tacking on points to belittle your opponent and calling time outs with less than a minute left in a blowout is "The Florida Way."

I can't imagine any one wanting to be involved in it. And, yet, there they are, kicking our ass.
----
What do you figure Coach Richt and Coach Meyer said to each other when they shook hands at the end of the game?
----
MEYER: So did Urban Meyer make his point? Did he make his point? Did he make his point? Because Urban Meyer wants to make sure you understand that he made his point.
----
I was going to write a Pulpwood Smith rant to follow his Florida game prediction. It started with this: This is Andre Pulpwood Smith coming back at ya from Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, where I am currently seeking treatment for ass-pounding related injuries...

It also referenced Urban Meyer's "Weaselly little triangle face," but I let it go.
----

This was all very, very disappointing, but you have to keep it in perspective. Auburn lost to Ole Miss yesterday. Tennessee is 3-6. Three and six. Joe said he was asking for a Tennessee / South Carolina score all day Saturday, and "Nobody cared."

Texas lost a heart breaker to Texas Tech. The way they played on those last two plays was about how we played the whole second half.

We weren't as good as our hype this year. And then we got hit by the injury bug, and on the lines of all places.

The season is, in some ways, over. We will not have a chance to win the SEC this year. As unrealistic as offseason National Title talk now seems, not being in the race for a conference championship is bitterly hard to swallow.

Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford are both eligible for the NFL Draft next year. The question of whether they'll leave school early will be a large part of the narrative for the rest of the season.

If they leave, they won't have much of a legacy here at the University of Georgia, I don't think. Theirs would be a story of talent, not trophies.

But that is for another day.

Beat Kentucky, Auburn and Georgia tech or quit the game.

Wait a minute... because you never see these guys together, either.

With SEC Media Days underway in Birmingham and Sen. Obama in Iraq, which of these guys do you think is getting more media love at the moment?













NY Times: Obama Overseas! In presidential mode!












Sporting News: Only impossibility for Tebow is Obscurity.

This could take Georgia out of play in a big way. In a related story, sources say Sen. John McCain has hired former Georgia Defensive End Marcus Howard as a senior consultant on bringing the pain.

Images: www.barackobama.com and several of my more terrifying nightmares.

Win just doesn't seem like a strong enough word

It's not often that you get to celebrate a significant accomplishment, and your enemy's degradation, all in one night. Unless you are a Georgia fan. Whammy:

One colossal flop

By Mike Knobler | Monday, June 2, 2008, 10:18 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Intimidated? Scared? Whatever word correctly describes the way Georgia tech’s baseball team played tonight in Athens, it has to go down as one of the biggest flops in the team’s history and in the history of tech’s rivalry against Georgia.

tech couldn’t pitch, couldn’t field and, after the first inning, could barely hit against a patchwork pitching staff.

Congratulations, Diamond Dawgs, on heading to the super regional.

And congratulations Georgia tech, for letting the boys blow your doors off, twice, in two days, to make it there.

Read all about it.

UPDATE: What a great photo. But I don't think they had to give us their lunch money, I think we straight up took it.


Ashley Connell, www.georgiadogs.com.

Tim Tebow: The new Michael Jordan, Gandhi, Mozart and Abraham Lincoln

Led Zeppelin apparently just finished it's reunion show a bit ago.

I understand that Tim Tebow showed up during set break and to tell Page, Plant and Jones that they were no longer needed.

He then thanked Jesus (his Lord and Savior) 36 times and broke into a 45-minute Stairway to Heaven that raised Jimi Hendrix from the dead.

Then Tebow built an actual stairway to Heaven and walked home.