G-Day Prep (Sugar Bowl Highlights)

A little something to get you pumped for G-Day this afternoon.

Breaking News: Georgia Hires Tight Ends Coach

I was very surprised today when Georgia announced John Lilly as tight ends coach. The search to fill this position was kept very quiet, and had Georgia fans on edge wondering who would fill the position.

/end sarcasm

Brian VanGorder Hearts Changing Jobs

I'm Brian VanGorder, and I'm Georgia.

I'm tired of waiting to be a head coach. If I get some NFL experience, I'll become a college head coach sooner.

I'm Brian VanGorder, and I'm Georgia...Southern. See, I told you the NFL experience would help me become a college head coach!

It's worth leaving my college head coaching job to work for a great man like Bobby Petrino. Plus, I get to coach Tony Taylor again!

He only worked for me for a month, do you think we actually have pictures of him at South Carolina?

Ah, it's good to be back with the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL...where I always wanted to be. Hey, I get to coach Tony Taylor again!

Thomas Brown at the East-West Shrine Game

There was a period in the East-West Shrine Game where the announcers really gave Thomas Brown some love. They talked him up, showed a highlight reel, and got a sideline report from Holly Rowe.



You probably noticed Fernando Velasco in there as well. He played a good game, and actually opened a huge hole for Cory Boyd on his touchdown run.

Colt Brennan's Nightmare

As I started making the highlight video for the Sugar Bowl, I had an idea. I decided to first make a video depicting just how awful of a night it was for Colt Brennan. To fully grasp how bad it was, you have to first get caught up in the emotion Hawaii had going into the game. Hopefully I've captured the full spectrum of emotions from that night.



Coming soon...full highlights.

Johnson to WVU?

Rumors have been swirling all day about Georgia Tight Ends coach Dave Johnson leaving to become offensive line coach at West Virginia. Scout.com is reporting this as fact, but there is still no official word from either school.

The AJC is analyzing the impact the move would have on recruiting, if it turns out to be true. They were able to find one recruit who said the move could affect his commitment to Georgia.

Tight end Dwayne Allen of Fayetteville, N.C., would be affected if Johnson were to sign a contract with West Virginia.

"Drastically," Allen said. "He is one of the main reasons I am committed to Georgia."

While I'd hate to lose a kid like this, I can only wish the best for Coach Johnson. You can't fault a man for taking a promotion at his alma mater.

Related:
Rumor: Georgia TE Coach to WVU as OL Coach (GSB)

Always Bet on Black(out)

I believed it when I said before the game that Georgia was bigger, faster, and stronger. I just didn't realize how much bigger, faster, and stronger. That was an absolute beat down, led by MVP Marcus Howard.

Prior to kickoff Fox showed June Jones giving a pep talk to the Hawaii players. He told them to have fun and play like they belonged. They definitely didn't belong, and I doubt they had much fun either.

This was really an unfair matchup for Hawaii. So many people wanted to compare this game to Boise State vs. Oklahoma last year. The problem was Hawaii had never played on a stage like this before. Boise State had already wet the bed against Georgia in 2005 in their first shot at the big boys. They learned from it and played much better in their next shot in the Fiesta Bowl the following year. Unfortunately for Hawaii, they had their initial shot on the big BCS stage. They didn't get a warm up.

I'll continue to talk more about this game in the coming week. I'll also get a highlight video up. For now, I'll leave you with one of my favorite images from the game. Willie Martinez jumping into the arms of Dannell Ellerbe after his interception. Celebrate Willie, you deserve it!

Keys to the Game

East Coast vs. West Coast The Islands
SEC vs. WAC
David vs. Goliath
Soulja Boy vs. Haa'a
Georgia vs. Hawaii

I haven't watched Hawaii once all year, but here's what I think. Georgia is bigger, faster, and stronger. Hawaii can't out athlete us. The only chance they have is to out execute us. With that, I hope we brought our track shoes. Hawaii is going to throw short passes to set up the deep ball. I think they will look a lot like Troy did. Hopefully the outcome is the same as well.

The x-factor could be one of two people for us. First it could be Knowshon. With his ankle sprain, we don't really know how effective he is going to be. The other could be Kregg Lumpkin. Thomas Brown will start. We hope he'll share carries with Knowshon. If Knowshon's ankle is bothering him, Brown could share with Lumpkin.

I don't think this game compares to the 2006 Sugar Bowl or last year's Fiesta Bowl between Oklahoma and Boise State. We didn't take West Virginia seriously in 2006, and we're better than Oklahoma was last year.

I'm looking forward to the game. Hawaii is going to get their yards, and they are going to put up some points. But hopefully we can out execute them and come out victorious. Go Dawgs!

Tech Highlights

A couple things to look for.
1) The adjustment CJ Byrd makes on his INT is amazing.
2) The hustle of Knowshon to cause the fumble after the lateral mishap is amazing.
3) If Reshad Jones stayed on the sideline he runs back his INT for a TD.
4) The Thomas Brown Affair!

Thanks to the anonymous commenters who recommended the music!

Non Conference Champs Playing for the BCS Title

Should it be allowed? Obviously most Georgia fans felt so this year. I felt so this year, but only because it was Georgia. I thought it was stupid when Oklahoma and Nebraska played in the BCS title game in the past without winning their conference.

However, Mark Richt had an excellent scenario on the Rude Awakening this morning on 680 The Fan. I'm going to put this into my own words, but it's basically what Richt said...

Hypothetically, let's say Georgia and Tennessee each go 11-1 in a crazy season such as this one. Florida goes 10-2. All three teams only losses are conference losses. Tennessee beats Georgia who beats Florida who beats Tennessee. Florida's second loss is to LSU.

Going into the Championship weekend, Tennessee and Georgia are ranked #1 and #2 respectively in all of the major polls.

Tennessee plays Arkansas for the SEC title. Arkansas went 8-4 on the season. However, they managed to win the wacky SEC West in a three way tiebreaker with LSU and Auburn (sorry Bama fans). Finally, Arkansas eeks out an upset win over UT and wins the SEC title.

So, do you keep the 11-1 Georgia team, who was ranked #2 prior to UT going down, out of the national title game because they didn't win the SEC? I think not, but what do you think?

Your Unanimous SEC Freshman of the Year

Knowshon Moreno

I should have specified yesterday that I thought Knowshon had the SEC Freshman of the Year wrapped up. I agree with the anonymous commenter who said the national Freshman of the Year will likely be Crabtree from Texas Tech. Although, I think Knowshon has a shot. My guess is different outlets will pick between those two.

Gigantic Accolades For Knowshon

Knowshon Moreno has been named first team All SEC by the coaches. He shares the backfield with Darren McFadden who was the only unanimous selection to the first team offense. I guess the All SEC team needs no fullback...

Fernando Velasco and Dannell Ellerbe were named to the second team offense and defense respectively.

I don't know when it comes out, but I'm assuming Knowshon has Freshman of the year wrapped up as well.

Black Out Hawaii

Mark Richt just called for a blackout on ESPN. I thought this would happen, and before Richt asked for it I didn't want it. But I have to admit, it already has me pumped for the Sugar Bowl. Hawaii wants to taste Sugar; instead, they'll get a taste of this.

I'm Freaking Out Right Now

I thought Oklahoma would beat Missouri. But, I never would have thought Pitt would actually beat West Virginia. Are you kidding me?

The worst part is that now we have to wait ALL DAY LONG Sunday before we know what the heck will happen with the BCS.

I'm not going to make any kind of prediction. But, I really liked what Coach Richt had to say on Sportscenter tonight. He said the voters knew last week we couldn't win the SEC, yet we were still ahead of LSU. Why should that change now?

Crank Dat Redcoats

The Redcoats have added a new song to their repertoire.

Video uploaded to YouTube by c7aramel.

Tech Wrecked

That game was straight up crazy. It was much, much closer than the score indicated. Tech left at least 28 points on the field. The dropped cinch touchdown pass. Two muffed punts recovered by Georgia for touchbacks that could have just as easily been Tech touchdowns. Finally, the fumble return that would have been a Tech TD had they not fumbled.

The muffed punts were goofs on Mikey Henderson and Remarcus Brown. And the Dawgs were in better position to recover them. So, I don't chalk those up to luck or Tech doing anything wrong. The fumble return was a great recovery by Knowshon. He made a great play in stripping the ball from the Tech defender. But the dropped TD pass was ridiculous. That play could have set the tone for the game and ignited the few Tech fans that were there. Man there was a lot of red in that stadium!

But when you play the what if game, you have to play it for both teams. Stafford just overthrew what could have been a long touchdown pass to Massaquoi. He also nearly hooked up for a deep score with Tony Wilson, but the Tech defender made a great play.

The real surprise to me was that Thomas Brown was the more effective back for Georgia. Tech did a pretty good job of stopping Knowshon. You could tell he was the focus of their defense. When Brown was in the game at tailback, Tech did not respect the run as much. And Thomas made them pay for it.

I also loved Stafford's TD run. I hate to say it, but it really reminded me of Godsey's run against us back in 2000. Both were really, really good ball fakes.

In the end, the game came down to the fact that Georgia capitalized on more opportunities than Tech did. Seven in a row sure feels good. Go Dawgs!

Images above from the ABH.

Related:
UGA vs. GT post-game thoughts.... - Georgia Sports Blog

Motivation

Man I hate Tech.

Keys to the Game

Stop Tashard Choice. If we do that, we'll be on our way. If he gets going, that could open up the passing game. That is the last thing we need. If we have no respect for the play action pass, that's a huge plus for our defense.

On offense, we need to jump on them early. And that does not mean we need to start off throwing the ball all over the place. Tech has a very, very good defense. So we need to stay balanced on offense like we have been. Many of Tech's blitzes are run blitzes. If Knowshon can make them pay for blitzing, maybe they will be hesitant to do so.

I'm glad it looks like we'll have nice weather today. I think a rainy sloppy game would play into Tech's favor. But if you're looking for a Georiga blowout, I doubt you'll see it. I think we're in for a battle today.

Go Dawgs!

Happy Turkey Day

In honor of Thanksgiving, let's watch a couple of game winning touchdown passes over Tech shall we?

Also, both the AJC and ABH have a nice story up on what Coach Rodney Garner does for the players that can't make it home for Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving and Go Dawgs!

Georgia Tech Video Vault

I'm going to post several videos involving Georgia and Georgia Tech throughout the week. Some good and some bad.

First up we have highlights from 1995. This video includes footage from the 1995 Tennessee and Georgia Tech games. This was actually the first Georgia video I made and uploaded to YouTube.

Tickets:
Georgia at Georgia Tech - Empire Tickets