Okay, folks, I was in Athens all Labor Day weekend and returned to a no-internet household. Allow me, before I read the rest of the forum, to share my views on the Boise State game.
1) No bellyaching about how we should have beaten them because they're a second-tier school. Boise State is that damn good this year. Know how I know? There was no trickery or tomfoolery. No hook-and-lateral play. The cutest they got was with a routine end-around, no pass. Boise played pro-style football and sliced their way downfield. Any reasonable pollster would have LSU #1 and BSU #2 in his/her rankings this week.
2) On the other extreme, if SCarolina wins in Athens on Saturday, CMR is out of a job, period. The only exception might be if McGarity allows him to sacrifice Bobo, but that will only last him till the end of the season. Richt looked lost and confused on the sidelines, almost like he was just waiting for it to be all over with. UGA can't afford another season of asleep-behind-the-wheel coaching, or we'll be in the class of Vandy, Kentucky and Ole Miss for the next five years.
3) We must learn from mistakes. When Coach Richt says that
he's sticking with the Richard Samuel-Isaiah Crowell rotation
that failed utterly against the Broncos, it gives me pause. We can't afford to stay in the same place any longer or we risk moving further backwards. Throw your conservative boots in the river this season, Coach. It's for your own survival.
4) We have to strike while the iron's hot. The SEC -- with the exception of one or two power teams each year, which have been better than any other school in the nation -- has been hugely down since 2005. The East this year looks like the Sun Belt Conference. No more "well, in the SEC everyone beats everyone else up" excuses. That's true of the West this year (Arkansas, Alabama, LSU, AND Mississippi State are that damn good? Frightening!), but not of the stinking, terrible East. Florida is down, Tennessee is still down, UK and Vandy downright stink, and SCarolina trailed an ECU team that allowed around 7000 yards rushing per game last year for most of Saturday night, despite having arguably the best tailback in the conference. If we catch Spurrier napping (and we have, A LOT, this decade), we should run 6-0 or 6-1 through the conference. This year, if we lose to anyone save SCarolina OR Mississippi State, everyone on the coaching staff gets the chop.
5) Brandon Boykin was the whole game. As sensational as it is to watch him play ball, this CANNOT be true if we are to succeed. We need to let Aaron Murray loose, block for him and the rest of the backfield -- which means teaching Crowell and Samuel to pick up assignments -- and blitz blitz blitz.
6) Those uniforms were HORRIBLE. We looked like Rutgers and Bowling Green State got together and had the mother of all nightmares. If I ever see those uniforms again, I'm shielding my eyes the rest of the game. Thank goodness for radio.
