OK, friends here we go. As for the Bowling for Bowls of Bowl Game Success (Bowler Options), if Alabama wins, AuburnTideFan takes home the prize. If Georgia wins we have a tie between Dawgs 747 and Brian E., and we will split the kitty. (Which likely makes all Dogs fans happy.)
That said, we have a couple of points to get to today – and a ton to discuss on Press Row from 3-6:30 today on ESPN 105.1 – so we will invoke the rare “editorial merge” on our weekend winners and losers. Deal? Deal.
Anyhoo, hope all is well and you have survived Snowmageddon (even if it did not snow at all on our hill). From the “Talks too much” studios, remember to get the bread and milk.
Weekend winners and losers
NFL/NFL. The playoffs for the most part were very entertaining and we’re sure the numbers will play out accordingly – especially since a lot of the country was under the freeze ray spell for most of the weekend. Still, the lack of truly good teams – did you see the Bills-Jags game? – was telling. More so was the lack of goof officiating, which got to the point that a) former officials were critical of the actions of the weekend and b) longtime referee Jeff Triplette walked away after Saturday’s Tennessee-K.C. struggle. So there’s that.
Quarterbacks/quarterbacks. We all suspected how the first round of the NFL playoffs would playout, right? Granted all of the underdogs covered, but that’s a song for a different dance. No, this round was in a lot of ways dictated by quarterbacks and trust. It was an affirmation of our long-standing knowledge that quarterback is the most valuable position in team sports. It also was a changing of the guard sorts. At least three quarterbacks were mist effective when they were running, which is a short-term value but a long-term loss in the long haul. Now add in the fact that the single biggest and baddest physical dude at the position was jacked-up and the concussion protocol forced Cam Newton to miss one play, and well, QBs, make sure that contract is heavy on the signing bonus.
Tennessee hoops/traditional college hoops powerhouses. Great win for UT and Rick Barnes and everyone in orange. (Did you see Fulmer’s Tweet. Dude is stoked and praised everyone this side of the lady that gives away programs at the Lookouts game.) That said, there is nothing certain in this college basketball season. Kentucky falls. Auburn is good. Michigan State loses to an unranked THE Ohio State. what do we know other than no one really knows how to spell Coach K’s name?
Blake Bortles/Blake Bortles. He is 1-0 in playoff games. Bortles Service. He also did it by rushing for more yards (88) than he passed for (83). Bortles Service. Man, that’s a scary team with even an OK quarterback. (Also, man, the Nathan Peterman scrapbook has to be written by Stephen King, right? What a ride.)
Titans fan/Titans fan. Saturday was thrilling. A ride with a defense that proved yet again, no one knows more about NFL adjustments and strategery than Dick LeBeau. But it also begs the question that if winning Saturday – in the most fortunate way possible – was a good thing if it means Mike Mularkey and a limited offensive vision will stay in charge of this franchise. Discuss.
Title game breakdown and picks
Now we are here.
Here, where every Georgia fan hoped to be after Mark Richt was walked to his own funeral. Here, where every Alabama fan expects to be after all these years of Nick Saban proving time and time again he is a) the best to ever do this; b) unable to be satisfied (which, other than his supreme recruiting skills, may be his biggest asset); and c) delivering an expectation of success that is starting to make Spurrier look like Dooley.
Here is a place that the title game is tonight between two programs that have oodles of NFL players and oodles more on the way.
This is first meeting of Georgia and Alabama for all the marbles, but here’s a hunch that it will not be the last.
Yes, the next winner-take-all meeting almost assuredly will be in an SEC title game to come, but with the talent – both currently and on the way – the process and the coaching, Georgia and Alabama now look to be the default answers for the most eager of July questions for college football fans everywhere: Who’s the team to beat?
Alabama holds that notion, and it has for a while now. This is Nick Saban’s 4,000th trip to the title game, or at least that’s how many it feels like.
Still, with all apologies to Dabo and Urban, UGA coach Kirby Smart feels like the guy who has the pieces and support and recruiting base and longterm chance due to potential annual match-up, to be the biggest hurdle in Saban’s march to re-write the history books. (Who knows how long Urban needs until he misses the family again, and not to be rude, but Dabo winning with Deshaun is really not that much unlike Jimbo winning with Jameis and The Chiz winning with Cam.)
So in terms of dynasty and power – especially with the revelation that UGA likely will end Alabama’s run of recruiting No. 1 rankings this – and future returns, this one means more to Alabama than any of the title games since the first one.
Think of it this way: If Georgia wins, and Kirby Smart walks on his already blazing recruiting trail and says he has one more title than the Dark Lord, Nick Saban, well, what happens then?
Here’s betting that fact is not lost on the Dark Lord. (Like many are, right?)
Side note: Did everyone else see the interview the two of them did with Chris Fowler on ESPN? Man, that was awkward, right? Yes, they are saying the right things and they are playing the right way – truth be told Alabama and Georgia fans have a kindred relationship of my enemy’s enemy is my friend – but the tension was clear. Now add to the fact that Saban is completely delusional – how else to explain the fact that he said he thinks he doesn’t scream at assistants “very much at all” – and there’s a real chance he may sacrifice a live chicken in the locker room before the game. And that’s even before the stories circulated about the bad blood brewing as Smart left the program for his alma mater a couple of years ago.
So, as big as this one is for all involved – we are talking about winning a historic title for Alabama and a chance for Georgia to be No.1 for the first time since Herschel – the ramifications moving forward may be just as big.
For Alabama, this is potentially a real, longstanding challenger. A team that can answer the Saban way with a similar plan that, with a win, some could call a process than is even more Smart.
For Georgia, this is a chance to announce that is just the first step as well as the final goal. An arrival that is about the structure and not just the umpteen NFL guys – including a half dozen that put off their six-figure pay checks for a year – on this roster.
So who you got?
As for our pick, well, here’s what we see.
First, we have a long-standing rule that you can’ out-Alabama Alabama. That means that running the football downhill and play-action passing and pro-style sets are exactly what Alabama feasts on. In fact, it’s one of the reasons so many of their true rivals have gone another direction in recent years.
It’s true that Georgia is better than most anyone through the years who have tried to out-Alabama Alabama. (But are they really that much better than the 2011 LSU team, which was loaded with future NFL stars in a lot of spots?)
Second, it’s a stat that is familiar, but it’s impossible to ignore. Former Saban assistants are 0-11 against The Dark Lord and all 11 have been by 14 or more points. There’s familiar and then there’s fatal, and we’ll let you decide which one this one is. (That said, here’s hoping that Smart looked at OC Jim Chaney and said, “Go into the lab and craft something to surprise me, because if you surprise me, it may surprise him.”)
Finally, if you look back and notice of the quarterbacks with previous experience in this type of environment, the edge decidedly falls with Alabama and its quarterback who played in this even a year ago. Yes, the playoff helps the maturation process – and a decidedly UGA crowd too – but are we ready to back a true freshman against a Saban defense?
Now Georgia is stocked. Roquan Smith, the Georgia linebacker, is an absolute stud. A dude’s Dude for sure, and will be a top-15 pick next spring. Sony Michel has made more money this Christmas break than anyone this side of Amazon and Bitcoin investors. We believe Jake Fromm has the look of a dude who could be in that “franchise quarterback” discussion a couple of years from now.
But this is tonight, and Saban is still the Dark Lord. (He also has Rashaan Evans and Minkah Fitzpatrick too.)
Alabama 23, Georgia 13.
Expanding the playoff?
Not sure if anyone hasn’t noticed, but UCF is quote determined to make sure everyone knows that they finished 13-0 and they believe they should be crowned national champs.
That’s cool. Hey, we believed we should be a starting pitcher for the Dodgers at one point in our lives and even should have been considered to play Crash Davis in Bull Durham. (And you Larry Hockett should remember me)
Anyhoo. The greater known angle here is UCF is embracing the champion role, but make no mistake, UCF is embracing the angle of helping UCF.
To that end, the UCF AD – the other Danny White – has routinely reference the American Athletic Conference as deserving a spot in the “Power Six.” That’s White and the AAC looking for a way to the table, not all inclusion to the spigot of money.
Hey, we get it, but those thinking these Golden Knights are the white knight for the underdogs and under-funded Group of Five need to look elsewhere. UCF wants its piece of the pie, not a pie for everyone.
Heck, even the AAC commish is not willing to bad mouth the current set-up even if this is the best chance for the AAC to ever stake claim to a national crown.
So it goes. That said, will it go there? Will it go to eight as the story above references? Not any time soon, but it will eventually. The money is too great.
This and that
– Well, kudos to Chief for asking last month about our NFL picks and using the phrase, “How could I possibly go on without your 2-2 foresight?” So you know, we hit both games Saturday – Falcons winning outright and Titans-Chiefs under – then went bagel-and-two Sunday(missed Jacksonville by 2 and New Orleans by 1.5) to finish 2-2.
– Interesting change here in regard to the free agent market. Wonder if we are getting to the edge in which even baseball teams can not afford to simply throw all that money away? (Or maybe, more simply put, the Dodgers and Yankees are not players and are not driving the prices up.)
– Great weekend of college hoops, and we took in the Auburn-Arkansas game in person. Man, we may never want Bruce Pearl watching our kids, but that guy knows how to coach and motivate and excite a basketball team and program. Auburn is good.
– Here’s your NFL playoff schedule for this weekend. Our 2-2 picks will be out Friday.
– OK, Dustin Johnson won on the PGA Tour, and he almost made a 1 on a 433-yard par-4. Read that last part again. Anyone else think it’s about time they put limits on the equipment?
– UT defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie entering the NFL draft. So there’s that.
– As for the future, here’s Max Preps freshman all-american team. On the second team is Will House, an offensive lineman at Ringgold High. Dude is 6-8, 260, and here’s betting he commits to an SEC program sooner rather than later.
Today’s questions
Weekend winners and losers. Go.
We are covered up with a lot today, so feel free to fire away.
As for today’s date, well, today was the day the Music City Miracle happened, so there’s that.
Lots of famous people born today.
Elvis. Bowie. Kim Jung-un. Side question, of all of those to still be alive, man we came up on the short end of that hair cut, right?
As for a Rushmore, let’s go here, in honor of Elvis:
Rushmore of one-name musicians.
Go.