#1 UGA BULLDOGS vs Everyone Else

well gentlemen, unranked Texas A&M has done the impossible - they've knocked off Alabama. This means that today, Georgia will be ranked #1 in the nation for the first time in a long time.

This needs to open a discussion.

Lots of lessons need to be learned from this and we better take them to heart real fast. They are as follows:

1) #1 doesn't mean anything except everyone now wants to be #1 to beat #1.

2) Unranked in the SEC doesn't mean a damned thing

3) Now more than ever, it's time for the team to tune out the media

4) The games just get harder from here on out with that #1 bullseye on the back of each player's jersey

5) All eyes will be on every move of the program. Don't have a stupid iPhone incident that is going to reflect poorly on the team or cost us some key players for a game or a season. No DUI scooter incidents, no filing serial #s off of handguns, no smoking blunts in the dorms near the smoke detectors or where the hall monitors can smell them. Discipline. Much emphasis needs to be on team, not me.

6) Each game is going to become its own playoff game. Treat it accordingly

7) Practices are at a premium now. When you're at the top, you learn fast that it is really hard to stay there. The effort at practice has to match the weight of the ranking. Every practice needs to be run like we're preparing for the NC game.

8) Both Atlanta and Alabama do not exist. No looking ahead. Trust me, Bama will take care of Bama. Georgia needs to do Georgia. The SEC will let us know when it's time to seed the East v West opponents, where to play them and what time kickoff is.

9) Now is the time when the players, more than ever, have to have absolute trust in their coaches. Now is the time when the coaches have to look in the mirror and ask themselves are they giving their absolute best each and every day to advance the process.

10) Last but not least, we need to make a decision on QBs moving forward. This is a very hard conversation. But the team has jelled around Stetson. I do not believe that QBs are plug & play when you are the mid point of a season or late into the season. Either JT is healthy & ready to play or he isn't. The Stetson I saw against Auburn was lights out, and much has been said on here that we can't win a natty without JT. Stetson's play is sure making that argument lose its punch. I have seen more than one time where a backup comes in, leads a team to a playoff position only to have the starter return from injury and absolutely fall apart in the game that matters most. I remember distinctly the 1997 AFC playoffs where the Chiefs played the Broncos. Elvis Grbac had been injured and Rich Gannon came in as a backup for the final 6 weeks of the regular season and he had the offense destroying worlds. Then the playoffs come, Grbac gets healthy and Mary Schottenheimer made the call to put Grbac in as the starter because "a starting QB doesn't lose his job to injury." The Chiefs were totally out of sync and lost that game 14-10 and ended their season with a healthy and defeated quarterback.

Are we at that point with Stetson where the decision has to be made? I think we're getting close to it. Either JT is healthy & he plays, or he isn't and he doesn't. I don't want to see this situation drag into November. With each passing week, it gets more dangerous.

SD….. spot on with your thoughts..

Close the Assburn…chapter for this season.. we did what we needed to do….

I think that both our coaches and players have the focus needed to block out the noise …. They use adversity as motivation….. next man up
Is opportunity….

The journey continues..

Stetson looked great this week... just like he did last year right up until the time he didn't.

I have little doubt though that Kirby is leaning more and more towards leaving Stetson at the helm until his play warrants removing him.

SB is a Kirby type guy, and Kirby is the sort of coach to reward a SB type player.

This team may be good enough to win with either guy at QB, but I caution everyone to remember the Alabama and Florida games last year.

Whatever ends up happening... Right now Stetson is the man.

The thing sticking in my craw is that Stetson still isn't getting the respect he's clearly--CLEARLY--earned.
Its as if he only gets honors if his level of perfection brings world peace, aligns the planets, and cures cancer.
Good god, peeps, he's a human being. The kid gutted Auburn with those down-field strikes. See what happens when the play book is opened? Yet some only want to speak of the missed opportunities. Drives me nuts. Show me an example of QB perfection where nothing was missed.
I'll wait...
What really irritates me, though, is the lack of trust the coaching staff has shown Stetson. Where was the long pass last year when Pickens was in the line up? You do know that they have an obligation to develop the "back up" too, dont you? I see wasted talent. Fight me.
This may be, as the current narrative chirps, JTs team, but if you think Stetson is a plan B, watch that game again.
Its time he got his damned respect.

Limey,

I'm not disrespecting Stetson. I'm just saying it seems to be the consensus that UGA can't win it all with Stetson. I'm not sure I buy that but I also don't think at this point it matters what I buy or not. He's making a serious case for why he should be the man under center.

I didn't give my two cents worth but I'm on board with you at this point. Team chemistry is a very fragile commodity. In the hobby of saltwater aquariums, getting the salinity & pH of the water is critical for the tropical fish to survive. Once you have it dialed in, you don't mess with it. You just check the salinity & pH to make sure its maintained at the correct level, but you don't go changing up chemicals. It's so delicate that if you were to drop a copper penny in the tank, it could kill all your fish within a day.

This QB situation is very similar. QB is unlike any other position in the game. You can have a RB committee. You can swap out receivers. You can reposition the tight ends as needed. But you can't go swapping in & out QBs. They run the offense. It responds to their command. It plays to the QB's tempo. It anticipates his cadence and passing style.

The old saying "if it works don't fix it" comes to mind here. And its working with Stetson.