SB Nation Atlanta: All Posts by Doug Gillett

Capital One Bowl, Georgia vs. Nebraska: Once more into the breach for the Manic-Depressive Preview

2012-12-31T14:01:20Z

The Georgia Bulldogs were five yards away from a shot at the national title, but instead pulled off the turnpike too early and found themselves in Orlando, where they will make their final stand of the 2012-2013 season against the Big Ten's Nebraska Cornhuskers. Don't let that detour distract you, though, from the many ways in which this was close to a dream season for the resurgent Dawgs. They've won 11 games, with a shot at a 12th, which would make this the second-best win-loss record of Richt's lengthy tenure; for the second year in a row, they swept the arch-rival gauntlet of Florida, Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Auburn; and at long last they notched back-to-back wins over Florida, denying the Gators their own shot at the national title in the process.

Is the Capital One Bowl — for the third time in the last decade — a fitting destination for a team that's accomplished this much? Well, that's for the players to decide. Their motivation will be a topic prominently featured in the final Manic-Depressive Preview of the 2012-13 season . . . assuming we can find both of our previewers, that is.

Depressive Doug: Hey, man, where are you? Not being able to locate you is becoming a recurring theme of our gameday preparation.

Manic Doug: Um . . . yeah. I'm going to need a minute. I . . . sort of ended up in Miami by mistake.

DD: Dude, come on, I thought we went over this a million — wait. [pause] Oh, no. You didn't —

MD: Yeah. I did.

DD: Oh, man. Usually I'm either irritated by you or resentful of you, but now I just feel bad for you.

MD: I guess it was because of this dream I had the other night — I dreamed the Dawgs won the national title. It was so vivid, I mean, they were even playing Notre Dame and everything, and when I woke up my heart was still pounding from the excitement, so when I got in the car I guess I was still kind of thinking about it, because I was driving down I-75 and my mind was wandering and . . . well, here I am.

DD: Oh, jeez. Well, I can come get you, I guess . . . are you OK? Do you need anything?

MD: No, man, I'm fine. Having a blast. Even hung out with Luther Campbell the other night. Really good guy to talk to — has a lot of thoughts on the fiscal-cliff negotiations on Capitol Hill, surprisingly enough.

DD: Well, you can, uh, regale us all with that later, I'm sure. But it's almost prophetic in a way that your mind's apparently been on Miami the last few days, because I've got a sneaking suspicion the Dawgs have felt that way too.

MD: Oh, OK, I know where you're going with this. The Dawgs are still smarting from coming thisclose to a national title shot and missing out, so now they're gonna come out flat and get beaten by Nebraska, is that it?

DD: Something along those lines, yes.

MD: Look, I'd be lying if I said the same thought hadn't occurred to me. But you know why that's not going to happen? Because we're playing Nebraska. Ninety-seventh-ranked run defense in the country. Last seen getting steamrolled by Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game — Wisconsin, who started off the season barely being able to get out of their own way on offense. We're faster, we're more talented, we're better coached; our psyches may still be damaged by falling just short of a national title chance, but better that than to have given up 70 points to a seven-win team on national television. We're going to be fine.

DD: I really wish I could be that confident, but I still remember what happened the last time we had a bowl date against the loser of the Big Ten Championship Game. We thought we were so much better than they were, and then four quarters and three overtimes later, we were wondering just what the hell happened.

MD: You know what the difference is between this year and last year? Last year we had that 10-game winning streak and thought we were that much better than Michigan State, only to find out we were pretty evenly matched — they had some playmakers on offense and their defense was just as good as ours, and it turned out they could hang with us. This year, though, we really are better than Nebraska. I mean, what's their best win? Wisconsin in the regular season? Michigan? Penn State?

DD: What's our best win? Other than Florida?

MD: What, are you trying to act like the Florida win never happened now? Face it, we beat Florida and were five yards away from knocking off the team that's probably going to hoist the crystal football in a week's time. We've proven we can hang with elite teams. Nebraska hasn't.

DD: We proved we could hang with elite teams when properly motivated and when sporting a full roster. Right now, though, we're moping about missing out on The Show and our once formidable defensive front is operating at 50 percent of its usual manpower — John Jenkins is academically ineligible, and Abry Jones, whom we were hoping would be fully recovered from ankle surgery by now, may not be able to play after all. Whatever problems Nebraska has been having on defense, their offense has been pretty stout, particularly in the running game — 5.4 yards per carry and 254 per game, good for eighth in the nation. Even better than Alabama, the team that straight-up paved us in the Georgia Dome a few weeks ago. How confident are you, really, that we're equipped to handle this?

MD: Sure, Nebraska's got a strong running game — you know why? Because with Taylor Martinez at QB, you need a strong running game if you're going to accomplish anything. The 'Huskers are barely averaging 200 yards per game through the air, and that's against a bunch of slow-ass Big Ten defenses.

DD: Funny, you see a QB with so-so numbers, I see one who's leading the Big Ten in passing efficiency.

MD: Sounds to me like code words for "never gets asked to do too much 'cause he's not that good."

DD: Hmmm, strong running game, efficient quarterback who doesn't have to do too much . . . pretty much sums up both the teams who have beaten us this year.

MD: You know what separates Nebraska from South Carolina and Alabama, though? They have defenses and Nebraska doesn't. I mean, you sure didn't see the Tide or the Gamecocks giving up 200 yards a game on the ground this year. Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall are going to run wild on Tuesday — it's going to get so bad that switching to a pass-heavy offense might be our way of taking it easy on them.

DD: Funny you should mention that, since Nebraska has the number-one pass defense in the country at the moment.

MD: Hey, if I could run it for 200 yards on them without breaking a sweat, I wouldn't bother passing much, either. I mean, can you name a single elite quarterback they've faced in 2012? The Big Ten was a QB wasteland this season — after Martinez, the most efficient QB in the conference was Robert Marve. Of Purdue. The one time the 'Huskers faced a truly competent passer, it was Brett Hundley of UCLA, and he carpet-bombed them for 300-something yards and four TDs.

DD: So best-case scenario is we win an insane shootout?

MD: No, best-case scenario is we rise up, close ranks on defense, and take out our frustrations on a team that's not on our level talent-wise or coaching-wise. Which means beating them by a score of, oh, 48 to 20.

DD: Good Lord. And just how do you think we get there?

MD: Simple: With an offense that's both more balanced and more talented than anyone they've seen all season long. We use Gurley and Marshall to set up the pass, and once they start bringing eight or nine guys into the box to stop them, we open it up and throw a haymaker or two with the passing game. I've seen enough from Tavarres King, Malcolm Mitchell and Chris Conley this season to trust them to win one-on-one battles with any of the guys in Nebraska's secondary. If we can put some points on the board early, that'll force the 'Huskers to move away from the running game and make Martinez bring them back with his arm, which is not how you want to have to win a football game. Honestly, I may need to revise my prediction here, because if anything we should be shooting to crack the half-century mark on the scoreboard.

DD: Well, before you get any more fanciful with your prediction than you already have, let me give mine. I think our offense will look pretty good — I certainly don't think Nebraska brings as much to the table on defense as Michigan State did a year ago — but I'm not going to sugarcoat things here: My confidence in our ability to stop their ground game is minimal at this point. We've been inconsistent against mobile QBs all season long, we'll probably be down two guys on the D-line that is the linchpin of everything we try to do in Todd Grantham's defensive scheme, and oh yeah, our D-line coach took off for Auburn a couple weeks ago, so we've got that instability to have to deal with. I think we'll put plenty of points on the board, but they'll be able to just about match us score for score and keep those chains moving with Martinez, Ameer Abdullah and Rex Burkhead — and the longer those drives take, the more worn-out our already depleted defense is going to get. I think it'll be close for three quarters but Nebraska will own the fourth, and we end up losing by a score of 41-34.

MD: Yeesh. Third straight bowl loss? Second straight to a fricking Big Ten team? You really know how to end an otherwise great season on a miserable note.

DD: Well, that's what I'm here for. I'm certainly not here to dose anyone up with happy pills.

MD: No kidding, you'd be terrible at that. Fortunately, our predictions still average out to a 41-31 Georgia victory, which would be our 12th overall and at least a push against the spread. Both of which I can live with.

DD: Even if it's not the national title?

MD: Yes, even if it's not the national title. See, I have to take pride in my team's accomplishments no matter what, because I know I'm the only one of us who's going to.

DD: Hey, I take pride in our team's accomplishments after the fact — I'm just too insecure to be confident about them beforehand.

MD: Well, I guess that's admirable . . . in its own sad, weird, neurotic way.

DD: And you think I'm the one who's a black belt at dishing out backhanded compliments. Look, do you need me to come get you or not?

MD: Nah, I think I can double back to Orlando on my own. Fortunately, though, I've already made friends here so we'll have a place to stay for the national title game next year.

DD: Oh, where to begin. You're already putting us in the national championship game for 2013, and yet you don't even know where it's going to be played. You're just adorable sometimes, you know that?

MD: Whatever, dude. Condescend to me all you want, but you're never going to be rid of me.

DD: [heavy sigh] I know . . . I know.

Poll

Who's got the more accurate prediction of what will happen in the Capital One Bowl on Tuesday?

Manic Doug

4 votes

Depressive Doug

0 votes

4 votes | Poll has closed

Alabama 32, Georgia 28: Yeah, they showed up

2012-12-03T13:23:36Z

My best friend from college once theorized that sports commentators make a living from never being wrong. If they predict an outcome or trend, and said outcome or trend ends up going 180 degrees the other way, they either cherry-pick plays and statistics that support what they'd been saying all along, or they go the North Korea route, dump their idiotic prediction down the memory hole and act like they never even said it.

Two months ago, as Georgia's football team sat in a pile of flaming wreckage outside Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, I said I'd officially lost confidence in Mark Richt. We'd won plenty of games under him, I reflected, and would surely win plenty more, but none of them would be important, none of them would propel Georgia to greater heights or establish the Bulldogs as an elite program on the national stage. To my mind, Richt was both the force that had made Georgia consistently good and the ceiling preventing us from ever being great again.

Less than 36 hours after one of the most heartbreaking losses in Georgia football history is an odd time to be making this confession, but here it is: I was wrong.

I was wrong, obviously, when I gave up on Georgia's chances to advance to the SEC Championship Game. I was wrong when I predicted we wouldn't figure into the race for anything more consequential than the Outback Bowl. And I was dead wrong when I said we'd lost our ability to show up in big games. Be unhappy that Georgia lost to Alabama on Saturday — be mad, even, if that's your instinct — but don't waste your time or anyone else's trying to explain how Georgia didn't show up.

What the Bulldogs did Saturday evening was face off against perhaps the only true college-football dynasty of the 21st century and stand up to them for 60 minutes. Against a team that may very well be the best in the country in 2012 — and that will have a chance to prove as much in a month's time — they put themselves in position to win right up to the bitter end. They led the game for 29 minutes and 29 seconds, whereas Alabama led for only a little over eight minutes; they just happened to be the right eight minutes. And still, Georgia was just five yards away from a defining victory.

The Georgia team that took the field in Atlanta this past weekend was a far cry from the team that withered and died on the same field a year ago, or the one that collapsed in Columbia back in October. Saturday's team looked a lot closer to the one that weathered a brutal game in Jacksonville on Oct. 27 and may have exorcised the Florida bugaboo for good. In some ways, it was better — the Tide just happened to be a better team than the Gators were. That's the way it goes sometimes. Be disappointed in the outcome of the SEC Championship Game, but I don't see how you can be disappointed in the effort our players and coaches put forth.

I realize that "Hey, Georgia showed up" is not an especially high bar to be setting for our football program. But if you believe — as I did — that Richt and his team had plowed themselves into a rut where they were virtually predestined to look intimidated and unprepared anytime a real challenge presented itself, then Saturday's game had to have been a revelation. Consider just how far we've come from the embarrassing nadir of the 2010 season, when we couldn't win a big game and were hardly even a sure bet to win the small ones. The following year, the Dawgs re-learned how to take care of business in games they should win; this year they re-learned how to stand tall as underdogs against juggernaut opponents, snatching a win that may have kept an arch-rival from playing for the national title and coming five yards away from playing for that title themselves.

What the next step is for Richt and the Bulldogs, I have no idea. I've made grandiose predictions on the heels of thrilling regular-season finishes before and ended up disappointed, so I'm going to refrain from assuming that Richt has firmly re-established Georgia as a national powerhouse based on one valiantly fought defeat. But at the bare minimum, I'm going to have to walk back my earlier declaration that the Dawgs can't show up in a big game under Richt or that he's fundamentally incapable of making his team a contender. I was wrong about those, and it took this classic of a game, perhaps the single best SEC Championship Game that's ever been played, to make me realize that.

Two teams showed up at the Georgia Dome on Saturday. Both teams played, and both teams put forth every last bit of effort and courage they had. One team won, and the other team didn't. But I find myself equally awed by both.

Alabama vs. Georgia: Is Nick Saban overrated?

2012-11-30T13:00:31Z

Editors note: This column was carefully constructed in an attempt to troll Alabama fans. We do not believe a word of this

Mark Richt has brought a pair of SEC titles to Georgia after a 20-year drought. He's just clinched the eighth 10-win season of his coaching career and holds a .750 winning percentage. And yet even that résumé isn't enough to keep people from writing "Richt on the hot seat" columns anytime the Bulldogs falter. Should the Dawgs lose to Alabama in this weekend's SEC Championship Game, those folks will probably write dozens more.

Nick Saban, meanwhile has won a single SEC championship at Alabama. He's got seven 10-win seasons and a career winning percentage of .740. Should the Tide falter in the Georgia Dome this weekend, their fans will be disappointed, but they'll continue to rally around the Saban statue they've already erected next to Bryant-Denny Stadium.

A lot of folks would point to this comparison as a sign that Georgia's standards are too high. But maybe the truth is that Alabama's standards are too low. After a quarter-century of wandering in the wilderness following the departure of Bear Bryant, it's possible that Alabama fans have become so desperate they'll deify anyone who offers them even the slightest possibility of reclaiming past glories.

Not that Saban is a bad coach. Far from it. After all, he did win two SEC titles and a national championship at LSU — which had to have stung for Alabama, considering that during that same period, they were dealing with the embarrassing failure of Mike Dubose, the betrayal of Dennis Franchione, the humiliation of the Mike Price scandal and the growing pains of the Mike Shula era. When the time came to admit the Shula experiment was a mistake and begin the next chapter of Alabama's football history, it's no wonder they turned to someone with Saban's track record of success in the SEC.

But as Saban nears the end of his sixth season in Tuscaloosa, it's time to ask whether he's really delivered on the promise of a return to glory. Is one SEC title in five long years enough to balance the frustration of a 6-6 regular-season record in 2007, the embarrassing bowl loss to Utah in 2008, and the fourth-place SEC West finish in 2010?

Perhaps Alabama fans view things differently because they, along with everyone else in their state, view things through the prism of the Iron Bowl, where in-state superiority means everything. Indeed, Alabama had already tied its longest losing streak to Auburn at the time of Saban's arrival, and set a dubious new record when Saban lost to Tommy Tuberville in his first Iron Bowl visit. It would seem that Saban has returned in-state superiority to the Crimson Tide, and in that respect you can forgive Bama fans for perhaps being a little over-enthusiastic. But even there, Saban's reputation has been over-inflated relative to his actual accomplishment. A 4-2 record against an in-state arch-rival? Mark Richt is 11-1 against his. Richt not only won his first time out against said rival, he also faced off against that rival's best team of the 21st century and won — neither of which Saban can claim.

Again, I'm not saying that Saban is a bad coach, or that Alabama fans shouldn't be proud of what he's accomplished so far. But after years of failure by one coaching prospect after another, it's possible Tide Nation became so desperate they were determined to anoint him as a savior without any regard to how his teams actually performed on the field. It's possible that a fan base accustomed to holding its football program to the highest standards of success let those standards drop so that they could feel like the long march through the dark ages was finally over. Which it may be, though the light isn't quite as bright as they'd have you believe.

But there that statue of Nick Saban stands, erected after a single SEC title in 2009. You'll notice Georgia didn't put up a statue of Mark Richt after he won an SEC championship in 2002, nor even after his second in 2005. Maybe it's because Bulldog Nation demands a little bit more from its program than Bama fans do. They went through a rough patch before their current coach just like Alabama did, but maybe instead of making them desperate, that period of trial and tribulation made them stronger.

Maybe after all this, Nick Saban does beat Mark Richt this weekend and finally evens the SEC championship tally between them. Maybe then you can make the case that Saban has lived up to the glittering portrait his fans have already painted of him — had painted, in fact, before he even set foot on campus. If that happens, though, Tide Nation may become a victim of its own PR campaign, because with two SEC titles at Alabama, Saban would then become an even more attractive target to the NFL teams that are supposedly circling him on an annual basis.

If Saban did jet off and make his long-rumored return to the pros — let's say as the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, the team that seems to figure most prominently into those rumors — where would Alabama be then? Having built up a grandiose mythology around their current coach, they would then be charged with the unenviable task of finding someone who could fill the shoes of the giant they'd created. But don't gloat too much about that prospect, Georgia fans, because it's possible the only person who stands any chance of doing that is the coach who will be standing across the field from Saban this Saturday.

WEEK 14 VIEWERS' GUIDE: WE'VE COME TO THE END OF THE ROAD, KIND OF

2012-11-29T17:00:47Z

It's the final real weekend of college football before the bowls crank up, and though the schedule is a bit abbreviated relative to previous weeks, the scheduling gods have done a good job distilling: This weekend features championship games that will decide four of the six major conferences, with two other conferences deciding their respective champions via full slates of intraleague games. However, all championship games are not created equal, so you'll still want to display some discerning judgment as you peruse the TV listings. Your time with college football grows short, so unless you're convinced the 2012 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl is going to make your life complete, you're gonna need to make these last few magic moments count. (All times Eastern, as usual.)

THURSDAY NIGHT

What you'll be watching: Louisville at Rutgers (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.)
The de facto Big East Championship Game, or as the Orange Bowl calls it, "Why We Can't Have Nice Things." And no, Big East, Memphis and Tulane don't qualify as nice things. Then again, at the rate the Big East is expanding, the championship matchup a few years from now will be IUPUI vs. the Skip Barber Racing School, so maybe you want to jump on this game while the participants are still remotely recognizable.

What you should be watching instead: "Moonshiners: Moonshiner vs. Hogzilla" (Discovery, 8 p.m.)
Now THAT'S a matchup! And no, it doesn't refer to this weekend's showdown between Dana Holgorsen and Charlie Weis, but admit it, you're still intrigued just the same.

FRIDAY NIGHT

What you'll be watching: Pac-12 Championship Game, No. 17 UCLA at No. 8 Stanford (Fox, 8 p.m.)
Yep, you literally just saw this exact same game last week, just on a different field and with the teams wearing different unis. Chalk it up to Larry Scott's marketing/programming genius that he's feeding us leftovers and we're still acting like it's amazing.

What you should be watching instead: MAC Championship Game, No. 18 Kent State vs. No. 19 Northern Illinois, Detroit (ESPN2, 7 p.m.)
There are six conference championship games this weekend, with three of them featuring ranked-on-ranked matchups. This, impossibly, is one of them, and with a win the Golden Flashes could potentially break into the top 16 of the BCS rankings, thereby qualifying them for a BCS at-large bid. How can you turn your back on the Mid-American Conference in its finest hour? (Never mind Kent having gotten blown off the field by Kentucky early in the season — man, quit bringin' up old shit.)

SATURDAY MORNING

What you'll be watching: No. 12 Oklahoma at TCU (ESPN, noon)

What you should be watching instead: No. 24 Oklahoma State at Baylor (FX, noon)
Two Big XII games, each featuring a ranked team from Oklahoma visiting an unranked challenger from Texas. How best to bid the Big XII regular season a fond farewell? A game with an over-under of 86 seems like the only proper way, so we'll take the 'Pokes and Bears, thanks much.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

What you'll be watching: SEC Championship Game, No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Georgia, Atlanta (CBS, 4 p.m.)

What you should be watching instead: Nothing. You say you wanted a playoff? Well, the SEC title game has basically become the play-in for the national championship game, so if you're not watching that then we can only presume you don't actually like college football. But the SEC gets so much hype, I'm so sick of hearing about seriously, dude, quit whining, pull up your big-boy pants, grab a bag of Fritos and sit your ass down as Gary Danielson fellates the Tide to a four- or five-TD victory. That slurping sound is the sound of FREEDOM, son, and don't you forget it.

SATURDAY PRIME-TIME

What you'll be watching: Big Ten Championship Game, No. 14 Nebraska vs. Wisconsin, Indianapolis (Fox, 8 p.m.)
A team bearing half the responsibility for that 13-7 crime against football in Iowa City, versus the third-place team in the Leaders Division? Nope nope nope no thank you nein nyet nie not even a little bit. Ten bucks says Jim Delany isn't even going to be watching this game. In fact, outside of the 'Huskers' and Badgers' respective fan bases, the only person we can possibly imagine being interested in this game is Urban Meyer, who will just point at the TV screen and glower in the event somebody actually makes a big play.

What you should be watching instead: No. 23 Texas at No. 7 Kansas State (ABC, 8 p.m.)
Unless your cable provider graces you with a channel that's actually going to air South Alabama at Hawaii at 11 p.m., this hour is your penultimate viewing opportunity of the 2012 college football regular season, with the grand finale being Army-Navy in a week's time. So choose wisely.

Georgia vs. Alabama: The Manic-Depressive Preview tees it up for the SEC Championship

2012-11-29T13:40:04Z

After a roller-coaster ride spanning 12 games and the better part of three months, the Georgia Bulldogs have reached the point many Dawg fans hoped for, but surely far fewer actually believed: the SEC Championship Game, with the winner assured of advancing to the BCS National Championship. You will be shocked to find that the two members of our Manic-Depressive Preview team are of two completely different minds about this. Depressive Doug, still haunted by PTSD flashbacks of the second half of last year's SEC championship, very nearly insisted on doing this preview from bad, where he's been cowering in fear of Nick Saban ever since Alabama clinched the SEC West on Saturday. No such fear on the part of Manic Doug, who had to be bodily restrained from driving up to Atlanta today with one of those two-beer-drinking hats on his head, only relenting when reminded just how severely the Georgia State Patrol would frown on such an accessory. But here they both are, and their predictions for the biggest game of the Mark Richt era follow thusly.

Manic Doug: Wow. I mean, I dreamed of a moment like this, hoped it would happen, thought about what I'd do if it did happen . . . but now it's real. The Dawgs are facing Alabama in the SEC Championship Game for the first time, and if they win they're in the national championship game — to face Notre Dame, of all teams, a rematch of the 1980 Sugar Bowl that stands as our program's finest hour. Like, if you'd written this in a novel and gave it to me to read before the start of the season — hell, during the season — I would've thrown it back in your face and told you it was too hokey. But here we are.

[pause]

MD: Jump in anytime, you know, if you want to, like, savor the moment or anything.

Depressive Doug: Nope, I'm good, thanks.

MD: Seriously? You're not thrilled right now? You're not chomping at the bit to see if the Dawgs can win the biggest game of their careers and earn the right to play in an even bigger one? This is what you live for as a member of Bu —

DD: Oh, God, stop. Just stop. Don't make this any more nerve-wracking than it already is. The pressure. People like you are why I've been afraid to get out of bed all week long . . .

MD: No, your social anxiety, clinical depression and deep-seated paranoia are why you're afraid to get out of bed, dillbag. Don't put this on the rest of us just because we dare to enjoy this moment and be proud of what the Dawgs have achieved this season.

DD: Hey, I'm proud. Eleven and one record? Division title? Number three in the nation? Second straight sweep of Tennessee, Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech? I'm incredibly proud of all that. When the time comes, I'll write soaring prose about this team and this coaching staff. But right now all I can think of is how all those achievements have . . . earned us the right to get our asses kicked by Alabama on national television.

MD: Oh, man, come on. Seriously? You've already marked us down with a loss — not just a loss but an embarrassing blowout? Wait — why am I even surprised by any of this?

DD: Beats me, but the writing's on the wall. We're up against Nick Saban. We're up against a team that's 59-7 over the last five seasons. It's an honest-to-God dynasty, and the truly scary thing is, it hardly even looks like work for them. Even this season, we've struggled with teams we should've dominated; Alabama just buzzsaws right through them.

MD: Except for Texas A&M, though, right? Which is the reason why they have the exact same record we do. And it's not like they've played any tougher a schedule than we have. When you strip away the Alabama brand and the Big Bad Saban intimidation nonsense, what you've got is a team we can go toe-to-toe with in terms of talent. So why don't you pull up your big-boy pants and tell me why you think we don't match up well with this team — not last year's Alabama squad, not one of Bear Bryant's teams, but the 2012 Alabama Crimson Tide.

DD: You asked for it, you got it. First and foremost: their defense. Currently ranked No. 1 in the nation in total yards allowed, just like last year. Higher than both the Florida team we struggled with for four quarters and the South Carolina team that absolutely embarrassed us in Columbia last month.

MD: Uh-huh. The same defense that gave up 435 yards to LSU's busted-ass offense and another 418 to Texas A&M the following week. Look, I get that they're good, but you got a long way to go to prove to me they're invincible.

DD: Oh, so you think our offensive line is going to be able to stand up to their front seven?

MD: We stood up against Florida's, why shouldn't we be able to stand up to theirs?

DD: Because Alabama has allowed fewer rushing yards and notched more sacks than they have?

MD: Dude, you're seriously selling our line short. Over the past five games they've paved the way for 845 rushing yards — including Todd Gurley going for 118 against the Gators, who weren't supposed to allow us to do anything. And aside from that one bad half in the Ole Miss game, they've only given up five sacks in that stretch, too.

DD: "Aside from that one bad half." You mean that half in which our linemen got worked by defenders who were like two-thirds their size? I seem to remember that a little differently than you do.

MD: Look, we've got two good running backs who can thrive even when put up against a tough defense. Aaron Murray has been a straight-up assassin ever since the fourth quarter in Jacksonville. LSU and A&M both proved that a well-planned intermediate passing game can work against the Tide, and once we've got them biting on those middle-distance passes, we uncork a long one to Malcolm Mitchell or Tavarres King, who'll be going up against a banged-up secondary. I'm not saying we're going to run wild on them, but we're easily the best, most balanced offense they've faced all year.

DD: Yeah, that and a buck-fifty will get you a tall coffee at Starbucks. Look, Nick Saban doesn't care about your starry-eyed notions of "balance" and he doesn't care what a stand-up guy Aaron Murray is. He's going to blitz us like crazy, and I'm sorry, I don't think a pair of true-freshman running backs or a QB who has yet to put up truly good numbers in a big game is going to be prepared for that.

MD: OK, fine, you don't have any confidence in our offense. You didn't before the Florida game, either, and we still came out of that one just fine.

DD: Despite throwing three interceptions. And the only reason we won was because the Gators somehow managed to cough up six turnovers.

MD: Well, someone had to force those turnovers, didn't they? You don't think our defense might've had something to do with that?

DD: Of course they did. But do you really think a team as disciplined as Nick Saban's is going to just drop the ball in our laps six times?

MD: No, I'm not counting on that. But I think our defense matches up well with them. Their strength is an offensive line that just road-grades people; one of our big strengths is a defensive front seven that flies to the ball. Which is not to say that we're going to be in their backfield harassing A.J. McCarron all afternoon long, but I'd give Jarvis Jones a shot against any O-line in the country.

DD: You'd better hope so, because McCarron is sitting right behind Aaron Murray at No. 2 in the nation in passing efficiency.

MD: Which is easy to do when all you're asked to do is manage the offense and not do anything too risky — all an Alabama quarterback has ever been asked to do as long as I can remember. But even there, I think the speed of our linebacking corps matches up well with the intermediate passing game Alabama's had such success with. They might decide to go deep every once in a while, but the way their receiving corps has been depleted by injuries, I'm confident our defensive backs can handle them one-on-one.

DD: Hmmm. Quarterback who isn't asked to do too much, but is devastatingly efficient at what he does do; strong intermediate passing game; receiving corps that's not as strong as it once was; one of the best power running games in the country. You know what Alabama's offense reminds me of?

MD: Why don't you just save us all some time and tell us.

DD: South Carolina's. And how'd that work out for us last time?

MD: Look, if you're waiting for me to tell you we played like anything other than hot garbage in Columbia last month, you're gonna need to bring a book. It was a terrible game, we weren't prepared, we looked awful. Stipulated. But we're a different team now than we were then, just like the team that destroyed Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl in '08 was completely different from the one that had gotten its ass handed to it by Tennessee just a couple months before. I'm not worried about our preparation for this game, not worried about Shawn Williams needing to make any comments calling out the defense, because they know this is the game of their lives. And they just happen to be playing in it at a time when the team as a whole is clicking better than it has in years.

DD: Jeez. I knew you were a cockeyed optimist, but I thought the specter of Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide might actually bring you back down to earth.

MD: I am back on earth. You're the one who's getting himself needlessly worked up. Again, Alabama's good this year. No one's going to deny that. But we know they're not invincible. Well, I know it, anyway, you seem to be a little slow in catching up. But . . .

DD: Gee, thanks. And people wonder why I'm always so reluctant to do these with you. Clearly we're not going to come to any kind of agreement about how the game's going to go or how much Georgia needs to be afraid of the mighty Tide, so how about you give me what I'm sure will be an evidence-free, irrationally sunny prediction of how the game's going to go so we can wrap this up.

MD: I'll do you one better: I'll give you a rational prediction. Because it's rational to think that our defense will play with the same intensity it showed against Florida. It's rational to think that we'll be able to take away the deep ball and force Bama to go on some long, drawn-out drives. And while it's rational to think Aaron Murray won't be going off for 400 yards or anything against this defense, it's also entirely rational to think he can shrug off whatever mistakes he makes and lead us on a touchdown drive late in the game that puts us up by four points. The defense makes a big stop short of the end zone, and Georgia walks away with a 27-23 victory . . . and a ticket to the BCS National Championship Game.

DD: Wow. That does sound pretty awesome.

MD: I know, right?! Come on, man, believe.

DD: I'm trying . . . I'm really trying . . . but nope. Sorry. Just can't believe that our defense stops Alabama's running game, or that our running backs can make a dent in their front seven, or that Aaron Murray is suddenly going to make his defining statement game against the top defense in college football. I think what we're looking at is a game that's a lot like last year's — a slow start as the teams kind of feel each other out, not a lot of big offensive plays, maybe Georgia even heads toward halftime with a small lead. But nobody does halftime adjustments like Alabama, and considering that the Tide are in the top 10 nationally with a +14 turnover margin, I think they grab momentum in the second half with a big turnover and never let it go. Maybe we put another score on the board after Saban has already called off his dogs, but in the end it's Alabama 38, Georgia 13.

MD: Dude. I'm devastated.

DD: Sorry. That's what I'm seeing.

MD: Well, I guess I should be grateful that you don't actually think this game will be as lopsided as last year's, but . . . man. The moment this team has been working on for years, and you don't think we'll rise to the occasion any better than that.

DD: Look, I would love nothing better than to see this team mount an amazing upset. But this is Alabama we're talking about. You can rise to the occasion all you want, play the game of your life, and they'll still beat you.

MD: Well, our predictions average out to a 31-20 Bama victory, so on aggregate, apparently that's exactly what we're predicting. But I don't care. Until the clock hits four zeroes, I'm going to believe we have a chance to win this game.

DD: You go right on believing that if it makes you happy. But let the record show you also thought you had a chance to win that Powerball jackpot.

MD: And I still do, man! Five hundred and eighty million dollars! Just think of all the season tickets we could buy with —

DD: Actually, they've already announced that winning tickets were sold in Arizona and Missouri, so you're gonna have to put those plans on hold, Rockefeller.

MD: It's like you live to ruin my fun. But I don't care. When Georgia pulls the upset of all upsets this weekend, I'm never going to let you hear the end of it.

DD: If Georgia pulls that off, I think I can live with being constantly reminded about it, I assure you.

MD: You sure about that? I mean, I can be pretty annoying.

DD: No! You? Are you serious?

MD: I sense I'm being mocked here. But the joke's on you: I'm totally used to it.

DD: Imagine my complete lack of surprise. Again.

Poll

Who's got the more accurate prediction of what will happen in the Georgia-Alabama game this weekend?

Manic Doug

72 votes

Depressive Doug

40 votes

112 votes | Poll has closed

Georgia vs. Georgia Tech: The Manic-Depressive Preview gets its hate on

2012-11-22T15:13:27Z

One more game stand between the Georgia Bulldogs and a date with destiny in the SEC Championship Game, but it's a doozy: the 104th installment of the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry, or as we call it around here, Clean Old-Fashioned Hate. The Dawgs have taken the last three in a row, each margin of victory bigger than the one before, and Mark Richt is aiming for his 11th victory in 12 tries against the Jackets, but he's also aiming to keep his players' focus off the SEC title bout and on the task at hand. Traditionally, in years when the Dawgs win the SEC East, this has been a struggle for the Manic-Depressive Preview as well, with Depressive Doug trying to reel in Manic Doug and keep him focused. Will either Coach Richt or Depressive Doug be successful in their efforts? Over the next couple days, we'll find out . . .

Manic Doug: Man, of all the football weekends I look forward to each year, this is one of the biggest — the weekend after Thanksgiving, where we crush the dreams of those social outcasts from North Avenue and remind them once again who runs this state.

Depressive Doug: Wow. I have to say, I'm impressed that you're actually focusing on this game and not the SEC title game in a couple weeks. That shows an impressive degree of growth and maturity for you.

MD: Yeah. And if any of those dweebs tries to talk any smack, then they just redeemed themselves a coupon for one toilet swirlie, courtesy of yours truly.

DD: Welp. Forget everything I said about "growth" and "maturity" . . .

MD: So we beat the nerds' asses by five or six touchdowns, and then it's on to the Dome. COME GET SOME, ALABAMA!

DD: . . . and everything I said about "focus" while you're at it. You really think this is going to be some walkover?

MD: Why wouldn't it be? We're the third-ranked team in the nation, armed with the most efficient quarterback in Division I-A and a defense that's been mowing people down right and left ever since the Florida game. Tech, on the other hand, is wheezing along at 6-5 and has a defense so inept they couldn't even wait 'til the end of the season to fire their coordinator. And oh, yeah, there's the little matter of Mark Richt having won 10 out of 11 games against Tech, which basically causes them to wet their pants at the mere thought of us. They've basically had one good game — no, one good quarter — since Richt got here. Why would they suddenly reverse all that embarrassing history against a team that's 11-1 and in control of its own destiny for a national title?

DD: I think you answered your own question with the second half of that sentence. Tech may not be a great team this year, but if we've already got our sights set on Alabama and whoever comes after that, they're good enough to take advantage of our distraction and make life very difficult for us in Athens this weekend.

MD: I see what you're saying, except that that's almost never been the case. Four times under Richt we've played the Jackets with an SEC title game on deck, and we're 4-0 with an average margin of victory of three TDs. The only time we got played remotely close was in 2005, when we only won by a touchdown. Maybe it's time for you to admit Richt has his players prepared for this game better than you give him credit for.

DD: Maybe. But none of those four years involved Georgia having a serious shot at a national championship. This year they do. And it's easy to say "Oh, don't worry, Georgia Tech's a bad team this year," but I'm sure Kansas State thought the same thing right before they got blown up by Baylor last Saturday night. Baylor! Who, even after that beatdown, still has the worst statistical defense in the country!

MD: But that was Kansas State and Baylor. This is Clean Old-Fashioned Hate. This is a long-standing rivalry, and our guys are geeked up about the prospect of sending the seniors out with an undefeated record against Tech.

DD: You don't think some of Tech's seniors are just as geeked up about blowing up Georgia's dreams, though? Look, we may have won the last three in a row, but last year was the first time since Paul Johnson arrived on the Flats that Georgia's had a comfortable win in this series. Johnson always gets his guys up for this game, and whatever else you think about it, his triple-option attack is a major pain in the ass to defend.

MD: Except we had a taste of it last week and did OK.

DD: Oh, so you're satisfied with allowing 302 rushing yards in a single game?!

MD: When it's 150 yards below their per-game average on the season? Trust me, I slept just fine after that game. Look, we've had a full game's worth of practice against the triple-option; we know how physical the game is going to be; we know what kind of cut-blocking to expect from their line. Heck, Georgia Southern's head coach served for 13 years under Paul Johnson as his running backs coach at Southern, Navy and then Georgia Tech itself, so the scheme we saw last week is virtually identical to what the Jackets are going to throw at us this weekend. So I'd say we're prepared.

DD: "Prepared" and "motivated" are not necessarily the same thing, though. You know we've had problems waking up on defense this season, giving up big first halves even to teams like Buffalo and FAU, and, to some extent, Georgia Southern last week. It's one thing to mess around in the first half in a bodybag game, but in a rivalry game like this, against a dangerous offense like Tech's and a bunch of players who are out to prove themselves, it could spell disaster.

MD: Again, I'm still not getting this lack of "focus" or "motivation" you keep harping on. Do you really think our team is going to be overlooking the Jackets that badly?

DD: Yeah, because like I said, we've been playing down to the level of our competition all season long. I think they'll get into a rhythm early on offense, and unlike what happened against our other non-conference opponents, I don't think we'll adjust quickly enough to contain them in the second half. I'm worried about how focused our offensive line will hold up, too — they got handled in the first half against Ole Miss, just to name one example, and for all the problems the Jackets have had in their secondary this year, their QB pressure has been fairly solid, and they've held up well against the run, too. I think the game will be very close at halftime, I think we'll cough up a critical turnover deep in our own territory in the second half that flips momentum over to the Jackets, and . . .

MD: Oh, man. Don't even say it. Even from a sad-sack like you, I don't think I can stand to hear this.

DD: . . . I think Tech pulls the upset just like we did when we went to their place in '09 and they were headed for the ACC title game. Final score, Georgia Tech 30, Georgia 27.

MD: Preposterous. Absolutely preposterous. You're killing me. You literally took my life with that statement.

DD: Uh-huh, OK. Instead of confirming every Tech fan's worst stereotype of UGA degree-holders with your flagrant misuse of the word "literally," why don't you tell me how you think Saturday's gonna go.

MD: Well, for starters, Tech's not gonna be able to stop our offense. Not in a house, not with a mouse, not in a box, not with a fox. Their pass defense has been rancid this season, and even with Marlon Brown and Michael Bennett out, we've proven we have more than enough weapons in the passing game to keep lighting up the scoreboard. Particularly with Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall running the ball, they just aren't going to have enough manpower to stop us consistently. Meanwhile, we're fully prepared for the one-dimensional offense they're going to throw at us. Yes, that one dimension can be fairly tricky, but we handled it pretty well last year, which tells me Todd Grantham has Johnson's system figured out. They'll get some yards on the ground, sure, but only because that's the only way they can get them — Tevin Washington's not going to beat us with his arm. Look at it this way: We held Georgia Southern to just two-thirds of their per-game rushing average for 2012. If we do the same thing to Tech, we'll end up holding them to only 216 rushing yards. Since Paul Johnson arrived in Atlanta, the Jackets have been held to that many rushing yards or fewer 13 times. You know how many of those 13 they've won?

DD: You got me. How many?

MD: Four. Heck, when they've been held under three hundred net rushing yards, they're only 10-18 under Johnson. So don't worry about the Dawgs this weekend — they'll get going in a hurry on offense and build a lead in the first half that the triple-option just isn't designed to dig out of. Final score, Dawgs 45, Nerds 13.

DD: Wow. So you actually think we're going to beat Tech slightly worse than we beat Southern?

MD: Sure. Man, that'd be embarrassing for the Techies.

DD: Well, yes. Embarrassing, certainly. Realistic, I'm not so sure about.

MD: Well, look, since you're such a Tech fan today, why don't you put your math skills to good use and average up our predictions so we can get started on the traditional Thanksgiving display of gluttony.

DD: OK, let me stop you right there. I may be a Chicken Little when it comes to Georgia football; I may take the dimmest possible view of every single game that pops up on our schedule; I may be at this very minute texting my primary-care physician to see if he can up my antidepressant dosage in preparation for the Tech game and the SEC championship. But no matter how bad I get, don't ever, ever, accuse me of being a Tech fan. Even people as miserable as I am have standards.

MD: Well, I'm glad to hear it. That's one thing all of us Dawg fans can be thankful for this time of year.

DD: And our predictions average out to a Georgia win by the score of 36-22, which would be both a win and a cover for the Dawgs, since I know that information has particular relevance for a degenerate such as yourself.

MD: Not this time, bro. I'm taking the money I'd normally wager on the Dawgs and donating it to a food bank.

DD: Wow. I'm . . . I owe you an apology, buddy. That's a really generous and honorable thing to do.

MD: Thanks. I figure I can always make that money back by doubling up on my bet in the SEC title game, anyway.

DD: Aaaaand once again I rescind every positive assumption I made about your maturity, morality or anything else. You never cease to amaze, but one thing you never do is surprise.

MD: Awww, thanks, man. I really appreciate that. Happy Thanksgiving, bro.

DD: [heavy sigh] Happy Thanksgiving to you, too.

Poll

Who's got the more accurate prediction of what will happen in the Georgia-Georgia Tech game this weekend?

Manic Doug

10 votes

Depressive Doug

4 votes

14 votes | Poll has closed

WEEK 13 VIEWERS' GUIDE: LET US GIVE THANKS FOR GOOD GAMES

2012-11-21T17:15:06Z

If you're a true Thanksgiving professional who's game-planned an entire eating strategy for the next three days, Wednesday is your evening of fasting, so you can dive into Thursday's festivities with an empty stomach that's just crying out to be filled to its breaking point with tryptophan and carbs.

College football has approached the end of the regular season the same way: Last weekend it gave us a schedule front-loaded with irrelevancies and bodybag games, all the better to get us good and rested up for the cornucopia of delights that would await on the traditional post-Thanksgiving rivalry weekend.

If you're anything like us, you've already determined that you're going to a) gorge yourself to an embarrassing degree and b) shut yourself off from your family as quickly as possible afterward so that you can enjoy this weekend's big games. How you accomplish the former is between you, your higher power and your own personal sense of shame, but as for the latter, we're here to help. All times Eastern, as usual.

THURSDAY NIGHT

What you'll be watching: TCU at No. 18 Texas (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.)

Man, Texas A&M, y'all picked a real dumb time to go conference-shopping. Had you stayed put, TV audiences across the nation would be able to recover from their post-Thanksgiving-dinner turkey stupors as they watched Johnny Manziel beclown the Texas defense for four full quarters. Instead, you pulled up for greener pastures and left us with this, the Big XII's attempt at cobbling together a "rivalry" out of its most disappointing team of 2012 and a former SWC member that's been spending the last 17 years wandering in the mid-major wilderness.

Then again, this matchup will feature copious sideline shots of both the Texas and TCU pom squads, so . . . you know what, A&M? You go have fun with your male "yell leaders." We're good.

What you should be watching instead: Your only football-related counterprogramming on Thanksgiving night will be the Patriots beating down the Jets on NBC, so we'd stick with this newfangled Texas rivalry, contrived though it may be.

FRIDAY MORNING/AFTERNOON

What you'll be watching: No. 8 LSU at Arkansas (CBS, 2:30 p.m.)
Les Miles and John L. Smith finally face each other on the field. Actually, the game won't be all that exciting, but ohhhh lordy the postgame press conferences sure will be.

What you should be watching instead: West Virginia at Iowa State (ABC, 3:30 p.m.)
Or you could be watching this, which features two of college football's most entertainingly amped-up coaches and might actually be a reasonably competitive game to boot. Would you have believed, though, that at this point in the season Iowa State would be the one with a bowl bid locked up and WVU would still be out hunting?

FRIDAY NIGHT

What you'll be watching: Arizona State at Arizona (ESPN, 10 p.m.)

What you should be watching instead: "The Living Daylights" (BBC America, 9:30 p.m.)/"30 for 30: Ghosts of Ole Miss" (ESPN Classic, 10 p.m.)
Because let's be honest, you'd only be watching the Territorial Cup to see if Todd Graham accepted the Arkansas head coaching job at halftime anyway.

SATURDAY MORNING

What you'll be watching: No. 20 Michigan at No. 4 Ohio State (ABC, noon)
I mean, sure, I guess you could watch one of the nation's most storied and vitriolic rivalries, and it might be interesting to see whether the Buckeyes can pull off a perfect season even if they don't have any postseason to look forward to, but let's be honest — it's kind of hard to take a truly accurate picture of the Big Ten's competitiveness until Maryland and Rutgers show up.

What you should be watching instead: Georgia Tech at No. 3 Georgia (ESPN, noon)
While the squares will be busying themselves with Michigan-Ohio State, in which one of the teams can't even GO to its conference championship game, the people who truly want to see good football will be watching this game, which, I don't know if you knew, is a battle of DIVISION CHAMPIONS. So . . . sorry, I really thought I was going to be able to keep a straight face there.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

What you'll be watching: No. 6 Florida at No. 10 Florida State (ABC, 3:30 p.m.)
After years of subpar matchups, the Sunshine State Rivalry once again features a pair of top-10 teams still clinging to national-title hopes — boy, this really takes me back to the '90s! Not the 1990s, mind you, but the 1890s, since it's entirely possible that one of these teams will not attempt a forward pass all game long and the final score will probably be something like 8-6.

What you should be watching instead: No. 5 Oregon at No. 16 Oregon State (Pac-12 Network, 3 p.m.)
Actually, Gators-'Noles could be a pretty good game game, but if it turns into a snoozer — or you're one of those lucky souls who has access to the Pac-12 Network — you're gonna want to check in on what's happening in Corvallis. How did one of the weekend's best games end up on a network that only a tiny fraction of the nation's TV viewers can see? I'm assuming it all has something to do with hipster cred — I mean, Florida-FSU is fine if you want to watch the same bourgeois network-TV spectacle everyone else is watching, but I don't know, out here in the Beaver State, we like to do our own thing, keep it real, you know?

SATURDAY PRIME-TIME

What you'll be watching: No. 1 Notre Dame at USC (ABC, 8 p.m.)
If Notre Dame wins, then Notre Dame will play in the national championship game, which means Lou Holtz will talk about nothing else for at least the next five years. On the other hand, if USC wins, then the Irish will be knocked out of the national-title discussion, but . . . Lane Kiffin will have knocked off the top-ranked team in the country, with a backup quarterback no less, and he'll talk about nothing else for at least the next five years. So really, there are no winners here.

What you should be watching instead: No. 13 South Carolina at No. 12 Clemson (ESPN, 7 p.m.)
Stanford-UCLA would be a good choice but for the fact that if Stanford wins, there's just going to be a rematch in a week's time anyway. Besides, if you want to make this a true rivalry weekend, you want to train your TV-viewing eyes on two fan bases who wouldn't piss on one another if they were on fire, and South Carolina and Clemson definitely fit that bill.

SATURDAY LATE NIGHT

What you'll be watching: Louisiana Tech at San Jose State (ESPN2, 10:30 p.m.)

What you should be watching instead: "30 for 30" marathon (ESPN Classic, pretty much all evening long)
Ehh, LaTech has already coughed up their chance to be WAC Champions for All Time, so who cares. The "30 for 30" specials "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29," "Ghosts of Ole Miss" and "Roll Tide/War Eagle" will be marathonning all throughout the evening on Classic, so take this opportunity to catch whichever of those you may have missed. Or go for a run, you fat tub of goo, since I know you've been sneaking leftovers for the past two days straight.

Georgia vs. Georgia Southern: The Manic-Depressive Preview prepares for a family reunion

2012-11-15T17:01:33Z

The Bulldogs have clinched a second straight SEC East title by blowing Auburn's doors off, and they now have only two out-of-conference games to occupy their time between now and their date in the Georgia Dome. As you'll see, though, some Georgia fans will have a hard time occupying their time with thoughts of anything other than an SEC title. Today our Manic-Depressive Previewers attempt — in fits and starts — to break down the Georgia Southern game.

Manic Doug: OK, dude, let's talk Alabama. I know you're going to tell me they don't have any weaknesses, but we've obviously seen one or two exposed the last couple weeks, because their defense has allowed big yardage to both LSU and Texas A&M. I think their secondary is going to be vulnerable to —

Depressive Doug: Whoa, whoa, hang on there, sport. Aren't you skipping over something?

MD: Well . . . fine, if you'd rather do it that way.

DD: I would, thanks.

MD: So Alabama's offense versus the Georgia D. I know their offensive line is among the best in the country, if not the best, but if anyone can get around that and create disruptions in the Bama backfield, it's —

DD: No, no, man, I didn't mean that. I meant we've got two games between now and the SEC championship that we have to worry about. You're not just gonna gloss right over those, are you?

MD: Honestly? . . . That was kind of the plan, yes.

DD: Come on, focus. Georgia Southern's this week. They may be an FCS team, but they're a good FCS team, and they've been pesky for us in the past. So don't take this one for gr —

MD: You'd say that if we were playing a high school for the deaf, though. "Oh, don't take this one for granted, MD, when you lose your hearing, it heightens the other senses, so their quarterback will be able to sense the vibrations of Jarvis Jones' footsteps and escape when we provide pressure in the backfield. We may not get a sack all day."

DD: I would never say a thing like that.

MD: Really? Here's you before the Ole Miss game: "Oh no, we've just beaten Florida, now we're due for a hangover, we're gonna lose to a surprisingly good Ole Miss team." Boom, we shrug off a slow start and beat them by four touchdowns. Now here's you before Auburn: "Ohhh nooo, Auburn's dangerous, they need an SEC win, we're gonna sleepwalk through the first half and this is gonna be a close game." Boom, we're up by 28 at halftime and end up shutting them out. So why should I believe anything you have to say about this game?

DD: Um . . . because we've just clinched the SEC East and now we're too focused on the conference championship game to worry about a late-season gimme?

MD: You know what, so what if we are? We opened against Southern in 2004 and 2008, and in both years we started off with a top-five ranking and national-championship hype. We didn't play our best game either time, not by a long shot, but we won by 20 in 2004 and by 24 four years later. So why should I think this one will be anything other than a blowout?

DD: Well, for starters, Southern is a lot better than they were in 2008. They've ditched the wide-open passing attack they were trying to run under Chris Hatcher that year and have gotten back to their triple-option roots, and they've been pretty successful at it: They're No. 1 in rushing in Division I-AA with more than four hundred rushing yards per game . . .

MD: Against I-AA defenses. Meanwhile, they're next-to-last in passing, and their leading receiver only has seven catches for the entire season. So all we have to do is trust our secondary in man-to-man coverage and put eight or nine guys in the box, and we're good to go. Why do you insist on making this complicated?

DD: Number one, because I saw Southern stroll into Tuscaloosa last season and score more points against that national-championship-winning Crimson Tide defense than any team did all season. Number two, because I've seen how prone we are to playing down to the level of our competition. Remember earlier this year, when we went up to Lexington and played a godawful Kentucky team and had to sweat out a five-point win? Or the first month of the season, when we were getting run all over the field by Buffalo and FAU? Hell, last year we had to clinch the East title against Kentucky, at home, and we were trailing them at halftime. Don't get me wrong, I think we'll win this weekend, but it's going to be an extremely aggravating 60 minutes before we accomplish that.

MD: So you think they'll be able to run on us. In spite of all the talent we have on defense.

DD: Yes, because we'll let them. Now, I don't think they'll be able to stop us, but their offense is geared for long drives that burn a ton of clock and wear out the opposing defense, and that spells a close game in the first half — I mean, in 2004 we were only leading 13-7 at halftime. I think we'll be ahead by maybe only 10 points at halftime, and once we put on another score or two in the third quarter Richt will start pulling starters to keep people fresh for Georgia Tech and the SEC title game. So that means some more points for GSU in garbage time, and that means a thoroughly unimpressive Georgia victory by a score of, oh, 44-27.

MD: You see a defense that's looking for a chance to take a breather — I see a defense that's been playing with its hair on fire ever since the Florida game. We've only allowed 19 points in our last three games total — you seriously think we're going to hand over more than that in a single game against a lower-division opponent? Nahh, son. I think we come out with guns blazing, shut 'em out in the first half and roll up a bunch of points — and yeah, we'll probably put the backups in sooner rather than later, which will give the Eagles a chance to put up some points, but it won't be anywhere near enough. Dawgs roll, 52-13.

DD: Well, those two predictions average out to . . . Dawgs 48, Eagles 20, so that's still a pretty good day. And thank you for actually being willing to focus on the game at hand for five minutes, by the way. That was awfully big of you.

MD: Well, I guess I can wait to talk about Alabama until next week. If I have to.

DD: Ummm . . . nnnno, Georgia Tech is next week. We won't get to the SEC Championship Game until the week after that.

MD: YOU NEVER LET ME DO ANYTHING FUN.

Poll

Whose prediction for the Georgia-Georgia Southern game will prove to be more accurate?

Manic Doug

9 votes

Depressive Doug

3 votes

They're both wrong — Georgia Southern somehow pulls the upset

15 votes

27 votes | Poll has closed