Nice efficient win for the Dawgs on a chilly Saturday afternoon in the Classic City. I know somewill say it is FCS Idaho State but I say who cares. The Dawgs did what they were supposed to do and for someone who watched his game in Sanford Stadium, I have seen the Dawgs struggle with similar opponents. In 2000 we only beat Georgia Southern 29-7, it was only 29-10 against MTSU in 2003 and UAB played us to a 16-13 score in 2003. In 2004 with David Greene and David Pollock seniors we only beat Marshall 13-3. In 2007 when we finished #2 in the country we beat Troy 44-34. By the way UGA is now 47-11 in the 58 games I have attended between the hedges. Just as an FYI, the Dawgs started out 32-4 in the first 36 games I saw in person. Furthermore, the last time UGA played a team from The Gem State, it won 48-13. (Boise State in 2005).
Georgia has now scored more than 30 points in five straight games for the first time in school history. (Let's all blame Bobo...sarcasm) The 48-point margin of victory matches the biggest for Georgia during Mark Richt's 10 years as head coach. Earlier this season, Georgia also beat Louisiana 55-7. The 35 points scored in the second quarter was the most since 1988 against William & Mary when they also scored 35 in the 2nd quarter. Georgia would beat Mary & Bill that afternoon 59-24. The Bulldogs' 41 points in the first half was the most since 49 against Northeast Louisiana in 1994 in a single half. The Dawgs would go onto route the Indians that year 70-6.
I think I would be amiss if I did not bring up this stat; the Bulldogs have 12 INTs through 10 games in 2010 after recording 10 during the 2009 season. Georgia has forced 18 turnovers and converted them into 66 points while its opponents have scored 21 points off 12 Bulldog miscues on the year. Besides the debacle last weekend in J'ville we have been way ahead in this category this season. It has to start influencing the scoreboard at the end of games before long.
Come back later in the week as I will try to breakdown the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. (I am thinking sometime Thursday or Friday).
2. College Football Thoughts
a. We left the UGA game early to get home for the LSU-Bama game and man I was glad I did. Holy Cow what a football game. We all pick on Les Miles but that guy does things no one else does and you have to respect the results. Then there is this stat, LSU improved to 15-1 after a defeat under Les Miles.
b. Maybe their is some genius with the hat.
c. How good has Alabama been the best few years. Saturday, Alabama lost an SEC West game for the first time since 2007, ending a streak of 12 straight wins.That's unreal.
d. How crazy would this be? Auburn loses to UGA & Bama, Bama beats Miss St & Auburn, LSU beats Ole Miss and loses to Arkansas and Arkansas beats both Miss St and LSU. While that is not to crazy, if that happens we would have a four way tie in the SEC West.
e. No idea how that tie breaker would work or how to explain it.
f. Here is some more craziness from the SEC, the East has still only won twice all season over the West, and one of those wins belongs to Vanderbilt. The Commodores won at Ole Miss.
g. I was also hoping to watch TCU-Utah but that was beat-down I was not expecting to watch. How good is that TCU defense? Utah is shut out in the 1st half for the 1st time since 2007 vs BYU. At halftime, the Horned Frogs had outgained Utah 328-72 en route to a 23-0 lead.
h. I hate playing this game but we can get a better gauge of TCU next week when Utah plays at Notre Dame.
i. There are only two teams with winning records in the bottom 20 in turnover margin: Michigan at 108 and his old school, West Virginia, which is ranked 101st.
j. Congrats to Coach Paterno on his 400th career victory. 28 of his players are currently in NFL & four former players are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
k. Only in the ACC can Clemson win despite fumbling five times, losing two of them, throwing an interception, having a touchdown called back on a holding penalty, and missing two short field goals. Only in the ACC is there a winner in a game with seven turnovers, six interceptions and no touchdown passes (congrats, BC).
l. Only in the ACC can Miami win despite 10 penalties for 100 yards, two interceptions and two missed extra-point attempts. Only in the ACC can Duke win despite allowing Virginia 643 total yards.
m. Speaking of the ACC, good luck to try and break down the Atlantic Division and have your report make sense but I will give it a try.
n. FSU, Maryland and NC State all have two conference losses. The Noles finish up at home against Clemson and at Maryland. Maryland finishes at Virginia then home games against FSU and NC State. NC State is home against Wake then plays at UNC and at Maryland.
o. Do not sleep on the Clemson Tigers, who finish up at FSU and at Wake Forest.
p. What is going on with Texas? That team has recruited to me top 5 classes to struggle the way they have this season. Right now they sit at 4-5 with games against Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic and Texas A&M. Right now you have to think they could only beat FAU.
q. I can not tell you how bad I wished we played Auburn early in the season and South Carolina near the end. With their loss Saturday night the Gamecocks are 3-8 in November since 2007. They looked disinterested Saturday night.
r. Here are a couple of early spreads for your interest. FSU -8.5 vs Clemson. Bama -14 versus Miss St. Utah -5 versus Notre Dame. Georgia +9 versus Auburn. Florida -6 versus South Carolina.
3. NFL Thoughts
a. With Matt Ryan as their QB the Falcons have won 13 in a row and are 17-1 overall. That is unreal. Maybe I should have gotten some Falcons season tickets this year.
b. The Falcons used their big men well on Sunday, averaging 6.6 yards per play with two-or-more tight ends on the field, 2.3 yards per play more than when they used one or fewer tight ends. They also scored all three of their touchdowns with two or more tight ends in the game.
c. Unreal stat from Sunday Night Football. No QB has been better than 12-4 record in their last 16 games. d. I watched the highlights of the Jets-Lions game and still have no idea how the Jets won that ballgame. Sunday marked the 3rd time in Jets HISTORY that they tied a game with 0:00 left in regulation and then won it in overtime. The other two times that happened was against the Dolphins.
e. Even though he missed the PAT, I think the fact that Suh was able to even try the PAT was awesome. The last Lions player that played a position other than kicker or punter and attempted an extra point was Jim O'Brien on 11/18/1973 at Chicago.The last non-kicker/punter in the NFL to do this was Doug Flutie for New England in week 17 of the 2005 season.
f. The G-Men are looking more and more like the best team in the NFC. Maybe they need to get Tiki Barber (who is a joke) to say more bad things about them. Here is what the Giants accomplished on Sunday. They won in Green Bay for the first time since October 18, 1981 (I was 6 weeks old).
g. The Giants have now scored 40 or more points in consecutive road games for the first time since 1966.Furthermore, the 35 scored in the first half is the most since they scored 35 in the first half in December in 1985.
h.Charlie Whitehurst made his first NFL start Sunday for the Seahawks. Whitehurst from Clemson, has been in the NFL since getting drafted in 2006, but has yet to throw a pass in a regular-season game. Since 2006, 81 non-QBs have thrown at least one pass in the NFL. The most attempts by a non-QB since 2006 is 11 by Josh Cribbs and Ronnie Brown.
i. Not much went right for the Pats on Sunday but Tom Brady now has 238 career TD passes. This surpassed Jim Kelly for 17th in NFL history
j. On Sunday Brett Favre had career-high 446 pass yards. This is his first 400 yard passing game since 12/5/93. The span of 16 years, 337 days between 400 yard games is longest ever. So much for him being finished. I still do not trust him in a big spot.
k. Michael Vick today joined Randall Cunningham & Steve Young as only QBs ever w/ 4,200 career rushing yards.
l. I do not like the guy but Jeremy Shockey on Sunday became 8th tight end in NFL history to reach 500 receptions. Very interested on the Hall of Fame debate when his career is over. I say no but you could make an argument.
m. I watched a lot of the Oakland-KC game on Sunday on the small tv while the Colts-Eagles game was on the big screen. The story of the Raiders turnaround this season has been fascinating. On Sunday they won despite turning the ball over 3 times and committing 13 turnovers. That does not happen.
n. Oakland's Jacoby Ford had 148 receiving yards, 158 Kickoff return yards Ford is only the 2nd player in NFL history to have at least 140 receiving yards and 150 kickoff return yards in the same game. The other was Gary Ballman, who did it on Nov. 17, 1963.
o. Back to the Colts game in which was one of the more entertaining games of the year. It seemed like every call when against the Eagles and the Colts could still not capitalize. A lackadaisical 3rd quarter for the Colts cost them big time especially when they had all the momentum.
p. Since 2000, the Eagles are 36-9 when scoring a TD on their opening drive.
q. For those that care about that sort of thing in early games yesterday underdogs went 4-3-1 ATS. Surprisingly, the Browns were the only of those four to win outright.
r. For those that like the over/under...overs went 9-3 on Sunday and NYJ-DET and KC-OAK needed OT to make it over.
4. MLB Thoughts
a. We all know the story of the postseason is the San Fran Giants but we have to discuss how good their pitching was this postseason. The Rangers hit .190 against them. The Braves hit .175 against them. The Phillies hit .216 against them.
b. If the Braves could have got one more hit per game that average would have been .204 and maybe I would be giving you stats on Braves pitching not Giants pitching.
c. Back to the Giants, the Giants' combined opponents batting average this postseason: .196. Since the wild-card era began in 1995, only one staff that had to play all three rounds has beaten that, and that was the Randy Johnson/Curt Schilling 2001 Diamondbacks at .193.
d. Seven times in 15 postseason starts, the Giants' starter gave up no more than one earned run and all four starters did that at least once. Only two World Series winners in history ever got that many starts that good by four different pitchers -- the '99 Yankees (7, by Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Orlando Hernandez and David Cone) and '98 Yankees (7, by the same foursome).
e. Last team to win a World Series without starting a single pitcher 28 or older: the 1973 Oakland A's of Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter and Ken Holtzman.
f. Cody Ross hit eighth for the Giants in their first game of the postseason nd hit fourth in their last game of the postseason. He was just the third player in history to start in both the No. 4 hole and the No. 8 hole in the same postseason, according to Elias. The others: Frank White for the 1985 Royals, and Eric Chavez for the 2000 A's.
g. The Giants spent only 36 days all season in first place. According to Elias, if you don't count wild-card teams, that's the fewest days spent in first place by any team that won the World Series in a quarter-century since the 1985 Royals won after a season in which they were in first for only 30 days.
h. According to Elias, Cliff Lee is the first pitcher in history to win at least three postseason games for two different teams that traded for him in midseason. The only other pitcher who ever won three games in any postseason after being acquired in midseason was Jeff Weaver, for the 2006 Cardinals.
i. By the way both Weaver and Lee have something in common: they were traded by the Rangers mid-season.
j. Enough World Series talk. Let's discuss the hot stove.
k. By the way, I watched a lot of the Arizona Fall League All-Star game on Saturday night. Does this make me a loser?
l. For the regular season only here are Roy Halladay's pitch totals the last 3 years: 3568 (10th in MLB), 3394 (17th), and 3559 (6th). We must also add the 317 pitches he threw in the playoffs. Total everything up and one gets close to 275 innings. If he were a Brave I would be worried.
m. From 2005-07, the Nationals won 3 more games than the Giants. Study their drafts and read this article and you might be able to see why the Giants fortunes were able to change.
n. This article does a pretty good job breaking down the differences for Cliff Lee and the tax implications if Lee were to sign in New York compared to Texas.
o. If the Yankees offer Lee a five-year, $120 million contract and he establishes residency in New York State (not the City), the Rangers could offer him $111.5 million if he takes up residency in Texas and it will be the same deal.
p. If Lee were to live in New York City versus somewhere in Texas, the Rangers could offer a five-year, $107.2 million deal against the Yanks' $120 million and it would work out to the same net dollars for Lee
q. Those are unreal differences in cash just by deciding where to lay your head.
r. Here is the MLB Award schedule: Rookie Of The Year, 11/15; NL Cy Young 11/16; Manager Of Year 11/17; AL Cy Young 11/18; NL MVP 11/22; AL MVP 11/23.
s. On Saturday Buster Olney reported that at the World Series Pedro "Big Panda" Sandoval started his day with a breakfast of Cheetos and Mountain Dew. Even I usually begin my day with some Oatmeal. Not good Panda, not good at all.
5. An Awesome Trip
If you know me at all you know I appreciate a good road trip coupled around great food, great cities and great sports. This December co-worker Nabil and myself are using some time off to accomplish such a grand adventure. The trip begins Saturday morning December 4th with a Delta flight from Atlanta to Philly. A car will be rented in Philly and driven to Syracuse, NY for that evenings Syracuse-NC State basketball game. After the game some Dinosaur BBQ will be feasted on. The next day brings us a trip to Cooperstown and Baseball's Hall of Fame. I have been once to the Hall of Fame and spent about an hour and half in the museum instead of the 5 hours that should be spent. As of now no idea where we lay our head on Sunday night. (Don't worry Mom).
Monday involves a trip into the city so nice they named it twice. Monday afternoon brings us tickets to see a taping of Jimmy Fallon. Tuesday will involve a trip to Astoria for some Derek Jeter's (the sandwich) and the Jimmy V Classic that night at the World's Most Famous Arena. We will help raise money for a great cause by attending a legit night of hoops. (Just a side note, if you have about 5 minutes and want to hear one of my favorite speeches ever...click here). The two games we will see at the Garden include Memphis-Kansas and Michigan State-Syracuse.
Wednesday involves a trip to Bean town. More than likely lunch will be one of two places; 1. The Seven Sea's in Milford, Ct which is the post show hangout of Dan Patrick and his Dannettes. 2. Frank Pepe's Pizzeria in New Haven, Ct which is one of the oldest Pizzeria's in this great land of ours. The rest of Wednesday will be a drive into The Hub and a visit to TD Banknorth Garden (or whatever bank is sponsoring it these days) for the Celtics and Nuggets. Thursday will bring some sightseeing and potentially some college hockey as the Huskies of Northeastern visit the Terriers of Boston University.
Not quite sure of Friday's plans but they will involves us leaving Bostonia. We have a couple of different options to look at and this includes a college hockey game at West Point as Army skates with the Bentley Falcons. Other options includes New Jersey Nets basketball at the Rock or Princeton hockey. Saturday will complete the circle as we return to Philly for the annual Army-Navy football game. Saturday evening will involve some cheese-steaks and knowing what I know about Nabil and myself a trip to AC is not out of the possibility. Sunday morning we fly home in time to get on the couch for week 14 in the league where they play for pay.
Let me know if you would like to join for any or all of this great adventure.
Halftime
This week's song that Smoak and myself used to rock out to while cruising the streets of Sylvania is Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication. By the way this one of my favorite videos ever. We are back with trivia this week. There have been 8 pitchers that have won 3 or more Cy Young Awards. Name 5 of them. Hint the earliest you need to turn you calendar to is 1963.
6. Best Candy Bars
Last week at work we had a pretty good discussion on everyone's favorite candy bar's/chocolate. Below you will see everyone's favorites with some of my thoughts. (Why am I hungry now....goes and eats 8 bags of M&M's). In the comments section please share your top 5. You will be glad you did.
Coaches Top 5
1. Plain M&M's- Better if put in the freezer for a few minutes. Lawyer Dan taught me that trick.
2. Reese's Peanut Cup- If I go more than a week without eating some Reese's Peanut Cups
3. Peanut M&M's- Another solid M&M product.
4. Twix-I like eating the top half before eating the bottom half. Yes, I am fat.
5. Take 5-Very underrated and not enjoyed enough by me.
Brodie's Top 5
1. Peanut Butter M&M's-Not sure if I have had this sort of M&M's but call me intrigued.
2. Reese's Cup- Brodie knows what is up.
3. Peanut M&M's-Again Brodie knows the deal.
4. Baby Ruth-Does any other athlete have a candy bar named after them?
5. Payday-
Nicely's
1. Ring Pop
2. Fun Dip
3. Nerds
4. Pixy Stix
5. Gummy Bears
-You might catch me eating some Nerds, besides that no thanks.
Ingle
1. Snickers-The old classic, tough to knock this solid #1.
2. Twix
3. White Chocolate Reese's- I did not even know this existed. I have to try.
4. Junior Mint - I can not think of Junior Mint's without this clip from Seinfeld.
5. Milky Way
7. College Top 5
1. Oregon-I do not see how you keep this offense out of the 40's. That does not mean it can not happen.
2. Auburn- Big game on the loveliest village on the Plains. This is my first trip to Auburn for a football game.
3. TCU- The Horned Frogs have probably been college football's most dominant team this season.
4. Boise St- Why do I like TCU but not like the Broncos.
5.Stanford- I probably should not mention this but I have a man crush on Jim Harbaugh.
8. NFL Top 5
1. Pittsburgh-Goes from #3 to #1 on the basis that the schedule maker gave them a Monday instead of Sunday game.
2. New York Giants-Unreal for them to fly across the country and play the way they did.
3. New York Jets- I did not like the way they looked but a win is a win is a win, espicially in the NFL.
4. Baltimore Ravens-How good is Ed Reed? Why does it seem like he gets a pick 6 every Sunday.
5. Atlanta Falcons- Short week for a banged up football team. All they do is win. Or at least that's all they do at home with Matty Ice as their QB.
9. What I Read This Week
Read multiple great articles this week. The first article comes from Wired magazine and takes a look at Ticketmaster. It discusses how everyone dislikes Ticketmaster but at the same time how no one can take it down. Very intriguing read for those that have ever sold or bought a ticket.
The second read is written by Wright Thompson for ESPN Los Angeles and he takes a look at Zenyatta the 6 year old mare who on Saturday missed a perfect career by a neck Saturday night. Zenyatta was purchased at the low price of $60,000 because she suffered from a form of ringworm; she has since won purses totaling over $6 million and is noted for overtaking her competition in an intense surge after starting each of her races "lingering languidly" at the rear of the pack. Unreal read by Wright Thompson.
The third read also discusses Zenyatta and it is Sports Illustrated Tim Layden's report from Churchill Downs. Not often you have a piece of journalism live up to the hype of the preceding event but in this piece it does. I try to read everything Tim Layden writes.
10. Non football or baseball thoughts
a. WOW! What a race in the Breeder's Cup Classic early Sunday evening.
b. In case you missed it here is a link to one of the more exciting Horse Races you will ever see. How heartbroken does Zenyatta's jockey look after the race. I read some articles on Sunday that by Zenyatta's reaction at first she thinks she won.
c. Have I ever said that it is on my Bucket List to own a race horse. We might have to call him/her Reese's Cup.
d. Last night when Bob Costas said it was 39 in Green Bay it was 46 in Atlanta. Not enough difference if you ask me.
e. Braves right handed pitcher Peter Moylan has his own blog and it is absolutely a riot. Here is Moylan's blog on the start of week 2 in his off season workouts.
f. Speaking of off season workouts. Today starts week 6 of boot camp. My fitness level is improving. My diet has improved a very smart amount. It needs to change a whole lot for me to start looking like Brad Pitt.
g. I saw The Bank Job this weekend. Very good movie, especially when one considers that the movie was based on a true story. I have to do more research and see if I can find some articles on this great story.
h. How come I did not know Garth Brooks was going to do a series of benefit concerts in Nashville? Apparently he sold over 140,000 tickets for 6 shows over 9 days in mid December. That is an awful job by me for not knowing about this.
i. If you can give me a reason why Modern Family is not the best show on television I want to hear it. Unreal how funny each episode is.
j. Last week the roomdog went to Dallas for a football game and the World Series. We allowed him to blog about his trip. Click here to read about the adventures.
k. I know I mentioned the Jimmy V speech earlier but if you have not heard it, click here.
Quote of The Week
The quote of the week comes from L$U head football coach who was asked Saturday about eating grass on the sidelines during games. The mad hatter is one character.
"I know one thing, the grass in Tiger Stadium tastes best."
His QB Russell Shepard follows up with this beauty
"I see him do it every day. That’s Coach Miles. He eats that grass. I guess he says it has a lot of protein.”
Text of The Week
The text of the week comes from my buddy Todd in the Big Apple when I asked him if I could lay my head in December when me and Nabil come to town. This is his reply.
Your apt is my apt and Nabil is gonna have to prove himself as a true man of weight or he's sleeping under the Queensboro.
Tweet of The Week
This week's trivia comes from Atlanta Braves relief pitcher and Aussie Peter Moylan.
@PeterMoylan: my fiance just saw Ryan Reynolds and turner field and immediately regretted coming home with me!!!
Picture of The Week
This week photo is for Lawyer Dan as we capture two of his favorite former CBS co-workers. Thanks to Bonnie for tweeting this photo. It looks like a great scene on the Bayou on a Saturday afternoon.
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