Nevada Dawg

Those who have read through this thread know how I feel about the SEC's 8-game schedule and the loss of traditional rivalries. I apologize to the rest of college football for the scheduling decision made today. And yes that root of all evil--money-- was involved in this decision in more ways than one. I fully plan to voice my displeasure about the 8-game schedule every opportunity I have to weigh in on the topic. It is set in stone only for 2024--at least that is my understanding. One of the Georgia beat writers ran a poll asking Dawg fans their preferences, and the last tabulation I saw had about 85% favoring the 9-game schedule. The fans I have corresponded with really dislike the end of yearly matchups with traditional rivals. The Georgia-Auburn game, for example, means a lot to both schools being the oldest continuous football rivalry in the Deep South. One Dawg fan put it this way--"Doing away with rivalries for the sake of money is a step toward ripping the very soul out of the game I love". I heartily concur!

The GA-FLA game is played in J-Ville because it is the most lucrative option for both Universities--another example of whoring for dollars IMO. The people who get the short end of the stick are the respective season ticket holders whom I believe have to pay extra for the Florida game. Kirby has said he'd favor home and home with Florida to give the home fans another premium home game every other year and another giant opportunity to showcase his team and Athens for all the top recruits that are on Georgia's radar. But it is clearly more lucrative--the root of all evil again--to play the game in Jacksonville.

Thanks for the update amc dawg. Nonetheless, my overwhelming choice is the more competitive 9-game schedule and I'm sticking with it! Georgia fans have long lamented having to pay good money for the OOC cupcake games that a Bama friend of mine calls "baby seal clubbings. And as the GA-Florida game is always played in the state of Florida, most are livid that they only get to see three SEC games at home every year when everybody else gets four. Yeah, Florida has only three at home in the Swamp as well, but Florida coaches Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer thought of these Jacksonville games as home games, as do the Gator players. At least the 9-game schedule would give Georgia the four home games all the other schools get at least every other year. How many league games do the B1G teams play. I suspect it is 9 games, which would make the SEC on a continuing 8-game schedule a real outlier.

Are you sure his is true? Even if so, I still opt very strongly for the better competition option of 9 league games. Ya I know one can argue for the scheduling of better OOC opponents, but with many conferences playing 9-game schedules, those opponents will become increasingly hard to schedule. Play 9 games!!!!

IMHO there are so many good reasons for the SEC to play a 9-game schedule that it is embarrassing for the league to even consider staying with the 8-game model. SIAP but the 8-game format leaves each team with only one permanent opponent each year. So, for example, Georgia would draw Florida each year and can the oldest rivalry in the deep South by having to deep-6 Auburn. Alabama would play Auburn yearly and can the long standing yearly rivalry game with Tennessee. From my opinion as a fan, this scheduling model stinks to high heaven. The 9-game model insures that each team will play all the other SEC teams, home and away, every 4-year period. That's as close as one will get to round-robin in a 16-team league. To have administrators Jerk for more money when they already receive 70 Mil a year (or else offer fans an inferior product) convinces me beyond all doubt that money has become the root of all evil in college football. And, I sincerely hope that all the SEC teams that lobby for 8 games to increase their prospects for bowl eligibility can revel in their irrelevancy!!

Top 25 is out I believe. CBS had Nick Saban#1 followed by Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, and...Lincoln Riley at 4. That last placement totally mystifies. How a man who has never won a college football playoff game lands there is beyond me! On Lanning: Rating undoubtedly reflects the lack of confidence among sports writers to rank him higher based on one season's outcomes. Should Lanning match last year in year two, He'll jump at least 20 spots IMHO.

One of my pet peeves about the B1G is that it plays so few intersectional games that one cannot gauge how good its members really are. To back out of a requirement that power 5 OOC games be scheduled is absurd in my opinion. I can honestly say that I wish my Dawgs had more power 5 OOC opponents. Kirby Smart apparently agrees and has scheduled some high quality opponents virtually every year going forward. They do play Georgia Tech annually now and often try for a kickoff classic quality game at the beginning of the year to get the team dialed in early. I am far from a football coach, but there seems, to me at least, that such games are great preparation for the upcoming league season.

Having to tout Seattle as the major media market isn't saying much for the number of eyes drawn to the PAC. That's why the addition of SDSU as a link to Southern Cali viewers is so important. Also, there are huge numbers of people in the SF-Oakland-San Jose market as well. But can we ever get Cal or Stanford to invest in a major way to a football program? Maybe It is my having lived in the SEC footprint for more than 40 years, but I have never seen a major metro area apathetic about college football as the Bay Area. I'm sure interest must have perked up years ago when Stanford was really relevant, but that seems to have waned. Any insights here Hayward Duck?

I truly hope Bo plays well enough to be selected in the first round, but I am more inclined to agree with Charles that he will be a middle round pick at best. In fact, even that may be a stretch if his OL can't protect him at least as well as last year's line did. Environment truly plays a role in how player produces on the field. For two of his three years in the SEC, Bo was often tormented by those first round type DLs and LBs that the SEC seems to produce. He didn't face many (any?) of those guys in the PAC last year. Again, I wish the guy well but his future may well be in coaching. And wouldn't be nice if I had to eat these words in the future.

I don't want to speak for Rufus but I think the point was that LA is now B1G country and thus the league is home territory for Cali kids by virtue of SoCal being in it. So they can be thought of as "staying home". Or, I may be over thinking it, lol. I'd be careful about implying certain power 5 opponents other than SEC or big 10 conference members are not top notch OOC opponents. I'm not sure that Clemson wouldn't be a threat to win big in either of the so-called big 2 conferences and Florida State is once again beginning to look a little scary (they beat SEC West champ LSU last year and did so convincingly). I fear either of those teams a little more than Penn State, Wisconsin, and possibly even Michigan, although all these teams should be reasonably good. The Big 12 may have been down a bit last year and TCU's 65-7 beatdown in the Natty didn't do the conference any favors. But the conference will produce enough quality teams each year to give the power 2 teams some problems.

I really came to hate the OOC scheduling at Georgia during the Mark Richt era, but Kirby Smart is stepping that up even as the SEC transitions to a 9-game league schedule. Notable upcoming OOCs are home and homes added recently are with UCLA, Florida State--a team on the verge of making real noise again-- Clemson, and Ohio State. The fan base loves these games! I am sure that there will be other premiere matchups as well. Georgia likes invitations to early season blockbusters like the Kickoff Classic for example. If you are going to schedule OOCs, aspire to play the best of college football. Recruits love these kinds of matchups.

Can't emphasize strongly enough my feeling that Jon is right about OOC schedules and the need to get at least a few wins against SEC and B1G opponents in years to come. The lack of such a resume is one of the reasons that the PAC is viewed as a "softer" conference than it deserves to be IMHO.

Congrats Gonzo! I saw three mock drafts this week that had you going as high as #4 to the Colts if they didn't lose their mind and take Florida QB Anthony Richardson at # 4. Alas, they lost their mind and took Richardson whom I think may be the worst pick of the entire first round. IMHO Richardson is a high risk of becoming JaMarcus Russell 2.0.

Man, I do like the idea of playing conference championships around the weekend of Thanksgiving. In the event of a 16-team field with no byes, would all first-round games be played on campus ya think? I think that this would amount to an additional home game for the Georgias, Alabamas, OSUs and the like--and a wildly popular option for their fan bases. It is a bit depressing, to me at least, to have to gum up what is a potentially exciting playoff expansion with discussions of the almighty dollar. I know what kind of world college sports is becoming and it turns my stomach to see so many decisions absolutely driven by money mania. Ok, that's my rant for the week.

This is an interesting year as many of the usual favorites (Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State ) are breaking in new QBs, and it is quite conceivable that two or more of these could have 2 loses after Championship week. So, yes, there may well be playoff slots up for grabs by others this year in my opinion.

While a college degree is no guarantee of life success and many, many people do terrific without one, career earnings, on average, are substantially higher for college grads than for those without college degrees. College isn't for everyone, but kids who truly want a higher education and pursue it seriously are typically quite successful in life. On the other hand, kids who don't want to attend college but do so to meet others' expectations are the ones who may be wasting their own or others' money in attending. I can't tell you how many of these "students" I encountered in my 34 years as a college professor.

I remember Dave Wilcox well and fondly. RIP: big guy!

A lot of Dawg fans are scoffing at the power index this year. I think that my Dawgs have a number of question marks as they essentially have to replace the outside linebacker corps on defense and a QB on offense. I don't know about how the OLBs will fare, but by November and the first real challenge against Tennessee, the young talent in that room should be humming. As for the QB, anyone who watched the Georgia Spring Game on Saturday almost had to come away impressed with Carson Beck. His throws were crisp, accurate, and he now has far more receivers to throw to than any QB at Georgia in recent memory. A lot can happen between now and championship week in December, but I'll not be shocked if the Dawgs have climbed to the top of the heap again. Oh, and I am on board with Jon in thinking that LSU wins the SEC West again.

Jon, I keep forgetting about UTSA being in a rapidly expanding media market--imagine that! With the inclusion of UTSA and SMU, the Pac would have fans in two of the three top metro areas of a football mad state. My academic colleagues would shame me for saying so, But I'm wondering how much "academic fit really means in college sports anymore. It may matter to college presidents, an ex-wife of mine being one. But to the average college sports fan, I suspect it means diddly squat.

Thinking about competition in the B1G, I think many overlook Wisconsin. I expect the Badgers to be a problem now that Luke Fickell is their coach .Also Matt Rhule (sp?) is a damn good football coach and may be able to get something going at Nebraska. If so, the pathway to the playoffs may be tougher in the B1G than many think. The more I think about SMU being a PAC conference target, the better I like it. Texas is a really fertile football ground for talented high school players who could fancy living on the West Coast for 3-4 years.

Thanks Jon. I didn't know about the extent of USC's tampering, but it has given me motivation for rooting against them in every game they play. I didn't like the negative recruiting Riley was doing as coach of Oklahoma, and his solicitations since his transfer to USC are even worse IMHO. I am already looking forward, should I live that long, to facing the Trojans in the playoffs. And I certainly hope that the Ducks have the privilege of ruining their last season in the PAC-12.

Yeah, it seems as if tampering is SOP in some quarters. The Dawgs lost a projected starter on the DL to the portal this morning, and two likely landing spots became known immediately (both presently outside the SEC and one in LA--guess who?). There is a lot of back channel communications going on, some of it involving NIL bags that exceed what players are making in their current locations. Pro football has strong rules against tampering and teams that ignore them are penalized. Why is it different for college ball? I don't know but suspect it stems from the lack of formal contracts for the pay that college players receive. I am certainly not against college players using the portal to extricate themselves from a situation they find intolerable. But at least let the kid make that decision for himself before the vultures swoop in to make their pitches--this is how the portal is supposed to work!

I knew Bo as an Auburn player who started three games against the Georgia Bulldawgs. I always liked his play, and when I heard he had transferred to Oregon, I found and forwarded a clip of his highlights to Mr. Fishduck along with my assessment that You guys are going to like this kid. I have no idea how much NIL played into Bo's decision to become a Duck. I suspect that he was scouting out quality programs, ideally far away from the dumpster fire Auburn was becoming under Coach Brian Harsin. Plus, I am sure that he had some familiarity with Dan Lanning whose defenses he had knocked heads with three times at Auburn. I am glad that he ended up with a team that I like so that I could finally root for his success before he became a professional.

Yeah, that is what worries me most as well--loss of a quality offensive line. On the bright side Bo moves well and OC might consider running more moving pocket plays to keep the defense off the QB a little better.

Yeah, I had taken Spartan's earlier comment as half joking around as I'll take yours Steven. You'd be hard pressed to find a Ferrari around the Athletic Dorms as the only Dawgs who have much more than they all make in NIL have been recruited for (or snagged their own) endorsement deals. For example, QB Stetson Bennett had the nickname of the "Mailman" and was recruited for a sizable contract with one of the mail companies in Georgia, I think it was UPS. With these Southern boys and duly socialized outsiders, you are far more likely to find pickups parked out front than sports cars. To return to recruiting monies, Georgia prefers their own evaluations to those of the star-granting recruiting services. They also prefer to scout in person and via workouts rather than depending on highlight films. The personally scout maybe 100 guys a year, all over the country, to make those evaluations. It is this staff travel that racks up a sizable portion of the recruiting bucks. Yeah, I know everybody scouts guys off campus, but Georgia is almost obsessive about it. Just today, the Dawgs received a commitment from a kid in Indiana whom the staff believes is badly underrated by the recruiting services. The staff must really like him if he received a committable offer this early as a WR ranked as only the 67th best WR in the class. I don't know but I suspect that the personal contact was the thing that sealed the deal for the staff.